# Forum About Russia Russian Cities  Former famous landmarks, sites, monuments...now gone

## rockzmom

> Originally Posted by Johanna  My grandparents went to Moscow in the middle of the winter a long time ago. They went swimming in a very cool outdoor pool right in the middle of the city and loved it.  I read that this pool has been filled up and a Church has been built there.

 Now wait just a cotton-pickin' minute here!!!  
You mean to tell me that that amazing outdoor aquatic center was destroyed for a... church?   
"Lucy, you got some 'splainin' to do! ... Lucy" 
Who had this bright idea?  
When did this happen? 
Did "the" people want this? If not could they have fought this? 
Could you ice skate there in the winter? 
Is there at least a pool still hidden under the church... you know for swimming baptisms?

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## Оля

> You mean to tell me that that amazing outdoor aquatic center was destroyed for a... church?

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral_ ... he_Saviour   

> On 5 December 1931, by order of Stalin's minister Kaganovich, the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour was dynamited and reduced to rubble. It took more than a year to clear the debris from the site. The original marble high reliefs were preserved and are now on display at the Donskoy Monastery (see the photo). For a long time, they were the only reminder of the largest Orthodox church ever built.
> The construction of the Palace of Soviets was interrupted owing to a lack of funds, problems with flooding from the nearby Moskva River, and the outbreak of war. The flooded foundation hole remained on the site until, under Nikita Khrushchev, it was transformed into the world's largest open air swimming pool, it was called the Moskva Pool.

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## rockzmom

Okay, so first.. the largest Orthodox church ever built was there on that site. 
Next, we have it dynamited and reduced to rubble to eventually make way for world's largest open air swimming pool. 
Then, the pool was demolished and the cathedral was reconstruction as an exact replica with extraordinary accuracy. 
And... it does seem from the article that "About one million Muscovites donated money for the project" so it was what the "people" wanted. 
I now understand... but wow! "You" never seem to do anything small scale! The largest church and outdoor pool both on the same site! 
So, what about the poor pool? Was another ever built like it anywhere else?

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## Ramil

It was cool only on pictures. There were problems with sanitation. Still you could swim there even in winter since they heated the water. Thank gods they didn't build the Palace of Soviets there. I'd hated to see grandpa Lenin looking at me wherever I go. Look in the original thread - I've posted some images of this monstrosity there.

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## BappaBa

> It was cool only on pictures. There were problems with sanitation.

 It was cool indeed, imho. When I was a kid my parents took me there, great memories!

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## BappaBa

> Could you ice skate there in the winter?

 =) more photos...

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## rockzmom

> =) more photos...

 BappaBa... OMG...those are amazing! How cold it must have been to get out of the warm water with the snow all around! And how amazing to be able to swim outside while it was snowing!  
Were any teams based out of the pool? I mean were there swim meet events held there as well? I ask because it looks as though it was set up to be able to handle such things regulation wise and with the diving platforms and such! 
I can't believe you actually went there yourself! How lucky for you!!! I am sooooooo jealous!!

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## BappaBa

> How cold it must have been to get out of the warm water with the snow all around! And how amazing to be able to swim outside while it was snowing!

 It was not necessary to get out of the warm water in the cold, there there were tunnels to warm dressing rooms on perimeter.   

> Were any teams based out of the pool? I mean were there swim meet events held there as well? I ask because it looks as though it was set up to be able to handle such things regulation wise and with the diving platforms and such!

 I don't remember well, I was a kid at that time. =) I remember that only sportsmen were allowed to jump from a tower and swim in the pool with paths (look at first photo)

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## rockzmom

> Originally Posted by rockzmom  How cold it must have been to get out of the warm water with the snow all around! And how amazing to be able to swim outside while it was snowing!   It was not necessary to get out of the warm water in the cold, there there were tunnels to warm dressing rooms on perimeter.

 My, my ... how clever!!   ::  Look!!! Mira!!! I found this old news footage online that shows exactly what you are talking about.   ::  Would you (or someone else) please translate for me? After watching it I am now +1 million times jealous!  ::  https://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=63995   

> Originally Posted by rockzmom  Were any teams based out of the pool? I mean were there swim meet events held there as well? I ask because it looks as though it was set up to be able to handle such things regulation wise and with the diving platforms and such!   I don't remember well, I was a kid at that time. =) I remember that only sportsmen were allowed to jump from a tower and swim in the pool with paths (look at first photo)

 It looks from the photo as that section is about 50 meters long so that would be "outdoor regulation" length...yet I see it was not used for the 1980 Olymics, so maybe it is not or the bottom is not the right depth or something? It would have been way cool to have the Olympics in that pool!

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## rockzmom

FYI, to someone who knows about colleges in States..."Seven Sisters" means something VERY different! 
It is the term for the Seven "elite", formerly women only, colleges all located in the Northeastern area of the U.S.:
Barnard College, Bryn Mawr College, Mount Holyoke College, Radcliffe College, Smith College, Vassar College, and Wellesley College. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Sisters_(colleges)

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## alexB

> Look!!! Mira!!! I found this old news footage online that shows exactly what you are talking about.   Would you (or someone else) please translate for me? After watching it I am now +1 million times jealous!  https://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=63995

 _There’s no way you could swim in Moskva River these days. But water sports enthusiasts aren’t deterred by winter and even at this time of year they can swim in the Moskva swimming pool under the open skies.  The water there is heated up and there’s a layer of warm air right above it  
What you may ask is going on here? Well, it’s much warmer to be in the pool than bundled up in an overcoat.
Moskva swimming pool is the third of the kind commissioned lately in the Soviet capital._

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## rockzmom

> _There’s no way you could swim in Moskva River these days. But water sports enthusiasts aren’t deterred by winter and even at this time of year they can swim in the Moskva swimming pool under the open skies.  The water there is heated up and there’s a layer of warm air right above it  
> What you may ask is going on here? Well, it’s much warmer to be in the pool than bundled up in an overcoat.
> Moskva swimming pool is the third of the kind commissioned lately in the Soviet capital._

 Alex! Thank you!! 
Okay, now I have a follow-up question...  ::  It said that Moskva is the third kind "commissioned"... were the other pools like this one ever constructed? If so are they still around? 
FYI... we could really use Moskva today as I bet you Russians would not have close it due to a little old Blizzard! They are calling it "Snowbama" and we are to get a total snow accumulation of 19 to 21 inches. Almost everything is closed, the airports, museums, even a univeristy cancelled their graduation ceremony that was for today. And... once we get more than eight inches, the Metro ususally stops running above ground so we can't even use that to get around.

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## Basil77

> Okay, now I have a follow-up question...  It said that Moskva is the third kind "commissioned"... were the other pools like this one ever constructed? If so are they still around?

 I guess the other two were just ordinary indoor pools.

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## Hanna

I'm not joking, that pool in Moscow must have been something special to impress my grandparents so much.  
They had some slides from this trip which I've seen many times. That's why I remembered it. They took hundreds of slides which they showed to the grandchildren later.  In fact, they had an absolutely first-class tour of Moscow -- saw lots and lots of sights. They took hundreds of slides from Moscow and some historical cities.   _(Remember those old "slide-viewing machines"..? Projectors.  You had to darken the room to display the slide on a white screen) Almost like a cinema. That's what they used. )_ 
Later they went to Central Asia (because my grandfather had business there - carpets) and took some amazing photos of the old mosques of Samarkand and... Bokhara (?). I have wanted to see those places myself ever since.  
The coolest pool I have been to myself was in Budapest, in Hungary. They have some hot springs, right in the middle of the city, so they built pools on the hot springs. People go there and spend all day - it's practically free. You can have mud-treatments, a massage etc. Very cool.   * Btw - I LOVE hot springs. Are there any famous hot springs in Russia?*

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## Basil77

> *Btw - I LOVE hot springs. Are there any famous hot springs in Russia?*

 I'm not certain that it's exactly that you'v asked:    http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/765 
There are also some in Caucasian region.

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## Hanna

Wow, interesting.  _
Yes you got it right. What's it called in Russian?  Hot springs is the expression for when hot water is "bubbling" up from the ground. Sometimes such water also contains lots of healthy minerals - people want to swim in them for health reasons. Hot springs remain hot even in the middle of the winter. So people can have a warm bath out-doors even if the temperature is -10 or so... It is very common in Iceland and I think it also exists in Japan and perhaps in North America._  
Too bad Kamchatka isn't exactly an easily accessible place. 
I bet it takes an eternity and costs a fortune to fly there from Moscow. 
But what a beautiful and unspoilt place... I'd love to go hiking there....

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## studyr

> The coolest pool I have been to myself was in Budapest, in Hungary. They have some hot springs, right in the middle of the city, so they built pools on the hot springs. People go there and spend all day - it's practically free. You can have mud-treatments, a massage etc. Very cool.

 I like Szechenyi Bath (Szechenyi furdo) too. But I'm afraid I'll never be in Budapest again  ::

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## Hanna

Hi Studyr, nice to see you here, haven't seen you in a while. 
Why can't you go to Budapest? Health? Or temporary financial troubles... or visa problems? What a shame!  ::   
Anyway, I have heard that Russia has lots and lots of bath houses, a bit like in the film "Enjoy the bath!" (the old 1970s film) 
Perhaps this information is outdated though (??)  _Also, of course, I don't know if that type of bath houses are enjoyable places to visit, or if it is simply places that were used by people who didn't have good washing facilities at home...._   *Are there any famous such places in St Petersburg or Moscow?* I think it's cool in a retro sort of way.  
England still has a few such places like this fancy Victorian one in Harrogate (in Yorkshire) that I once visited. I think it has been privatised. There is one old-fashioned public bath house near my house but I have never been inside and I suspect it's rather un-glamorous...

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## BappaBa

> *Are there any famous such places in St Petersburg or Moscow?* I think it's cool in a retro sort of way.

 Сандуновские бани (Сандуны) в Москве.

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## Hanna

@BappaBa -- Stunning! That is very elegant and impressive. I had a vague memory of hearing about such places in Moscow but didn't know they were so grand.   
I have a guidebook to Russia (Rough Guide series) Will check if this place is in there and what they say about it.

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