Ministry of Foreign Affairs Main Building, Moscow

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs Main Building is a monumental government skyscraper constructed between 1948 and 1953. Designed by architects Vladimir Gelfreikh and Mikhail Minkus, it is one of the seven Moscow skyscrapers commonly known as Stalin’s Seven Sisters.

The building was created as part of the postwar high-rise program initiated under Joseph Stalin and continues to house the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. Rising to approximately 172 meters and 27 stories in its central section, the building has a stepped composition with progressively lower side wings. Its architecture combines monumental Stalinist classicism with vertical forms influenced by early twentieth-century skyscraper design. The façade is faced largely with light-colored ceramic blocks above a red-granite base and includes decorative portals, obelisks, and sculptural ornament. High on the main façade remains a large reinforced-concrete coat of arms of the Soviet Union, positioned about 114 meters above ground. The building’s spire was not part of the initially approved design and was added during construction, reportedly following an order from the Soviet leadership. Unlike several of the other Seven Sisters, the spire is not topped by a five-pointed star.

Because the complex remains an active government facility, its interiors are not generally accessible for ordinary sightseeing, but its exterior remains one of the clearest surviving examples of the large-scale high-rise architecture developed in the Soviet capital during the late Stalin period.