Trips and Tales (Part 32)
On the beaten track. Moscow must-sees.
Here’s more on the remarkable and awe-inspiring Victory Park…
(In and Around) Victory Park (part 2)
Symbolic representation is prevalent here, in ways that are not immediately obvious. The central avenue has five terraces, one for each year of the Great Patriotic War (which differentiates it from the six-year-long World War II as a whole), and a fountain for each day of that war – that’s 1,418 in total (count ’em if you don’t believe me). Similarly, the triangular obelisk in Victor’s Place is 141.8m high – that’s 10cm for every day of the war. At the foot, St.George slays the Dragon. Probably not too hard to work out what this represents: the defeat of fascism. As if to underline this, Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, is depicted towards the top of the structure.
Elsewhere, three soldiers stand in sculptural form, each one representing a warrior from a different age (medieval, Napoleonic and mid-20th Century) in the monument to the Defenders of the Homeland. Fifteen bronze columns (memorial stelae) representing significant Russian military units, navies and fronts are displayed in the order that their real-life counterparts were presented at the 1945 Moscow Victory Parade.
Aside from direct numerical correlations, there are also evocative sculptures in more abstracted forms that speak of the nature of the conflict, and none more so than the “Tragedy of Peoples” monument by Zurab Tsereteli (1996). Tsereteli also created the aforementioned obelisk and the oft-criticised Peter the Great naval monument on the Moskva river. Essentially, criticism of the latter boils down to accusations of overblown tasteless kitsch and the apparent ubiquity of Tsereteli’s work within Moscow. In any case, the “Tragedy” in the name of this monument seems to hit the right note. It is positively eerie, pushing its point without venturing into maudlin, mawkish territory – only just, perhaps, but just is good enough.
The monument features a sweeping arc of humanoid figures, some seeking to shield or comfort others as they gradually topple backwards, domino-like, devolving into crude hewn forms, and ultimately gravestones. Their line pierces an ominous, organic and enveloping wall (between life and death?) as they leave their earthly detritus behind. Take a look for yourselves…
Complementing the sculpture (or perhaps they have become sculpture too) are material relics of the war in the form of tanks, heavy weapons, ships and other military hardware, all laid out for visitors to wander amongst.
Then, of course, there are the buildings: St.George’s Church, the Triumphal Arch relocated from central Moscow, a mosque and a Holocaust memorial synagogue. Finally, though by no means least in importance, is the Museum of the Great Patriotic War, whose structure defines an arc, curving around the central pivot that is the Nike obelisk.
Internally, the museum is divided into various halls and display areas. There’s approximately 20,000 square feet of exhibition space within the structure, three quarters of which is dedicated to permanent exhibitions and one quarter to temporary. The war is depicted in its various stages by six full-size dioramas, complete with large, curving backdrop paintings providing context and atmosphere. Other display areas include the Hall of Remembrance and Sorrow, honouring the dead of the Soviet people and featuring strings of glass bead “tears” hanging from the ceiling.
The Hall of Glory contains the heroic “Soldier of Victory” sculpture, along with the 11,800 names of those awarded the title “Hero of the Soviet Union”. Bronze busts depicting recipients of the “Order of Victory” (the Soviet Union’s highest military distinction) are featured in the Hall of Commanders.
The building also contains two cinemas, a veterans meeting hall and the “Memory Book”, a system designed to name and record the ultimate fate of each and every Russian soldier killed during the Great Patriotic War. Incredible.
Next time: Business in the City of Extremes
Business in Moscow through the eyes of a Westerner who works there.
[Photo by Bernt Rostad]