Moscow State University's imposing central building stands on the Vorobyovy Gory (the Sparrow Hills), dominating the campus and overlooking the Luzhniki district of the city. The enormous gothic skyscraper was commissioned by Stalin, along with 6 others dotted across Moscow known as "The Seven Sisters", and was built between 1949 and 1953 on the site, which Ivan the Terrible had deemed "too windy" for construction back in the 16th century. A total of sixty trains were employed to transport the building's steel frame from the eastern Ukrainian city of Dneiperpetrovsk and thousands of forced laborers worked on the building for a period of 4 years, under the ever watchful gaze of Stalin's favorite henchman, Lavrenty Beria. Continue reading