Travel Notes

Moskva hotel to be rebuilt

As this issue went to print, the fate of the square which was opened up in the center of Moscow with the demolition of the Moskva hotel was again making headlines. The Moscow government and the Russian State Duma are  fighting over whether the hotel should be rebuilt.

At the end of last year, Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov told media that he was ready to give up on plans to rebuild the hotel and build a square in its place, preserving the beautiful view that had opened after the demolition. Late in January, the Motherland faction of the Russian State Duma proposed that nothing be built on the site, citing the “grand view that has opened on the unique city ensembles,” but the proposal was voted down. The Duma Committee for Culture said the hotel should be rebuilt, as the site had always been occupied and leaving it vacant would “distort” the Moscow landscape.