Travel Notes

New Kremlin Jewel?

Vladimir Kozhin, presidential chief-of-staff, announced that Building No. 5 (photo, left), located directly on Red Square, facing Savior’s Tower and St. Basil’s Cathedral, will be the future home a super-elite hotel, The Kremlin Yard. The hotel complex will also include: (1) a museum featuring displays from various storerooms of Russian museums, (2) a Sotheby’s-style auction house, selling antiques and jewelry, and (3) a Precious Metals and Stones Center. Kozhin said the project will get underway sometime next year, and have an estimated cost of $300 million. Yet apparently Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov was not informed of the Kremlin’s plans beforehand, which may be a sticking point: Moscow City Hall has jurisdiction over all buildings in Moscow outside the Kremlin walls.