Metropol Hotel: A historical haunt for kings celebrities and politicians - could we move??

(23 Jul 2019) LEAD IN:
The historic Metropol Hotel has borne witness to some of Moscow's more dramatic chapters.
From wartime stake-outs to world leaders and celebrity singers, this hotel has a story to tell.

STORY-LINE:
A place off-limits to most of Russia's citizens – Moscow's iconic Metropol Hotel.
In 1991, as the Soviet Union collapsed, newly graduated Alexander Mishakov got a call.
The 24-year-old had scored an interview for a breakfast chef position.
Catching the first morning train into central Moscow, he walked through the grand entrance and entered an unimagined sphere of elegance.
At that time, the hotel was open only to foreign guests and a privileged echelon of highly placed Soviets.
"I will never forget my first impression walking into that magnificent dining hall," says Mishakov, now the hotel's head chef.
"It had such a wow effect on me, it was so beautiful!."
Its history includes glamour, revolution and espionage; gangsters and celebrities.
"I love this place because I compare it with our country. She's huge, and the same tendencies take place in this hotel as they do in the country. She's like a boat, constantly turning over and over, in different currents," says Mishakov.
More than a century after its 1905 opening, anyone can now walk in and be stunned by the Art Nouveau stained-glass dome of the restaurant, glittering chandeliers and marble fountain.
Mishakov remembers when singer Michael Jackson visited in 1996.
"When Michael Jackson lived here, I personally cooked for him, although it's complicated to say I personally cooked for him because he had his own cook when he came. And together we prepared his food. If I remember correctly he had prawns with rice, it was a little spicy, nothing really that special about it in principle but it was tasty."
Ekaterina Yegorova, Historian at The Metropol Hotel says, "in terms of intrigue, our hotel is incomparable."
Stepping back in time, at the dawn of the 20th century, Russia's tsarist elites swept through the Metropol's gilded halls.
Renowned artists, ballerinas and intellectuals toasted the greatness of Imperial Russia under the golden light of its crystal chandeliers.
Live fish swam in the marble fountain at the centre of the great dining hall -- and would then be served for supper.
"I say that totally sincerely and not because I work here, because you know the Metropol is a significant phenomenon in Russian culture," says Yegorova.  
Rasputin held his infamous parties behind the hotel's doors.
When Czar Nicholas II signed a manifesto promising liberal reforms, renowned opera singer Fyodor Chaliapin got up on a table, sang folk song, and passed around his hat asking for contributions for workers.
A decade after opening, as the Bolshevik Revolution swept across Russia, the hotel's course changed dramatically.
Once the heart of Russia's high bourgeoisie, it briefly became a barracks for the anti-Bolshevik White Army, then was captured and turned into Bolshevik headquarters.
The dining tables and chandeliers were replaced by simple wooden benches and kerosene lamps.
Revolutionary leaders congregated in the now-darkened restaurant. Luxury suites were converted into committee meeting rooms.
The once-polished floors became filthy with grit and tobacco.
It was in this hall that Vladimir Lenin announced the end of World War I in November 1918.
He, along with Leonid Trotsky and other prominent revolutionaries, regularly gave speeches there.

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