Economist.com Cities Guide: Moscow Briefing - May 2005

News this month

Pomp and propaganda

For the 60th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany, more than 50 world leaders attended an elaborate military parade in Red Square on May 9th. Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, used his time at the podium to stress Russia’s sacrifices during the war. But he did not express regret over the country’s subsequent control over central and eastern Europe, as many leaders hoped he would. Despite recent tensions over Mr Putin’s anti-democratic policies, George Bush took the seat of honour next to him.

In the build-up to the anniversary, Moscow exhibited all the hallmarks of a large Russian celebration: frantic cleaning; a plethora of patriotic posters; and sudden, unexplained street closures. A gathering that featured Hu Jintao, Gerhard Schröder and Jacques Chirac made the Russians understandably security-conscious. Most of central Moscow was closed to ordinary Muscovites from May 7th, while rooftop snipers, plus 2,000 special security police, 1,500 cadets, 5,000 soldiers and 24,000 ordinary police were on duty. During the parade, at least 20 fighter jets circled overhead, serving both as protection and a deafening show of force.

Bad old days

A top-ranking former general of the Federal Security Bureau (FSB), a successor of the KGB, was shot dead in Moscow on April 10th. Colonel General Anatoly Trofimov was shot by gunmen while driving in northern Moscow. He died instantly, and his wife died later in hospital. Trofimov served as head of the Moscow branch of the FSB until the late 1990s, when he was dismissed after allegations of fraud. As security types often do in Russia, he then went into business; opinion is now divided as to whether his death is linked to his business dealings or his FSB career.

Some have connected the shooting to an attempted assassination in March of Anatoly Chubais, a privatisation guru and the chief executive of Unified Energy System (Russia’s electricity monopoly); Mr Chubais and Trofimov had been fierce rivals. Some worry that the case may herald a return to the super-criminalised Moscow of the mid-1990s, when many businessmen were killed.

All change

Ninety years after the Bolsheviks did away with the Tsars, Moscow's tourism committee has decided to revive a pre-revolutionary tradition: the ceremonial changing of the Kremlin guard. The hope is presumably that the ceremony will prove as appealing to tourists as the guard changing at London’s Buckingham Palace.

The ceremony, which will take place at noon every Saturday throughout the summer, involves carefully choreographed set-pieces, performed by 12 guards on horseback and 45 infantrymen, accompanied by the drums and flute of the presidential orchestra. Soldiers wear uniforms and sport bayonets based on those worn by Tsar Nicholas II’s dragoons. There is, however, a catch. Officials have suggested that those who wish to see this extravaganza will have to pay as much as 1,000 roubles ($35). Tickets will be sold by selected tourist agencies, and will include access to the Kremlin's cathedrals and some of its palaces as well.

Gambling on development

One of Moscow's rotting industrial areas seems set to benefit from a regeneration project. Plans were unveiled in April to transform the neighbourhood near Kursky Station—until now used mostly for warehousing and deemed unsuitable for offices—with a 63,500 square-metre business complex. The “Citydel” development is scheduled to open in 2007, and will contain offices, shops and a restaurant. It is also supposed to cost between $120m and $130m.

Some real-estate analysts, however, are not convinced that the investment is justified. The area has no other offices of similar quality, and the lack of available land nearby means others are unlikely to follow in the future. Another worry is that Tema, the project's developers, have a spotty track record. Problems they experienced leasing out space in the prestigious Smolensky Passage shopping centre do not augur well for Citydel.

A lesser phoenix

The Manezh Central Exhibition Hall, one of Moscow's treasures before it was gutted by fire, was re-opened with great pomp on April 18th. Only the walls of the one-time cavalry stables, built in 1817 to honour Tsar Alexander I’s victory over Napoleon, remained after the fire on March 14th 2004.

The Manezh was put to various uses in its early years, but from 1831 it was a concert and presentation hall. It was said to be the world's largest uncolumned interior space. The seemingly faithful external restoration belies a new, contemporary interior. The Manezh is now a modern exhibition hall, complete with shiny new escalators and two new cafés. The speed of the restoration, and its uneven quality, have led to a fierce dispute between the city government and conservationists. Artistic and historical casualties include the roof beams, which are now exposed and made of pine rather than larch. Some groan that the absence of a ceiling destroys the space's former proportion and light. And the floor, in the words of one critic, is “the colour of a piglet”.

Catch if you can

May 2005

Andrew Lloyd Webber's “Cats”

Open run

On both Broadway and in London's West End, Andrew Lloyd Webber's “Cats” is the longest-running musical in history. Inspired by poetry from T.S. Elliot, the show has raked in over $2 billion, all told. The Russian version, which opened on March 18th at the Moscow Youth Palace, is optimistically without a closing date. The entire libretto (save the cats' names) has been translated, and Christine Cartwright, the British director who also worked on the London production, has faithfully recreated the costumes, make-up and movement from the original.

Many in the cast are veterans of Moscow musicals, though they acknowledge that their classical Russian training did not prepare them for the energetic mixture of singing, dancing and over-emoting that are the hallmarks of Webberian musicals. Over 20,000 tickets to the show were sold a week before the especially renovated theatre opened its doors. Lord Lloyd Webber dutifully attended the premiere.

Moscow Youth Palace, Komsomolsky prospekt 28. Tel: +7 (095) 245-8421. Metro: Frunzenskaya. Shows begin at 7pm. Prices vary. For more information, visit the theatre's website (in Russian).

More from the Moscow cultural calendar