Rossiya Hotel
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The Rossiya Hotel (Russian: Россия) was a large hotel built in Moscow in 1967 at the order of Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev. Construction used the existing foundations of a cancelled skyscraper project, the eighth of the Seven Sisters. Large portions of a historic district of Moscow, known as Zaryadye, were demolished in the 1940s for the original project. It was registered in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest hotel in the world. It remained the largest hotel in Europe up until its 2006 closure.
The 21 story Rossiya had 3,200 rooms, 245 half suites, a post office, a health club, a nightclub, a movie theater and a barber shop as well as the 2500-seat State Central Concert Hall. The building was capable of sheltering over 4,000 guests. The hotel was adjacent to Red Square, its 21-story tower looming over the Kremlin walls and the cupolas of Saint Basil's Cathedral. In 1977, there was a massive fire in the hotel, killing 42 and injuring 50. [1]
[edit] Demolition
The Rossiya Hotel officially closed its doors on January 1, 2006. Demolition of the building began in March 2006 for an entertainment complex loosely based on the design of the old Zaryadye district. [2] [3] The project is being overseen by British architect Sir Norman Foster and includes plans for a new, two thousand room hotel with apartments and a parking garage.[1]
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