Moscow to mark the Ukraina Hotel’s 60th anniversary with a 3D light show

The facade of the Ukraina Hotel on Kutuzovsky Prospekt will be lit up with a 3D light show on 25 May. It will mark the 60th anniversary of the famous skyscraper. The show will run from 10.40 pm until about 11 pm.

Muscovites and visitors will watch the building take on different features of art deco and turn into a gothic cathedral and a palace in the style of classicism. At the same time, the audience will learn about the hotel’s construction, the characteristics of Stalin-era buildings and when Kutuzovsky Prospekt appeared.

Since the building is decorated with symbols –stars, sickles, hammers, wheat ears and sheaves –the 3D show will incorporate all these elements. Viewers will see virtual versions of Soviet bas-reliefs and that of the Worker and Kolkhoz Woman. The performance will end with images of the 1980 Summer Olympics’ emblem and its mascot, Misha the bear.

The best places to view the light show will be from the Krasnopresnenskaya Embankment and Novoarbatsky Bridge, said the press service of the Moscow Department of Regional Security and Anti-Corruption Activities.

The Ukraina Hotel will be the second Stalin-era high-rise to serve as a backdrop for a light show. Last year as part of the Circle of Light annual festival, a large-scale show animated the tallest of the seven buildings –Lomonosov MSU. The video projection covered an area of about 25,000 square metres.

The construction of the Ukraina Hotel lasted from 1953 through 1957. The opening ceremony took place on 25 May 1957. Of the seven Stalin-era high-rises, the Ukraina is the second tallest one.  In Europe, however, it was recognised as the tallest hotel with a total area exceeding 88,000 square metres and a height of 206 metres, including a 73-metre dome.