The pre-revolutionary electric theater bearing an exotic name Brazilian, located at the Nizhny Novgorod Fair and operating seasonally, can be considered the predecessor of the Rekord Cinema and Cultural Center.

In 1910 it got moved to the city center, and in 1914 its name was changed to the shorter and more vigorous Rekord. In 1938, the old wooden building was replaced by a new one with a spectacular semicircular rotunda — the Student House of the Institute of Water Transport Engineers — by Alexander Yakovlev, the architect who also designed the famous Chkalov Stairs. The cinema took up two whole floors in the Student House. This is where Rekord is today.

Today, this cultural center is a venue where intellectual films, both modern and vintage, are shown — the big screen will feature, for example, a Tarkovsky retrospective or films by Yakut directors. Jazz and rock concerts are held here, as well as exhibitions and lectures.