Lubyanka Building

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Lubyanka
Лубянка
General information
Architectural style	Neo-Baroque
Town or city	Moscow
Country	Russia
Current tenants	FSB
Completed	1898
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Alexander V. Ivanov

Lubyanka (

The Lubyanka building is home to the Lubyanka prison, the headquarters of the Border Guard Service, a KGB museum and a subsection of the FSB.^[2] Part of the prison was turned into a prison museum, but a special authorization is required for visits.^[3]

The lower floors are made of granite with emblazoned Soviet crests.^[4]

The Lubyanka was originally built in 1898 as a revenue house by the All-Russia Insurance Company (Rossiya Insurance Company), on the spot where Catherine the Great had once headquartered her secret police.^[4] The building was designed by the architect Alexander V. Ivanov. It is noted for its parquet floors and pale green walls. Belying its massiveness, the edifice avoids an impression of heroic scale: isolated Palladian and Baroque details, such as the minute pediments over the corner bays and the central loggia, are lost in an endlessly repeating palace facade where three bands of cornices emphasize the horizontal lines. A clock is centered in the uppermost band of the facade.

A fountain used to stand in front of the building, at the center of Lubyanka Square.^[3]

Following the

In 1957, Russia's largest toy shop opened on the opposite side of Lubyanka Square, where a medieval cannon foundry was previously located.^[4] In 1958, the fountain at the center of Lubyanka Square was replaced by an 11-ton (or 14-ton,^[10] or 15-ton^[11]) statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky ("Iron Felix"), founder of the Cheka.^[3]

In 1972, Vasili Mitrokhin moved 300,000 KGB files from the Lubyanka building, copies or notes on some of which he gave to the British intelligence in 1992.^[12]

The building's asymmetric façade survived intact until 1983, when the original structure was reconstructed to match the new build, at the urging of Communist Party General Secretary and former KGB Director Yuri Andropov in accordance with Shchusev's plans.

Although the Soviet secret police changed its name many times, their headquarters remained in this building. Secret police chiefs from

During the 1980s, the prison was turned into a cafeteria for KGB staff.[9]

After the dissolution of the KGB in 1991, the Lubyanka became the headquarters of the

In 1990, an employee of the Lubyanka, Katya Mayorova, became Miss KGB, the first official "security services beauty title".^[13] In 1990, the Solovetsky Stone was erected across from the Lubyanka, to commemorate the victims of political repression. In August 1991, the statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky was dismantled and removed from the center of the Lubyanka Square.^[3][10] That same year, Western visitors were allowed to tour the building's prison for the first time.^[9]

Remains of Adolf Hitler, as well as those of Joseph and Magda Goebbels, were presented at the Lubyanka in a 2004 documentary.^[14]

Hitler's personal Golden Party Badge, which was discovered by the Red Army after the capture of Berlin, was stored in the Lubyanka. The badge was stolen in 2005, when guards thought a cat had set off the alarms, allowing the burglar to escape.^[15]

In 2015, the Lubyanka's front door was set on fire by

In 2008, the wing of the house from Myasnitskaya Street received the status of a cultural heritage site. In 2011, it underwent reconstruction. During this period, information appeared about the installation of a helipad on the roof of the building. According to the head of Rosokhrankultura Viktor Petrakov, it has existed for a long time. Although the roof of the building was not protected, representatives of the Moscow Department of Cultural Heritage stated that the project was not approved and the reconstruction was carried out without proper documentation.^[19] Details of the restoration of the facades, which took place in 2013-2014, were not disclosed due to the secret status of the object.^[20]

Thanks to the activities of government agencies that worked in the building, the toponym "Lubyanka" has become a household name. Phraseological units associated with the house appeared at different times.

Rallies and pickets are regularly held near the walls of the FSB building and the nearby Solovetsky Stone monument. In October 2018, endless single-person rallies were held near the house in support of prisoners in the cases of the New Greatness [ru] and Network Case [ru] organizations.^[21][22] In November 2016, the artist Petr Pavlensky held an action - setting fire to the main entrance of the building as a protest "against continuous terror." He was fined for damaging a cultural heritage site, although it later emerged that the original door had been removed long ago.^[23][24][25]

• Lefortovo Prison
• Prisons in Russia