Main Building of Moscow Pedagogical State University

Brief information

The building was constructed not simply as a block with lecture rooms, but as a visible argument: the Moscow Higher Women’s Courses demonstrated their continuity with Imperial Moscow University through architecture. That is why the neoclassical forms here quote the university ensemble on Mokhovaya Street, and the academic building looks like an institution with an already established tradition, although it was built for the new educational environment of the early 20th century.

The original Auditorium Building was erected on Devichye Pole in 1907-1912. Today it is the main building of Moscow Pedagogical State University, housing the Faculty of Philology and the rector’s office. An important shift in perspective is that the strict university appearance conceals an engineering history: Vladimir Shukhov took part in the building’s structures, and his work with the glass roof over the large interior space is especially noticeable.

What to notice right away

The main principle of viewing it is to compare the representational quality of the facade with the way the building is unfolded in space. The building is not set as a conventional frontal block, but as an angular symmetrical composition: a domed rotunda with a Doric colonnade is brought out to the corner of the street and lane, while the wings adjoin it from two sides. As a result, the corner becomes the building’s main face rather than a side part.

On the facades, it is worth noticing the reliefs. Between the two rows of windows of the rotunda runs a frieze with multi-figure compositions, and relief images are also placed in the semicircular niches above the windows and between the pilasters of the avant-corps. Inside, the key detail is the vestibule-atrium under a transparent glass roof: it is described as a space resembling a city square. The arc-shaped volume between the wings, where the Great Auditorium is arranged, works together with this idea.