The large orange and yellow neo-baroque building on Lubyanskaya Ploschad is the infamous Lubyanka building which has been home to the various incarnations of the Soviet and Russian security services. The building dates from the end of the 19th century and was originally used as the headquarters of an insurance company. This all changed after the Revolution when it became the headquarters of the Cheka, the feared secret police, later known as the NKVD and more famously as the KGB. The building was renovated and extended in the 1940s under the architect Aleksey Schusev. The building was also used as a prison where prisoners were held, tortured and even killed during the years of Soviet repression. Today the building remains the headquarters of the Russian security services, now known as the Federal Security Services (FSB). The roundabout outside the building is now empty as the statue of the Cheka's founder - Feliks Dzerzhinsky - which once stood here was famously pulled down in 1991. Today it can be found at the Muzeon Sculpture Park.

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