Moscow's Main Department Store is not just a shopping center where you can buy anything. GUM is a true legend.
Everyone born in the USSR knew about this store, even if they lived thousands of kilometers away from it. In times of shortages, people arriving in the capital went to GUM first of all - if not to buy something, then at least to look around.
The current GUM building was erected in 1893 on the site of the outdated Upper Trading Rows. The Moscow merchants' guild announced a competition, won by architect Pomerantsev with a design in the pseudo-Russian style that harmonized with the other buildings of Red Square. Elements of Russian ornamental architecture and GUM's little towers blend beautifully with the architecture of Moscow's ancient center.
Built with the guild's money, the grand store was the pride of Russian merchants until 1917, when the merchants were driven out of GUM, their goods were nationalized, and Soviet institutions, offices, and communal apartments were placed in the shop premises, remaining here until the 1960s. They even wanted to demolish GUM, but the war prevented it, and after it the building was kept and revived.
Today GUM is filled with modern retail sections, but references to the times when it was the main store of the USSR have still been preserved: here you can hear Soviet hits, and at Gastronom No. 1 they sell tea with an elephant and juice in a three-liter jar.
