NEWS-RELEASES

The "Marco Polo Presnja" is not the only hotel in Moscow, but it is unique in being the first Art Gallery Hotel.
Situated at the Patriarchy Pond it has always been an oasis of arts and culture.
Built in 1904 by the famous British architect, William Walcott, the building was originally a compound for a British governess and other specialists. They used to organise parties, receptions and art exhibitions of the work of local Russian Avant-garde artists. These artists really loved the "British Island" on the Patriarchy Pond.

Ivan Tzvetaev, Founder and Director of the Russian Fine Arts Museum often visited this art-house. His daughter Marina (who became a famous Russian poet) loved the flower gardens near the British House, which looked like beautiful pictures made of flowers.
When the Bolsheviks evicted the British, the mansion was made into a home for Soviet scholars and scientists. Later, after the war, these intellectuals moved to the newly built Moscow State University skyscraper and the mansion was converted into a VIP hotel for high-ranking Communist Party functionaries.
The facilities included a luxurious restaurant and a cinema, along with other amenities. It also housed outstanding paintings by such well-known Russian artists as Manukian. Rusenko, Sergeev, Malonenko, Zabelin and Kriukovski. In 1990, shortly after Perestroika began, the mansion was acquired by the Austrian Company Marco Polo, which upgraded the "party hotel". French chef Michael Balbarani was invited to provide the cuisine for the hotel, as he came from a background where gourmets consider high-class cuisine an art form.

Currently the Marco Polo Presnja is the 4-star hotel that continues to be an oasis for art at the Patriarchy Pond. Please come and meet with us at the Marco Polo Presnja – the first Art Gallery Hotel in Moscow, where you will always receive a warm welcome.

Photoalbum:

"Сhameleon". Natalya Krapivina. Painting. Hotel Marco Polo Presnia.