Cosmos Hotel history

The 25-storey Cosmos is located between Prospect Mira, Kosmonavtov Street and Yaroslavskaya Street at a site which once hosted 1-storey residential buildings demolished in early 1970s. According to the original idea of ​​the architects, the semicircular building of the hotel echoed the semicircle of the main entrance to the Exhibition of Economic Achievements and closed the axis of the main avenue of the exhibition, but it was not possible to place Cosmos at the intended location due to the close proximity of Kosmonavtov Street and Prospect Mira. As a result, the hotel was shifted to the northeast, and its massive volume and centric composition set the neighborhood a new axis of symmetry.

The building was innovative in many ways for the USSR: 3-chamber double-glazed windows were used here for the first time, the heating control system relied on data from numerous sensors on the facade of the building, key cards were used to enter the rooms and for payments at the hotel, besides, Cosmos had the very first bowling alley and a quasi-automatic telephone station for conference calls in Soviet hotels. Technical innovations in construction and metal cladding, combined with scale, made the hotel resemble high-tech style architecture.

In 1990, the area between Cosmos and Prospect Mira received the name of the French military and statesman Charles de Gaulle. Fifteen years later, an 8-meter monument to de Gaulle by sculptor Zurab Tsereteli and architect Alexander Kuzmin was solemnly erected on the square in the presence of the acting presidents of Russia and France, Vladimir Putin and Jacques Chirac.

Cosmos Hotel was built to accommodate foreign tourists and delegations and was one of 4 Soviet hotels that had the status of an "international class hotel" and the "suite" room category as per the "Regulations on classifying hotels and hotel rooms into categories" (apart from Cosmos, such were Mezhdunarodnaya hotel in Moscow, as well as "Pribaltiyskaya and Pulkovskaya hotels in Leningrad).
For the purposes of KGB's work, some of the rooms were equipped for private surveillance, photographing and acoustic control over foreigners and their guests. In total, the original design of the building provided for 1777 rooms: 1718 standard rooms with double beds, 53 two-room and 6 three-room suites. The Hotel meals system was designed for 3500 guests. With modern redesign, the ratio of rooms has changed while maintaining their total number at the expense of apartments and suites of different categories. Nevertheless, Cosmos has retained the status of the most capacious hotel in the country, which is confirmed by an entry in the Book of Records of Russia, and has also remained the most visited hotel in the history of the country. In 2004, Cosmos received its 7-millionth guest - an Englishwoman Michelle Collins.

The modern Cosmos has 1,777 rooms, including 1,383 standard rooms, 332 deluxe rooms, 45 suites and junior suites, 6 apartments and 5 rooms of the "grand suite" category. The hotel has a business center with 7 conference rooms for 10–250 people and a congress hall for 1000 people, as well as exhibition areas of up to 1,300 m².

The hotel has 4 restaurants, souvenir, newspaper and pharmacy kiosks, a hairdresser, a beauty salon and a medical center.
Cosmos is a member of the Moscow Association of Hotels and Travel Organizations, the Russian Hotel Association and the International Congress Association.