Seven Sisters

Moscow, Soviet Union

Exterior only

Visible from the street; the inside is private.

The Seven Sisters are a group of seven monumental skyscrapers in Moscow built between 1947 and 1957 in the Stalinist Empire style. Designed by a collaborative team of Soviet architects including Dmitry Chechulin, Lev Rudnev, Vladimir Gelfreich, and others, these granite, marble, and limestone structures—reaching 136 meters in height—were the tallest buildings in Europe at the time of construction. The seven include the Hotel Ukraina, Kotelnicheskaya Embankment Apartments, the Kudrinskaya Square Building, the Leningradskaya Hotel, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters, Moscow State University's main building, and the Red Gates Administrative Building. Moscow State University's tower remained Europe's tallest until 1990. Two additional buildings in the same style, the Zaryadye Administrative Building and the Palace of the Soviets, were planned but never realized.