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GUM department store

Moscow's national department store GUM on Red Square has a rich and mysterious history that few can rival. It has survived more than a century of tumult since opening in 1893.


The 242-meter-long (794 feet), three-story structure escaped the bulldozer three times. And it became Stalin's office in the 1920s.

Its lavish toilets were shut down for being a bourgeois luxury in 1918. One of them -- branded Historic Toilet -- has now been restored to its pre-revolutionary grandeur and is open to anyone willing to spend just a little money.


Its communist era hasn't been forgotten; the Soviet-themed cafe Stolovaya No 57 serves up borscht, pies and pickles along with nostalgia. An ice rink opens each winter.