The Kremlin State Palace was built in 1961. Its construction lasted one year and four months. These terms are considered truly record. The construction was carried out with the active support of Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev, who at that time held the post of First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee.
One of the most important tasks was to determine the site for the construction of the Palace. It had to be a place corresponding to the socio-political purpose of this monumental structure. That is why it was decided to build the Kremlin State Palace on the territory of the Kremlin - an important place for any Russian person.
According to the results of a closed competition for the creation of a construction project, Posokhin Mikhail Vasilievich became the winner and head of the construction process. He led a team of architects who developed individual elements of the Palace.
The original plan was to make a conference room with four thousand seats. However, later the size of the roomhas been corrected. The reason for this was the example of foreign colleagues: Chinese architects, who were developing the plan for the Palace of Congresses in Beijing, created a project for ten thousand seats with a huge banquet hall. Khrushchev, who visited this majestic building, was simply amazed. It was decided to increase the assembly hall that was being built in the Palace to 6,000 seats. For the most successful implementation of the plan, a group of Soviet architects traveled to the USA and Germany in order to get acquainted with the experience of erecting such buildings.
Designing the façade was also a difficult process. A great variety of architectural solutions were submitted for consideration. The now well-known façade of the Palace was shaped in the course of creative quests.
In the summer of 1961, the outside of the Kremlin State Palace was already completely finished with white Ural marble, glass and golden anodized aluminum. To decorate the interiors, materials such as red patterned Baku tuff, karbakhty granite, and koelga marble were used. The walls and floor are finished with oak, beech, ash, hornbeam and Pacific walnut.
On October 17, 1961, the State Kremlin Palace was solemnly opened. The official website reports that a festive concert took place that day, the program of which included a fragment of the notorious ballet called Swan Lake. Also, the audience was pleased with the performances of honored artists.
Central theater and concertThe State Kremlin Palace became the platform of the whole country. Moscow began to attract even more tourists, since the long-awaited premieres of the academic Bolshoi Theater were held on the stage of this building, legendary dance and singing groups performed.
The Kremlin State Palace became the venue for the CPSU congresses for two decades.
In 2003, the building underwent a grandiose reconstruction - the sound and lighting equipment was modernized. At present, the Palace, in terms of its technical equipment, is on the same level as the Royal Shakespeare Theater (Stratford), Carnegie Hall (New York) and Shrine Auditorium (Los Angeles).
