page_title: Main building of Moscow State University
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Main building of Moscow State University / History
caption_attribution_description: English: The stamp shows the main building of Moscow State University.
context_page_description: The main building of Moscow State University a 240-metre, 36-level skyscraper in Moscow, Russia. Designed by Lev Rudnev as the headquarters of Moscow State University, it is the tallest of seven Moscow skyscrapers in the Stalinist architectural style constructed between 1947 and 1953. It was until 1990 the tallest building in Europe; it remains the tallest educational building in the world.
context_section_description: The leading architect Boris Iofan bid for the skyscraper project in 1947 but the job was assigned to Lev Rudnev, because Iofan made a mistake placing his draft skyscraper right on the edge of Sparrow Hills, a site concerned with a potential landslide hazard. Rudnev had already built important edifices like the M. V. Frunze Military Academy (1932–1937) and the Marshals' Apartments (Sadovaya-Kudrinskaya, 28, 1947), earning esteem of the Communist Party. He set the building 800 meters away from the cliff. The chief of the engineers' team was Vsevolod Nikolaevich Nasonov.
  The main tower, which consumed over 40,000 tons of steel for its framework and 130,000 cubic metres of concrete, was inaugurated on September 1, 1953. At 240 metres tall, it was the 7th tallest building of the world  as well as the tallest in Europe. Its European height record held until 1990, when surpassed by the Messeturm in Frankfurt, Germany. It was also, and still remains, the tallest educational building in the world.
  Moscow University is probably the best known of Rudnev's buildings, for which he was awarded the Stalin Prize in 1949.
  The University skyline inspired various buildings in the socialist countries, like the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw, and also the logo of 1980 Moscow Olympic Games.
caption: A 1960 soviet stamp features the main building of Moscow State University
exif: {}