Stalin’s Skyscrapers (Seven Sisters) in Moscow

Stalin’s skyscrapers are an ensemble comprised of 7 Stalin-era “vertical forms” – a grandiose project by the “leader of the world’s peoples” to transform Moscow into the world proletariat’s capital.
The concept entailed building 8 skyscrapers in honor of Moscow’s 800^th anniversary, but that did not occur because Stalin passed away. Nonetheless, Moscow’s appearance today is inseparably connected with the 7 skyscrapers. They are similar in appearance but are also designated for different purposes:
- 2 ministries: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Railways
- 2 residential buildings: skyscrapers on Kudrinskaya Square and Kotelnicheskaya Embankment
- Moscow State University’s main building; this is the country’s most prominent university
- 2 hotels: Ukraina and Leningradskaya
The finishing touch was supposed to be a building for the Heavy Machine-Building Industry near the Kremlin – the Zaryadye neighborhood was demolished to make room for that.

There are legends swirling around the skyscrapers event today, and the story behind each is worth paying attention to individually. A tour through Stalin-era Moscow will let you discover a lot about what these skyscrapers lived through, including visiting an apartment in one of them.

Below, you will find the IdeaGuide map depicting where Stalin’s skyscrapers are located.