In the heart of Moscow, less than a kilometer southwest of the Kremlin, a massive building was erected. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Although the building was not yet built, the grand foundation, bold design, and extremely high construction cost were enough to be named the "Eighth Wonder of the World" by the standards of the time.

This large-scale building is known as the legendary "Palace of the Soviets". The Palace of the Soviets, as the name suggests, is the palace of the Soviets. After completion, it was mainly used as an administrative, office and conference center of the Central Committee of the CPSU, in addition to the Revolutionary Museum, subway station and other facilities.

The cost of the Palace of the Soviets amounted to 4 billion rubles, which was almost a quarter of the revenues of the Soviet state budget in 1940.

The appearance of the Palace of the Soviets is somewhat similar to the neoclassical style skyscrapers popular in the United States at that time, the main building is designed to be as high as 495 meters, the height of the building is 100 floors, more than 100 meters higher than the world's tallest building at that time, the Empire State Building, and will become the world's tallest building when completed.

The height of the building at 495 meters was not too much of a problem for the Soviet designers, but the main hall in the Palace of the Soviets had a clear space of up to 100 meters, which meant that a 30-story building could fit between the floor and the ceiling.

On the roof of the Palace of Soviets, there will be a statue of Lenin that is more than 100 meters high and weighs more than 6,000 tons. How do you put such a heavy statue on the roof of a building? It's also an extremely difficult place.

Such a building, if completed, would be one of the greatest miracles in the history of human architecture, and Manturov would probably be rewarded as People's Commissar of Construction.

Historically, however, construction work was suspended due to water seepage from the foundation, and the structural construction of the ground structure layer was completed only in June 1941, but the construction progress has been slow due to the lack of building materials such as steel.

Later, in the Great Patriotic War, the German army advanced under the city of Moscow. In the absence of steel, the structure of the Palace of Sovets was demolished, and the steel used in the construction was used to build the fortifications on the outskirts of Moscow, and the construction of the Palace of Sovets was largely lost.

Unlike the history we are familiar with, Manturov is located in a parallel universe, where the construction of the Palace of the Soviets is progressing faster than in history, because steel production has soared dramatically and there is no shortage of building materials.

By the time Manturov visited the site in August 1941, the construction of the Palace of the Soviets was already a quarter complete. In front of him, there is a huge building with a height of more than 130 meters and an area of nearly 40,000 square meters.

"Vadyk Nikolayevich," Manturov, dressed in a general's uniform, addressed the name and patronymic of his old friend, the construction engineer Vadyk Shennikov. "How is the construction of the Palace of Sovets going now?"

Shennikov looked at Manturov, who was wearing a general's uniform and a hard hat, and couldn't help laughing. "Volodya, seeing you dressed like this, I thought this was a battlefield."

Manturov did not feel any resentment about Shennikov's words, as the two had known each other since they were in college and had formed a good friendship. However, Shennikov's performance of ridiculing the leadership made Shcherbakov, secretary of the Moscow City Party Committee and State Party Committee, who was also inspecting, very dissatisfied.

Shcherbakov pushed down his glasses and said to Shennikov in a lesson-like tone: "Comrade Shennikov, please pay attention to your words and deeds!" Comrade People's Commissars asked you about the progress of the construction of the Palace of Soviets, not about the way they dressed! ”

Shcherbakov's stern tone made Shennikov realize that he should get into a working state.

"Comrade Manturov, Comrade Shcherbakov, Comrade Voroshilova," Shennikov took out a document and, in turn, called the names of the three inspection leaders, and then said: "Now the construction of the Palace of the Sovets is a third of the way through, and the height of the completed is 134.5 meters. ”

Historically, in August 1941, the Palace of the Soviets was only 20 meters high and less than 5% of the work was completed. The main reason is because of the lack of building materials such as steel, concrete, etc.

But since 1938, when Manturov, a traverser, introduced futuristic technology to dramatically increase steel production in the Soviet Union, the supply of building materials was no longer a problem.

As for human resources, for the USSR, it would not be a problem, and the tens of thousands of Gulag prisoners could have as many as they wanted.

"Good!" Katya Voroshilova, the second secretary of the Moscow Municipal Party Committee, who was also a traveler, was quite satisfied with the progress of the construction, and according to the current situation, it is entirely possible that the construction of the Soviet Palace will be completed in her lifetime. "Comrade Shennikov, when do you think the Palace of Sovets will be built?"

Shennikov replied solemnly: "Comrade Secretary, according to the current progress, it is expected that the topping out will be completed in early 1944, and it will be ready for use after the interior decoration is completed in 1945.

However, the construction process is still full of many variables, and some problems have not yet been solved. If these issues are not resolved in a timely manner, I am afraid that the plan will need to be revised to meet the deadline. ”

"For example, what is the problem?"

"For example, the statue of Lenin, which respects 6,000 tons at the top of the building, we have not yet thought of a way to install it. Just yesterday we reported this to your husband, Comrade Manturov. ”

Katya looked at her husband with tender eyes and asked, "Vorodya, what are you going to do with the issue of the statue of Lenin?" ”

Manturov looked at the top of the building and said, "If we can't put a statue of Lenin on it, we can consider changing the top of the building to a spire."

This proposal has already been approved by Comrade Stalin, and the People's Commissariat of Construction has commissioned Comrade Boris Jovan (designer of the Palace of Soviets) to revise the design of the top, which is expected to be delivered to Comrade Shennikov within a week. ”

Shennikov nodded and said: "Volodya, if the 6,000-ton statue of Lenin is changed to a spire, the difficulty of construction will be greatly reduced, and it should not be a problem to cap it in 1944." ”

"I hope so."

At this time, Katia began to walk in the direction of the main building of the Palace of Soviets, wearing high heels, it was difficult for her to walk on the uneven construction site.

After only a few steps, Katya's heel suddenly caught in a splinter of concrete on the ground, and she almost lost her balance. Just as she was about to trip, a pair of strong arms hugged her in time to avoid an accident.

Manturov hugged Katya tightly in his arms, wearing a general's uniform, but at this moment he showed a rare gentleness in a soldier, "Honey, are you okay?" ”

"It's fine." Katia was in Manturov's arms, feeling very happy and warm. But as soon as she heard the sound of construction and asked about the peculiar smell of the construction site, she thought of her current situation, and her originally white and tender face immediately turned red.