Archival footage shot by Otto Wolf, a Swiss filmmaker, while visiting Europe in 1961.
00:00 – Москва (Moscow) road sign at the entrance of the city, probably along the Mozhaiskoye Shosse-Kutuzovsky prospekt
00:05 – Moscow State University (view from Poklonnaya Gora—Bow-down Hill—on the Kutuzovskiy prospekt)
00:11 – This building (Kutuzovskiy, 45) is on Kutuzovskiy prospekt, on the opposite of today’s Museum-panorama “The Borodino Battle”
00:16 – Kutuzovskiy prospekt: view to the center from the same point of the previous segment
00:22 – Mostorg Department Store along the Kutuzovskiy prospekt; probably Kutuzovskiy, 27, because in the next segment there is a panorama of the centre of the city from that building
00:30: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
00:36 – the building of the MFA from Bolshaya Dorogomilovskaya Street
00:49 – the Borodinsky Bridge across the Moskva River from Kievsky Railway Station Square
01:07 – the building on Rostovskaya Embankment, 5 (built in 1939 by the famous architect Alexey Shchusev from the pier of Kievsky Railway Station on Berezhkovskaya Embankment). In 1962, the year after the shoot, it was completely renovated.
01:12 – the building on Savvinskaya Embankment, 3
01:15 – Smolensky Metro Bridge from Borodinsky Bridge, with the Kudrinskaya Square Building (one of seven Stalinist skyscrapers) in the background
The Kremlin and the Red Square
01:26 – point of view from a tourist bus (or from the filmmaker’s car) while riding along Kalinin Street (now Vozdvizhenka). View of Kutafya Tower of the Kremlin from the crossroad with Yanyshev Lane Street (now Krestovozdvizhensky)
01:28 – They parked at Manezhnaya (Manege Square). View of the Historical Museum and of Uglovaya Arsenalnaya Tower of the Kremlin
01:39 – the Red Square: Saint Basil, Minin-Pozharsky monument, Lenin and Stalin Mausoleum (they had been lying together since October 31st, 1961), Spasskaya Tower, State Historical Museum, people standing in the queue before visiting the Mausoleum and the 2 leaders’ embalmed bodies
07:35 – the Kremlin cathedrals, view from Sofiyskaya Embankment: the Cathedral of the Assumption, the Cathedral of the Annunciation, the Cathedral of the Archangel, Ivan the Great Bell Tower
08:20 – an observation place on the Bolshoy Kamenny Bridge
08:56 – the Kremlin cathedrals’ exterior details and interior views
10:46 – Tsar Bell
10:53 – ZIL-111 soviet limousine (externally very similar to the American version—the Packard). It was available only for the Politburo Central Committee members.
Lenin Hills
10:57 – view from the observation deck near the building of the Moscow State University (Lenin Stadium, MSU, Lomonosov monument, the Ski Jump ramp on Lenin Hills and Leninskiye Gory Metro Station near the bridge across the Moskva River)
12:04 – GUM department store
The VDNKh
12:48 – the Worker and Kolkhoznitza Woman monument by Vera Mukhina
12:53 – the sculpture on the pot of the main entrance to the Exhibition of Achievements of National Economy
12:57 – the Central Pavilion and the Central Avenue with fountains; Lenin and Stalin statues on the back of the Central Pavilion (Lenin monument has survived and still stands in the centre of the avenue today while Stalin monument disappeared)
13:27 – The Friendship of Nations fountain and Russian SFSR Pavilion
14:01 – The Stone Flower Fountain and “Education in the USSR” Pavilion (formerly “Leningrad and North-West of the RSFSR”, now “Optika” (‘Optics’) Pavilion)
14:13 – Ukrainian SSR Pavilion (now “Agriculture” Pavilion)
14:26 – Tu-104 airplane bort # СССР-42338; was at the VDNKh since July 1960 to December 1963
14:39 – “Mechanical engineering” Pavilion with the indoor sculpture composition “The Procession of Soviet People to Communism” (sculptor Nikolay Tomskiy) with the slogan “Forward to the Victory of Communism!” and heavy-duty dump truck MAZ-530 (outside)
15:03 – probably the Space Pavilion
15:39 – Pushkin monument on Gorky (Tverskaya) Street, Rossiya Cinema while the movie “Alye Parusa” (“Scarlet Sails”, 1961, directed by Alexandr Ptushko) is running (first release on June 7th, 1961)
15:54 – Church of Saint Nicholas in Khamovniki (late 17th century) on Leo Tolstoy Street
16:06 – Yuri Dolgorukiy monument in Gorky Street
16:13 – the State Historical Museum
16:21 – Pushkin Art Museum
16:25 – exit of the Lubyanka (then Dzerzhinskaya) metro station (the building of Hotel Nikolskaya today)
16:29 – Teatralnaya (then Sverdlov) Square near Bolshaya Dmitrovka (then Pushkinskaya)
16:33 – Revolution Square with view of Lenin Museum
16:47 – Moskva Swimming Pool (destroyed in 1994)
17:13 – the Lenin Central Stadium and Swimming Pool, view from Luzhnetsky Metro Bridge;
17:23 – the Bolshoi Theatre
17:25 – Гастроном (Grocery store), закусочная “Астра” (“Astra” diner)
17:33 – Мосгалантерея магазин (Moscow haberdashery store,) № 3* (35 or 36?). № 35 was on Kuznetsky Most, 20 and № 36 was on Gorky Street, 6). Then Булочная-кондитерская (bakery and confectionery);
17:37 – Касса-Вход (cinema or theatre). There is also an Аптека (Pharmacy) on Gorky St. or Kuznetsky Most
17:45 – exit of the Lubyanka metro station
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