GUM (department store)

GUM (Russian: ГУМ, pronounced [ˈɡum], an abbreviation of Russian: Глáвный универсáльный магазѝн, tr. Glávnyj Universáĺnyj Magazín literally "main universal store") is the name of the main department store in many cities of the former Soviet Union, known as State Department Store (Russian: Государственный универсальный магазин, tr. Gosudarstvennyi Universalnyi Magazin) during the Soviet times. Similarly named stores were found in some Soviet republics and post-Soviet states. The most famous GUM is the large store in the Kitai-gorod part of Moscow facing Red Square. It is currently a shopping mall. Prior to the 1920s, the location was known as the Upper Trading Rows (Russian: Верхние торговые ряды, tr. Verhnije torgovye rjady). Nearby, facing The Bolshoi Theatre, is a building very similar to GUM, known formerly as the Middle Trading Rows, now the Central Universal Department Store (Russian: Центрáльный Универсáльный Магазѝн (ЦУМ), tr. Centráĺnyj Universáĺnyj Magazín (CUM)). It is about the same size as a large North American shopping mall. It has a glass roof.

With the façade extending for 794 ft (242 m) along the eastern side of Red Square, the Upper Trading Rows were built between 1890 and 1893 by Alexander Pomerantsev (responsible for architecture) and Vladimir Shukhov (responsible for engineering). The trapezoidal building features a combination of elements of Russian medieval architecture and a steel framework and glass roof, a similar style to the great 19th-century railway stations of London. William Craft Brumfield described the GUM building as "a tribute both to Shukhov's design and to the technical proficiency of Russian architecture toward the end of the 19th century".

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