Not since Josef Stalin’s first General Plan for the Reconstruction of Moscow in 1935 has the Russian capital changed so radically and so quickly. Hotels came down and went up, streets were widened or narrowed, kiosks sprang up like mushrooms after a rain and then were cut down one night by a battery of bulldozers. Churches reopened their doors to worshipers, park fountains sparkled, and an entire new city appeared on the horizon. Through all of this, Muscovites wonder if they’ve lost more than they’ve gained.
