The building was built according to the project of architect Dmitry Chechulin, the founder of the Stalinist Empire. This majestic style combines pomp, luxury and monumentality.
Stalin's Empire embodied the features of the French character of the 19th century era. Dmitry Chechulin has made a dizzying career rise, rising in ten years from an ordinary member of the architect Shchusev's team to the position of chief architect of Moscow.
As a sign of friendship between China and the USSR, Moscow announces the name of a new hotel in the center of the capital "Peking".
At first glance, the building struck with its luxury: Chinese motifs emphasizing the authenticity of the interiors, high walls covered with silk with vivid scenes from the life of the Chinese nobility. The ceiling was decorated with 12 crystal chandeliers, inherited by the USSR as trophies from Germany.
The hotel welcomes the first guests and subsequently becomes a second home for high-ranking persons, diplomatic delegations and cultural figures.
Among the famous guests: Arkady Raikin, Vasily Stalin, Marina Vladi, Lolita Tores, Dean Reed, Marcel Marceau and many others.
The opening of the first and only Chinese restaurant in the capital is a joint Soviet-Chinese enterprise "Peking in Moscow"
The restaurant was decorated by Chinese architects and decorators as a gift to the capital. He, in turn, attracted guests with exotic Asian cuisine in Soviet Moscow.
The hotel building is recognized as a monument of history and culture. After more than half a century, "Peking" has changed little externally.
The only thing that stands out is that modern doors installed instead of massive ones with cast handles. The high-rise building with multi-figure bas-reliefs above the entrance, as before, is decorated with a clock tower and a spire.
A museum has been opened on the 7th floor of the Peking Hotel, where guests can get acquainted with the history of the construction of the hotel, learn interesting facts about famous guests, admire the preserved interior details of the legendary Peking restaurant – wooden sculptures, natural stone ornaments, vases made of famous Chinese porcelain, as well as see tapestries and paintings with expressive landscapes of the Celestial Empire. In the museum, you can make a wish to the lion guards of the hotel.
According to the ancient Chinese tradition, the lion is a mythical defender of the Law, the guardian of sacred structures. He is a symbol of power and success, power and strength. In early Chinese art, lions were not depicted at all, but with the development of imperial power, they began to appear in different images and incarnations. Initially, the Heavenly Lions stood exclusively in front of the entrance to the imperial dwelling.
And only many years later the guards appeared in front of palaces, temples and state institutions. Over time, lions began to decorate houses and turned into a symbol of high social status and material well-being of the family. Traditionally, guardian lions, holding a bronze ball with their paw, are arranged in pairs on both sides of the entrance. On the right hand is a lion, on the left — a lioness. There are several legends about what exactly the ball symbolizes. According to one of them, the lion presses the "globe" with his paw and personifies the Yang energy. According to another, the ball is the sun, and the lion is a symbol of the power of nature.
7th floor, entrance is free for hotel guests. Working hours: around the clock.
