Lenin and October Revolution Monument in the Kaluga Square – Moscow

Posted on 20/07/2024 by Michael

Lenin and October Revolution

Lenin and October Revolution Monument in the Kaluga Square – Moscow

The Monument to Lenin on Kaluga Square (Russian: Памятник Ленину на Калужской площади) was established in 1985 in Moscow in the centre of Kaluga Square (then October Square). The authors of the monument are the sculptors L. E. Kerbel, V. A. Fedorov and the architects G. V. Makarevich and B. A. Samsonov. It is the largest monument to Lenin in Moscow.

Lenin and October Revolution – 03

The bronze sculpture of V. I. Lenin was made at the Leningrad factory ‘Monument sculpture’. It is an original copy of the monument to Lenin in Birobidzhan, established in 1978. A stone monolithic pedestal column weighing 360 tons, after the initial treatment, was delivered in place by a trailer that had 128 wheels. The monument was inaugurated on 5 November 1985 by the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, Mikhail Gorbachev.

The height of the monument is 22 m. At the top of the cylindrical column of red polished granite is a full length bronze statue of V. I. Lenin. He is facing forward, his gaze to the distance. Lenin’s overcoat is unbuttoned, one lower edge is thrown back by the wind, his right hand is in the jacket’s pocket.

Lenin and October Revolution – 02

At the base of the pedestal is a multi-figure composition, which includes revolutionary soldiers, workers and sailors of various nationalities. Above them is a woman on the background of a fluttering flag embodying the Revolution. Behind the pedestal is the figure of a woman with two children, personifying the rear of the revolution. The elder boy in his hand has revolutionary newspapers.

Text above from (a slightly edited page on) Wikipedia.

Lenin and October Revolution – 01

What to look for in the monument;

the three leading figures are, from left to right, a peasant soldier, an armed Petrograd worker, a sailor;
the peasant soldier wears a knotted red ribbon over his left chest – the red arm band was the normal sign of a Bolshevik but this is difficult to represent on a bronze statue. Whether the red ribbon was an alternative ‘badge’ I’m not sure;
the female representation of Revolution, that is located above the revolutionary workers and peasants and below Lenin. She has her right arm raised forward and upward – indicating the advance of the revolution – and her left arm stretched behind her I a pose that invites others to join the march to the future. Her flowing scarf is a representation of the Red Flag, the workers’ revolutionary standard;
the leading sailor (note the striped t-shirt under his jacket) also has his left arm stretched behind him, also encouraging those (unseen) behind to come and join the revolution, he’s also looking in their direction. He, and the female sailor on the other side of the group, were probably from the Cruiser Aurora;
the older workers/peasants indicating that the revolution is not just a matter for the young, their dress suggesting that they are possibly from other nations in the old Russian Empire and stressing the All-Russia aspect of the October Revolution;
the engraving at the back of the red marble plinth which notes the sculptors and architects as well as the date of the monuments unveiling;
the young mother, holding a very young child in crook of her right arm and her left hand on the shoulder of an older boy, representing for the new and youthful Socialist Republic that was being created following the attack on the Winter Palace;
the young boy newspaper seller next to the young woman. He has copies of the newspaper Izvestia (which had been founded in February 1917 and which, at the time, was the mouthpiece of the Petrograd Soviet) folded over his right forearm and more copies in a satchel hanging from his left shoulder. The headline also indicates information about one of the first decrees of the Soviet Government, possibly that on Peace and an end to the imperialist war;
another young boy who, from his looks and dress, comes from one of the many northern nationalities;
the male peasant (again from one of the nationalities – note his turban type headdress) holding a copy of the Decree on Land – which nationalised all the land in the country;
what looks like a female sailor (note the anchor on her belt buckle) who is armed with a pistol and wears a red neckerchief – but I have no information about women in the navy in pre-Revolutionary times;
and surmounting all a full length statue of VI Lenin, leader of the Bolshevik Party (which became the Communist Party of the Soviet Union). He has an open overcoat over his suit, the right lower edge of which is being blown back by the wind. He is standing with his right hand in his suit jacket pocket and his cap is scrunched in his left hand. He’s looking ahead, in a contemplative pose, perhaps wondering what to do next and how to overcome the inevitable problems.

Not exactly sure what Lenin might have been looking at when the statue was installed in 1985 but now he looks down a long avenue towards the Moscva River – across which is the area know as ‘Moscow City’, an area of densely packed, ugly, modern high rise glass and steel buildings.

‘Moscow City’

However, if Vladimir Ilyich looked slightly to his left he would be looking at the main entrance to the Okysbrskaya Metro station.

Oktyabrskaya entrance

Sculptors;

L. E. Kerbel and V. A. Fedorov

Architects;

G. V. Makarevich and B. A. Samsonov.

Location;

In Kaluga Square (formerly October Square), at the junction of Lenin Prospekt and Krymsky Val, opposite the main entrance to Oktyabrskaya Metro station

GPS;

55.729466°N

37.613176°E

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Children and crocodile fountain – Railway station square – Stalingrad

Posted on 19/07/2024 by Michael

Barmaley Fountain – Stalingrad

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Children and crocodile fountain – Railway station square – Stalingrad

Barmaley Fountain

The Barmaley (Russian: Бармалей) is an informal name of a fountain in the city of Volgograd (formerly known as Stalingrad). Its official name is Children’s Khorovod (Round Dance). The statue is of a circle of six children dancing the khorovod around a crocodile. While the original fountain was removed in the 1950s, two replicas were installed in 2013.

The original fountain was installed in 1930 when the Soviet Union was being adorned with various outdoor architectural works, including similar fountains designed by sculptor Romuald Iodko, a co-author of the Girl with an Oar. The Barmaley Fountain was made widely known from several August 1942 photographs by Emmanuil Evzerikhin that juxtaposed the carnage of the Battle of Stalingrad with the image of children at play.

Children and crocodile statue 1942

The fountain was restored after World War II and was removed in the 1950s.

The allegory of the monument was derived from the eponymous fairy tale poem Barmaley written in 1925 by Korney Chukovsky. Excerpt (literal translation):

Little children! / For nothing in the world / Do not go to Africa / Do not go to Africa for a walk! // In Africa, there are sharks, / In Africa, there are gorillas, / In Africa, there are large / Evil crocodiles / They will bite you, / Beat and offend you – // Don’t you go, children, / to Africa for a walk / In Africa, there is a robber, / In Africa, there is a villain, / In Africa, there is terrible / Bahr-mah-ley! // He runs about Africa / And eats children – / Nasty, vicious, greedy Barmaley!

Barmaley Fountain – Stalingrad – 01

While being burned in fire by Barmaley, Doctor Aybolit asked a crocodile brought in by a gorilla to swallow up Barmaley, so that he could no longer harm little children. The crocodile did so, but Barmaley was later released after promising to change. Barmaley became nicer and proclaimed he would be kinder, that he now loved little children and would become a friendly baker.

Text above from Wikipedia.

Children and crocodile fountain – after liberation 1943

As with many of the monuments in post-Socialist countries it’s not easy to get definitive and exact information about them. Very often the sources that do exist are contradictory or ask more questions than they answer.

It seems the statue had been removed but then replaced with a replica – but I have no idea what happened to the original.

When I saw the same statue that now sits outside the Volgograd Number 1 railway station on the grass below the Gerhardt Mill (the large building next to the Stalingrad Panorama Museum, demonstrating the extent of the damage during the siege) I thought that it was the original, placed there to protect it from any vandalism. However, that is not certain.

What is omitted from the ‘description’ above is that all the children are Young Pioneers, the youth organisation of the Soviet Union. This is evident from the fact that all of them wear the red neckerchief, part of the uniform of Komsomol members. This might imply a political significance of children dancing around a dangerous animal.

Barmaley Fountain – Stalingrad – 02

It’s easy to see why the people of Stalingrad adopted this statue. When it was photographed, dirty but mainly intact, surrounded by the destruction wrought by the Nazi invaders’ bombers it represented the determination of the people to resist the fascists. The children stood for the resilience of the Socialist state.

I find the ideas in the poem from which the statue gets one of its names somewhat strange.

The sculptor was Romuald Iodko and the creation date is stated to be 1930.

When I visited Stalingrad in the summer of 2024 the fountain was not working.

Children and crocodile – immediate post-war years

Stalingrad (Volgograd) Railway Station

Location;

Station Square, Volgograd. In the pedestrian square in front of the main railway station – its original location.

GPS;

48°42′45″N

44°30′49″E

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Stalingrad (Volgograd) Railway Station

Posted on 17/07/2024 by Michael

Stalingrad Railway Station

More on the USSR

Stalingrad (Volgograd) Railway Station

It is located in the Central District of the city at Railway Station Square, 1. The station is one of the largest in Russia and serves long-distance trains and suburban trains.

The first railway to serve Tsaritsyn (now Stalingrad/Volgograd) was the Volga-Don railway in 1862. The first railway station was constructed of wood. In 1871 the station was replaced with a brick structure.

Stalingrad Railway Station – October 1942

During the Second World War, the building was almost completely destroyed in the Battle of Stalingrad. In the period from July 1951 to May 1954 the new station building was erected on the site of the old building. The station commissioned June 2, 1954. In 1997 the building of the railway station was designated an architectural monument. In 2005, the station building was renovated for the 60th anniversary of Victory Day, the capitulation of Nazi Germany to the Soviet Union in the Second World War.

On December 29, 2013, the station was the site of a suicide bombing in which at least 16 people were killed. The station was re-opened after reconstruction on May 7, 2014, just in time for Victory Day holidays.

The station is a three-story building with a ground floor tower crowned with a spire. The building is made of a combination of brick and concrete, the facade consists of ornamented granite. The interior walls are mainly marble. The ceiling is decorated with stucco and several paintings of the battles that took place in the city.

Text above from Wikipedia.

Aspects of the building;

Sculpture in the pediment at the front of the building

Stalingrad Station – 07

The Apotheosis of Labour – sculptors M. Pavlovskii, N. Pavlovskaya, V. Bezrukov.

I read somewhere that this is supposed to be a ‘copy’ but with no more information. So don’t really understand that as I don’t think this sculpture was installed in the building that was destroyed in the siege – but I might be wrong.

Note the image on the cover of the folder the male on the left is holding – it’s that of the station building itself.

Ceiling murals

There are three of these ceiling panels – one circular over the ticket hall, another circular over the seated waiting area and the third is rectangular in a large room off the ticket hall that used to be a cafe but which is now a VIP/1st Class lounge – which no one seems to use. However, when I asked to take pictures of that ceiling panel, and the room itself, there was no problem.

Stalingrad Station – 05

The first circular panel represents Tsaritsyn/Stalingrad in war – or more specifically, at the very end of war. The first depicts an image of the Red Army in the city after the victory over the White (reactionary and supported by the imperialist countries) forces in 1918 when it was known as Tsaritsyn. Opposite, on the same panel is an image of the events following the defeat of the Nazi invaders in 1943 when the city – now named Stalingrad – could commence reconstruction as the Red Army went on to victory in Berlin.

Stalingrad Station – 04

The second circular panel depicts landmarks in the civilian life of the city. The first, in 1952, is the opening of the Volga Hydroelectric Station and the other is the opening of the Volga-Don canal in 1961.

Note the trees that are on the left and right of each panel, which play the role of separating the two events. In 1918 there is barely a leaf on the tree, there are more come 1943 but when we go into the 1950s and 60s we see the tree come into full leaf, mirroring the successes of the construction of Socialism.

Stalingrad Station – 06

The rectangular panel depicts a bucolic scene of workers on a State/collective farm in the area. Here note the presence of the electricity pylon commemorating the achievement of the electrification of the whole country, a challenge Lenin posed to the country in declarations in the early 1920s.

The artist of all the panels was Yakov Skripkov.

Bas-reliefs at the front of building

Stalingrad Station – 03

On either side of the main entrance to the station, under the tower and clock, are bas reliefs that depict, on the left, a representation of the Civil War and on the right the Siege of Stalingrad in the Great Patriotic War. Note the Nazi standard being trampled underfoot in the second bas relief.

Stalingrad Station – 02

Information boards

Stalingrad Station – 01

On my visit in late May 2024 there were a number of information panels on display on either side of the main station building entrance basically telling the story of the role of the building in the history of the city from the time of the Civil War, through the siege to reconstruction after the war. This was soon after the celebration of Victory Day of May 9th so they may only have been there temporarily.