The Moscow State University received the status of a high-rise building thanks to the efforts of academician Alexander Nesmeyanov. In 1948, he became rector and immediately began actively asking the authorities for new space for the university. At that time MSU was living in the buildings on Mokhovaya Street, which were seriously damaged during the war. Stalin personally learned about the needs of MSU and gave the university the highest of the “seven sisters”. Its height together with the spire reaches 240 meters - until 1990 it was the tallest building in Europe.

During the construction process, not only the purpose of the high-rise changed, but also the chief architect. Boris Iofan, the author of the unrealized project of the cyclopean Palace of Soviets, was preferred to Lev Rudnev, an equally prominent figure, but more accommodating, who attracted to the project engineer Nikolai Nikitin, the author of the Ostankino Tower. It was Nikitin who proposed an innovative solution - to strengthen the building with a steel frame, which took 40,000 tons of metal to build. And 175 million bricks were used to build the walls. A temporary railroad was built to deliver goods to the site.

By the way, the same amount of money was allocated for the grandiose construction as for the restoration of Stalingrad.

The shape of the building was also original - the buildings are located in the letter “Zh”, so students often call the high-rise “spider”.

About 200 sculptors and artists participated in the decoration of MSU. For example, Alexander Daineka created mosaic portraits of world scientists for the foyer, and Vera Mukhina created the monumental composition “Eternal Youth of Science”.