Luxury hotel opens in Soviet landmark

(Rezidor)

A Soviet-era landmark in the center of Moscow has reopened as a luxury hotel after a three-year renovation.

The former Hotel Ukraina was known as one of the "Seven Sisters," an iconic set of skyscrapers built under Stalin between 1947 and 1953 to rival the structures springing up in capitalist cities such as New York.

Built in an elaborate gothic style with a "wedding-cake" construction and spires, they were intended to symbolize Soviet power and achievement

At its reopening last week, the hotel now known as the Radisson Royal Hotel Moscow was no less impressive, rising 206 meters into the sky from the banks of the Moskva river. The extensive renovation has seen 506 rooms in the building refurbished, along with a further 36 suites and apartments.

Situated close to Red Square in the commercial center of Moscow, the hotel boasts no fewer than six restaurants and bars, ranging from Japanese to Iranian, Italian to Russian and a floating yacht restaurant that runs a two-hour trip along the river.

For art lovers, the hotel contains some 1,200 original pieces, among them paintings by Vasily Polenov, Julius Klever, Alexander Deineka, Dmitry Nalbandian, Max Birstein, Michael Suzdal'tsev, Nicholas Romadin, and Mikhail Kupriyanov.

At a ceremony attended by the mayor of Moscow, Kurt Ritter, the President of Radisson owner Rezidor, described the hotel as a milestone in his company's history.

However, Hotel Ukraina isn't the only Sister to offer a nightly rate. The Hotel Leningradskaya in Komsomolskaya Square reopened to the public in 2008 after its own extensive refurbishment, as a Hilton hotel.

http://www.radisson-hotels.ru