Translated as: Residential Building of Russia Insurance Company
Meaning: Home of the Rossia insurance company
This way toward the Rossia insurance company, the landmark of the year. Why would there be a signpost for an insurance company, you ask? First, a brief history lesson: The Rossia insurance building was first constructed in 1897 and housed offices, apartments and shops. The big yellow building was seized in 1919 by the Cheka secret police under the supervision of the much-feared Bolshevik revolutionary Felix Dzerzhinsky.
The building later became the home of successor agency the KGB and is the current headquarters of the FSB, Russia's security service. It remains known to Muscovites — always and forever — as the Lubyanka.
To paraphrase Britain's Winston Churchill, even a signpost for one of the most famous buildings in the city is mired in a mystery wrapped in an enigma. Well done, Russia.
Pascal Dumont / MT