Hotel National

The Hotel National stands on Mokhovaya Street at the start of Tverskaya, just steps from the Kremlin and Red Square. Built in 1900–1902 in the Art Nouveau style with Neo-Renaissance elements, the building was considered one of Moscow's most prestigious hotels at the time of its opening. Today it is Russia's only hotel operating under the international Luxury Collection brand and a federally protected architectural landmark.

In 1900 the plot where the old “Balaklava” tavern had stood was bought by the “Varvarinskoye” property partnership, and the design of the new building was commissioned from St. Petersburg architect Alexander Ivanov. The façade was faced with natural stone, ceramic tile, and stucco molding, and the corner attic was decorated with the majolica panel “Apollo and the Muses” by Sergei Chekhonin and Alexander Golovin, produced at Savva Mamontov's ceramics factory. Reinforced concrete and waterproofing advanced for its time were used in construction, and the grand staircase was fitted with marble steps with no visible supports — a design that creates the illusion they are floating in midair.

The grand opening took place on December 29, 1902. The six-story building had 160 rooms with water closets and telephones; the elevators were considered a novelty, and the furniture and chandeliers were imported from abroad. A stay cost up to 25 rubles a night. Guests included Dmitry Merezhkovsky and Zinaida Gippius, Anna Pavlova and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and in 1913–1914 Anatole France and H. G. Wells stayed here. In 1910 Sergei Muromtsev, chairman of the first State Duma, died at the hotel, and in 1906 a Socialist Revolutionary militant living under a false passport stayed here while preparing an assassination attempt on the Moscow governor-general.

After the revolution the building was nationalized and renamed House of Soviets No. 1: Vladimir Lenin and Nadezhda Krupskaya lived in a third-floor suite before moving to the Kremlin, and in 1924 it hosted delegates of the Fifth Congress of the Comintern. In 1931–1932 the hotel was renovated and its former name restored; rooms were furnished with pieces from former imperial residences, and the original majolica panel was replaced with a new one by Ivan Rerberg depicting the labor of a Soviet worker. In 1974 the building was placed on the list of protected historical and cultural monuments.

A large-scale restoration in 1991–1995, carried out by the Austrian company Rogner together with Mosproekt-2, restored the hotel's historic appearance: the suites retained antique early-twentieth-century furniture, and the grand staircase kept its original 1902 stained-glass windows. In 2011 businessman Sait-Salam Gutseriev acquired the hotel's entire share package, and in 2021 the “Beluga” restaurant that opened there was awarded a Michelin star.

Today the National remains a symbol of hospitality luxury in Moscow: the building has lived through three political eras while preserving its historic décor and its status as one of the most recognizable hotels beside the Kremlin walls.