MOSCOW — At dawn here, there's a blue sky, a hot breeze--and the first shriek of power drills. Russia's capital is in a construction frenzy. Giant pipes, mounds of red earth, scaffolding and rope rear up from sidewalks. Craters inexplicably appear in parks, or instant parks sprout from what were urban wastelands only days or weeks ago.
Wild fantasy buildings are emerging from the clouds of dust: revamped stucco palaces, all curlicues and columns; steely glass towers of big-money company headquarters; or the enormous fake cathedrals and wrought-iron lampposts of a reinvented czarist past.
Existing structures, meantime, have sprouted another floor, grown a turret or an attic or been repainted in surprising pastels. Sandblasters in orange overalls work day and night, hanging from ropes and cradles in the sky, scraping away the dirt of the past.
In theory, the more superficial bits of beautification are in honor of Moscow's 850th birthday, an event to be marked by a Sept. 5-7 party. In reality, however, Muscovites agree that something more far-reaching than an anniversary is causing the paroxysm of self-improvement convulsing their town. That something, they say, is the rebirth of capitalism here in the Russian capital, especially in the hands of its free-spending, opportunistic mayor, Yuri M. Luzhkov.
"Moscow's new architecture reflects in concentrated form the specific culture of new Russian capitalism," architect Mikhail Tumarkin commented.
Luzhkov, who is immensely popular despite widespread belief that his secretive city government is corrupt, won a second term as mayor in 1996 with 90% of the votes. He is expected to become a candidate for the Russian presidency in 2000. For now, however, his vision of Russia's capitalist future can best be viewed through the thicket of cranes on the skyline that he and his friends--the millionaire winners of Moscow's race away from communism--are creating.
"I hardly recognize Moscow after six months away," said Maxim Artamonov, a Russian journalist visiting his birthplace from his new home in Switzerland. "So much painting and decorating and building and changing has been done since January, and all at the breakneck speed . . . that the city will look completely different for jubilee.
"Of course, the noise makes your head ache, and I'm sure only the outside of any of the projects will be finished by September," he added wryly.
City Embodies Ideals
