Cultural Palace high reliefs – Bălți – Moldova

This is another Soviet era work of art that is hidden by the vegetation but unlike the nearby mosaic with the image of Lenin at the Palace of Culture the high bas relief has been consciously allowed to be obscured from public view.

Although not necessarily unique I don’t think I’ve seen a similar such bas relief in my travels.

It’s located on the outside wall of Bălți’s still Palace of Culture, to the right of the main entrance. This building is located on the north eastern side of the city’s central square, a square which is also the home of the Tank War Memorial with its Eternal Flame.

Bălți War Memorial

Originally this high bas relief was intended to be seen in its entirety but that is impossible now. Two of its three components are entirely hidden by evergreen trees (so don’t even come into partial view – as is the case with the Lenin mosaic) during the winter and only one half of the left hand side panel is not obscured by the trees.

However, by getting between the trees and the walls it is possible to ‘read’ the story.

The central grouping is of a man and a woman – shown in a very stylised form. The woman, wearing a voluminous skirt, is shown facing the viewer and her left arm is outstretched and in her hand she holds a large sickle. Her right arm is just held out in front of the male’s body, the palm of her hand facing the viewer but not adding anything to the composition.

The male is looking to his right hand side but his left arm is outstretched behind the female and in his hand he holds a large hammer, the head of which is at the top and this is touching the sickle of the women. Here we have a representation of the Soviet Union, with the ubiquitous (still – at least in places, especially Moscow) Hammer and Sickle.

I’m at a loss to understand the imagery of what the male holds in his right hand. His right arm is outstretched and resting in the palm of his hand is a large circular object from which extend three spokes, towards his face. I have tried to think what this might represent due to its location (the Palace of Culture) but have failed, so far, to come up with any ideas that make any sense.

Unfortunately, most of his right arm is missing and the disembodied hand seems to be floating in the air. Although it’s a shame that no effort has been made to repair this damage it does offer a view into how the sculpture was constructed. All the figures were made in moulded, concrete sections in a workshop and then brought to the location and then bolted to the wall. Apart from the missing arm there’s a small amount of moss growing on the upper bodies of both the individuals.

The second of the three groupings, this one on the right as you try to look through the trees, is one of four, three adults and a small child. On the left, kneeling, is a female, presumably the mother of the small boy who is standing, with both his arms outstretched towards the standing male. Unfortunately, we don’t know what the child is after. Here, again, due to lack of care and maintenance the right arm of the male is missing so we don’t know if the child just wants to be picked up by the male or wants what he has in his land. Standing to the right of the male is a woman who is clutching a small stack of four books close to her body with both hands. To her right is a flower design, indicating a garden?, which is very reminiscent of the mosaic that can be found at the side of the (now unused) main entrance to Bălți’s long distance bus station.

Apart from the missing section of the arm of the standing male this particular panel shows the effects of the environment more than the other two. The close proximity of the trees, the fact that there’s little air circulation means that during the winter months this part of the wall would be damp for most of the time and this has led, over time, to the growth of moss on the sculpture, especially around the head, neck and shoulders of the woman.

The third and final grouping is that of five musicians, the two on the left most side being the only ones that are easily seen by anyone passing by. Hidden behind the trees there’s a male cellist and next to him a male violinist. The middle musician is hidden by the the tree (whose branches were almost touching when I visited) so it isn’t possible to work out what he is playing. However, the two at the end seem to be playing traditional, folk instruments. The one that’s standing is playing what looks like a flute – so this could be either a fluier or a taragot, traditional Moldovan wooden flutes. The final musician, crouched down, is playing what likes a small version of a nai (or mascal), a ‘Romanian diatonic pan flute’, with five or six short tubes over the top of which the musician is blowing. Readers might be familiar with the Andean pan pipes – this looks very similar.

What is interesting here is that in the image of the musicians we have both traditional Moldovan instruments together with classical, stringed instruments from western Europe. My assumption here is that the image is conveying that both traditional and ‘classical’ music would have been played in the concerts that took place in the Palace of Culture in Soviet times.

Whether the damage, and hence missing sections, of the sculpture were due to lack of care or deliberate vandalism is impossible to say. However, the biggest threat to the sculpture now is the moss growth on some parts of the sculpture. Whereas, the trees close to the Lenin mosaic might have played a role in protecting it the trees by the Palace of Culture are having the opposite effect, they are creating an environment that is wholly detrimental to the sculpture and the fact that they hide the most of the art work means that few people are likely to be aware of the damage that is being caused on a daily basis.

Girl drinking from a stream

More on Moldova – on the Post-Socialist Countries – Eastern Europe and Asia page

Soviet Mosaics – Bălți – Moldova

Below you can find information and images, together with locations, of some of the mosaics (so far identified) in the northern Moldovan city of Bălți.

Lenin Factory

Mosaic on the ‘Lenin Factory’

By far the best mosaic in Bălți, is, unfortunately, season specific – meaning that when the trees are in full leaf it is almost impossible to see it from any distance or to get an idea of its story as the trees are basically a green, blocking curtain. In the winter the conditions aren’t perfect but at least you can get an idea of the images and what they represent.

The mosaic is at the edge of the building fronting on to the main road of what I understand was a factory. Producing what and whether it is still functioning I don’t know. At the top of the mosaic is a large image of Vladimir Ilyich’s face, which is the height of the two top floors of the five storey building. It is a serious and unsmiling image. (I don’t know why but this is the image that is normally presented of the great Communist leader – as if he didn’t know how to have fun. The exception to this (in the images I have had the privilege to have witnessed) is the sculpture outside the factory in Karacharovskaya Street in Moscow – where Vladimir Ilyich is being carried aloft by jubilant workers.)

Below Lenin is a line of five stalwarts, mainstays, of the Socialist Revolution. From left to right we have an older male, armed peasant – perhaps representing those who stormed the Winter Palace in 1917 and initiated the October Revolution; next a Red Navy sailor – possibly from the Cruiser Aurora that fired the shot to begin the attack on Tsarism; in the middle a male Bolshevik, the Communist leadership of the Revolution; followed by a female collective farm worker who is holding a huge sheaf of wheat – this is a very common image to represent collective/State farms in the Soviet Union and also demonstrates the active involvement of women and their role in the construction of Socialism; and, finally, on this row, the image of a male steel worker – representing industrialisation.

This group are, more or less, the height of one floor of the building – as are the next row of five representatives of Socialist construction.

Separated from their comrades above by a row of geometric designs and colourful sunbursts is another group of five. They carry the story of the construction of Socialism forward from the line above.

I’m not exactly sure what the two males on the left represent. I assume engineering and technology, moving on from the heavy industry of the steel worker at the end of the line above. Then we have a contemporary Red Army man, with the Red Star proudly displayed on his helmet. He is followed by a woman holding a glass Erlenmeyer flask (as we have seen before in the mosaic on the Palace of Culture in Ribniţa) – representing the sciences and finally a male who I think represents atomic/space exploration, taking the country into the 21st century.

As far as I could see the mosaic is in an amazingly good condition. I’m assuming this is only by chance and not by any conscious effort on behalf of the Bălți authorities. The trees which effectively hide the mosaic from view in the summer also protect it in the winter. They are not so close as to create a hostile environment in difficult climatic conditions but close enough to provide protection when the conditions become harsh.

Location;

Strada Decebal 13

GPS;

47.76051 N

27.91581 E

Primary school

Primary School Mosaic

This is a one panel mosaic (as opposed to the multi-panels of the kindergarten in Cahul) which provides a colourful backdrop to the play area of the children of this small school close to the centre of Bălți.

What we have is a young girl skipping on the left hand side and a boy and a girl building a structure with wooden building blocks on the right. This small group is surrounded by geometric designs to add more colour to the art work.

Apart from a missing panel (on the bottom left) and a black graffiti scrawl below the skipping girl the mosaic seems to be in a good condition.

Location;

Mikai Eminescu Primary School, Strada Pushkin 27-29

GPS;

47.75667 N

27.91924 E

Bus station

Bus station Mosaic

I’ll never understand why so much infrastructure in the previous Soviet Republics was just left to go to rack and ruin after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. This is the case in Bălți where the bus station is still the arrival/departure point for many parts of the country but the large building, which would have originally provided services for passengers, has been abandoned and concern for the welfare of the passengers has gone with it.

However, even though the building upon which it was placed might be a rotting ruin the mosaic on the façade has fared better. To me we have an abstract representation of some flowers under a large sun with the head of a bird on the right hand side – the beak and an eye all that is depicted. When the building was functioning as designed all passengers going into the building would have passed this mosaic and would have been aware of it. However, now entrance to departing buses is by the road at the left hand side of the building I wouldn’t be surprised if, when asked about the art work the reply would be ‘what mosaic?’

Location;

Strada Stefan cel Mare 2

GPS;

47.76972 N

27.94195 E

Girl in traditional dress

Apartment buildings mosaics

There are a number of mosaics (or fragments of) spread over a large area of housing estates in what is known as District 9 in Bălți so it makes sense to lump them all together.

The first is on the side of a wall which is on the edge of the city on the road that comes south from Chișinău. I’m not sure who the character is supposed to represent but as he is riding the wave over the letters БЭЛЦЪ = Bălți, I assume he is basically saying ‘Welcome to Bălți’.

The next to be found in this area is a few hundred meters up the road in the direction of the bus station. This is of a young woman, in profile, dressed in the traditional folk costume of the region. However, we don’t know the full story of the image. Ceramic tiles were the rendering of choice on these buildings and it was obviously decided that to enhance the location artists would be commissioned to create mosaics from these tiles.

But all rendering will take a battering from the elements and after the end of central control (and I have no idea of who is responsible for what when it comes to previously state owned properties and now, presumably, privately owned) any repairs to the ends of these buildings do not take into account the work of artists 40 or more years ago. That has meant that repairs are carried out in the cheapest and most effective manner possible which, it seems, doesn’t include ceramic tiles.

As can be seen in the photos the end walls of the buildings were in sections and if one section is causing a leak into the property then its replacement obliterates whatever might have been originally in place. So, in the case of the image of the young women, we don’t know what she is holding or at what she is looking.

Other mosaics in this area have suffered a similar fate by being partially destroyed by renovation and a couple have been hidden by the construction of more modern buildings.

The other mosaic so far identified in Bălți is at the end of an apartment block just off the main street of Stefan cel Mare, this is one of a girl drinking water from a stream.

The location information below is just approximate but it should get anyone interested more or less to the right place. Just take a look around when you get to the GPS point.

Location;

In apartment complexes fronting on to Strada Nicolae Iorga. There’s one at No 30 (1) and the others are in the complex that is across the road from Plaza shopping centre (2) and another on Strada Stefan cel Mare opposite, more or less, Andy’s Pizza (3)