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Moscow's 540-metre-tall Ostankino Tower has been a watchful eye over the historic and varied cityscape since 1967, when it was built to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution. The tallest freestanding structure in Europe is a radio, television, and observation tower that also became the first freestanding structure to break the 500-metre barrier. Designed by Nikolai Nikitin, the tower uses prestressed concrete to form its simple but sturdy appearance, which has been compared to an upside-down lily.
The observation deck is located 337 metres from the ground, lending visitors a spellbinding perspective of Moscow's diverse architectural fabric. The city isn't particularly known for its skyscrapers, though the emerging Moscow International Business Center, also simply known as Moscow City, is challenging that perception. This dense cluster of towers, visible to the southwest of the Ostankino Tower, boasts four of the five tallest buildings in Europe. The 374-metre Federation Tower East, the 354-metre OKO South Tower and the 339-metre Mercury City Tower each easily surpass the 310-metre Shard in London. Located on the site of a former stone quarry along the Moscow River's Presnenskaya embankment, the 60-hectare district has become a major commercial, residential, and entertainment hub.
Numerous spires erected between 1947 and 1953 in the Stalinist style are visible from the observation deck. Scattered throughout the city, the sites of these so-called 'Seven Sisters' were secretly selected by Josef Stalin. Hotel Ukraina, Kotelnicheskaya Embankment Apartments, the Kudrinskaya Square Building, the Hilton Moscow Leningradskaya Hotel, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs main building, Moscow State University, and the Red Gates Administrative Building each combine Russian Baroque and Gothic motifs. Another two structures designed in the same style, Zaryadye Administrative Building and the Palace of the Soviets, were planned but never constructed. The 264-metre Triumph Palace is sometimes called the Eighth Sister due to its similar aesthetic. With 57 floors and about 1,000 luxury apartments, the 2006-built skyscraper forms another defining peak in the relatively short skyline. It is visible in the right-hand side of the above photo.
The view to the northeast gives guests a look at the multi-tower Tricolour development, the Monument to the Conquerors of Space, and the VDNkh Exhibition Center, which was constructed by Stalin to glorify communism and socialism. This section of the Ostankino district contains a number of distinct structures, including a rebuilt Expo 67 pavilion that continues to thrive as a strong example of Soviet Modernism.
In the outskirts of the city, the 116-square-kilometre Losiny Ostrov National Park represents the third largest forest in a metropolis of comparable size, after Table Mountain National Park in Cape Town and Pedra Branca State Park in Rio de Janeiro. Once the exclusive hunting grounds of Russian Grand Princes and tsars, much of the National Park is now open for recreational use. About half the park remains closed to the public to ensure protection of the approximately 44 species of mammals, 170 bird species, nine amphibian species, five reptile species, and 19 fish species that live there.
Historically, Moscow was a city of Orthodox churches. But Stalin's plan to modernize urban areas, combined with the newfound secularism gripping the nation, led to the demolition of numerous places of worship. Many of Moscow's historical landmarks and most significant structures, including the Sukharev Tower, were lost to create a new network of roadways. The city's ringed road system emanates from the Kremlin, and like a dartboard, is laid out through a series of concentric circles and intersecting thoroughfares. This curvilinear pattern of streets stands in stark contrast to the grid system employed in the majority of North American cities.
Much of the Moscow cityscape is composed of fairly monotonous apartment blocks, which erupted in accordance with the Soviet objective of providing housing for every family. Most of these buildings were constructed in the post-Stalin era and their styles are consequently named after the leader in power at the time. Thanks to the abundance of these mid-rise and highrise blocks, it is estimated that Moscow has over twice as many elevators as New York City.
While the Ostankino Tower's height was overtaken by the CN Tower in Toronto nine years after completion, it continues to flourish as one of Moscow's most popular tourist attractions. The multifaceted — and sometimes confusing — pockets of the city that comprise Russia's most populous area can be defined through the elevated perspective the tower provides. Thus, the Ostankino Tower acts as an educational tool as much as it does an awe-inspiring feat of engineering. And although Moscow has historically not been a city of skyscrapers, recent developments have given neighbourhoods a fresh identity that can be detected from kilometres away.
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