Central Museum of the Armed Forces of the USSR/Central Armed Forces Museum – Moscow

Posted on 29/06/2025 by Michael

Glory to the Soviet Union!

Central Museum of the Armed Forces of the USSR/Central Armed Forces Museum – Moscow

The main reason I wanted to go to the Central Museum of the Armed Forces of the USSR/Central Armed Forces Museum in Moscow was because I had learnt that it was there that the Nazi banners that had been thrown into the mud at the base of the Lenin Mausoleum (with Comrade Stalin accepting them on behalf of the Soviet people) on the first Victory Day on May 9th, 1945, were presently on display.

On my first visit to Moscow (way back in 1972) these banners were in a huge glass case which covered the whole floor of a room in what was then the Museum of the Revolution. This was up by Pushkin Square and close to the Izvestia offices. However, following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the chaos that followed in the 1990s anything which smacked of revolution was a no-no and that particular museum went through a number of manifestations. In the process much that had been on display pre-1990 disappeared and it is only relatively recently that some of it has begun to be, yet again, on display to the general public.

(What used to be the Museum of the Revolution is now called the Museum of the Modern History of Russia – Muzey Sovremennoy Istorii Rossii. Although there are some interesting and valuable artefacts which help in the telling of the history of the Soviet Union following the October Revolution it is generally a poor shadow of what it once was. The final section, ‘bringing things up to date’, is more like something you’d expect at an international exhibition than a museum.)

However, I think the Central Museum of the Armed Forces of the USSR/Central Armed Forces Museum has much more to offer than just the Nazi banners on the floor. There is a manner in which to display objects to show utter contempt for what they represent. From my memory that was achieved in the original location in the centre of the city but there’s less of that impression (to my mind) in their present location, even though they are still displayed in cases on the floor.

From my experience Russian museums are crammed full of artefacts. Sometimes so many that very soon you feel assaulted by so many different objects. That being the case the best approach is to ‘skim’ what you pass, taking more time on anything, perhaps more unusual, that might catch your eye.

The starting point in the first room is the War of Intervention or the Civil War. This was when the Red Army was formed, first out of Bolsheviks and irregulars who volunteered to defend the Revolution from the reactionaries, both national and international. However, within a very short time this army took on the aspects of a fully organised and structured army which eventually was able to defeat all attempts to strangle the Revolution from birth.

Later rooms go through the events of the Great Patriotic War and into later, sometimes not well chosen wars (such as that in Afghanistan) and through to the present with a small room dedicated to the Special Military Operation in the Ukraine.

In the slide show at the end of this post you will see that I have concentrated on the various banners and standards under which those fighting to defend the Revolution fought, as well as artistic representations of those battles and achievements. There’s a limited depiction of military hardware as, with a few exceptions, these are more or less generic and were used by all fighting forces in any particular epoch or conflict. I find what is unique to the Soviet Union (the way it presented itself; the battle of ideas through posters and other types of propaganda; and how the struggles were presented to the masses to be much more interesting.

In any visit to the museum here are a few suggestions of what to look out for;

the large bust of VI Lenin at the top of the stairs immediately facing the main entrance;
the whole wall covering mosaic on the wall on the first floor landing – depicting on the right the struggle to maintain the Revolution during the civil war into the 1920s and on the other the Great Patriotic War and the defeat of German invading Nazism;
the large painting in the second room (on the left had side on entering the room) which depicts the members of the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party at the time of the October Revolution. This is an unusual way to present the individuals who were the leading cadres of the Revolution. I foolishly didn’t take note of the artist or when the painting was created but note Trotsky skulking at the extreme left hand side;
the many banners, representing factories and places of work, of the volunteers who went to fight against the Whites and the fourteen, intervening imperialist powers;
the propaganda posters produced by both sides in the conflict;
the machine gun fitted to the back of a horse drawn buggy;
the various sculptures demonstrating the unity of the workers and the peasants;
the make-shift armoured vehicles;
the multi-ethnic and multi-national extent of the revolutionary forces;
the distinctive uniform of the first Red Army;
the ceramic vase with an image of Joseph Stalin, Mikhail Frunze and other civil war military commanders;
the huge, wooden fist with the words ‘пролстарский кулак врагм ссср’ which translates as ‘the proletarian kulak is an enemy of the USSR’;
the images of VI Lenin and JV Stalin on the banners of the Great Patriotic War;
the porcelain statue of an embrace and a kiss;
images of heroism;
‘the battle in the rear’;
the Nazi standards on the floor in the Victory Room;
the Iron Crosses;
the shattered eagle that used to stand on top of the Reichstag in Berlin;
Hitler’s personal standard;
the image of Marshal Zhukov riding his horse over the Nazi standards in Red Square on May 9th 1945;
the fine bust of JV Stalin, together with his military dress uniform;
the shattered remains of the U2 American spy plane;
the Red Army and and women flanking the main entrance to the museum;

among much more.

Location;

Soviet Army Street, Moscow

GPS;

55.78503 N

36.61708 E

How to get there;

The museum is a little over a five minute walk from the Dostoyevskaya Metro station on the Line 10 (Green). Leave by the exit that leads to the Red Army Theatre. Go past the right hand side of the theatre and at the road junction/pedestrian crossing take the right, once on the other side go left and the museum is about 100 metres on the right.

The North River Terminal – Moscow

Posted on 11/05/2025 by Michael

North River Terminal – Entrance Hall

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The North River Terminal – Moscow

The North River Terminal in Moscow has reopened [in 2020] after two years of reconstruction. Dubbed ‘the river gates of Moscow’, it was the main gateway for travellers to the Caspian, Azov, White, Black and Baltic seas via the Volga and Don Rivers [and for this reason was also called the ‘Five Seas Port’]. It is also one of the first built in the Stalinist Empire style in 1937. [Other examples of this architectural style can be found on this page, specifically the ‘Seven Sisters’.] Architects Alexei Rukhlyadev and Vladimir Krinsky [don’t know where he comes into it as his name doesn’t appear on the official plaque on the wall at the riverside entrance – although he gets referenced on various architectural website] created a real Soviet masterpiece: from a distance, it looks like a huge ship, crowned with a 27-meter spire (together with it, the building reaches 75 meters in height).

After the fall of the USSR, the building and the park around it fell into disrepair, however, in 2018, authorities decided to revive it and in early September 2020, the River Terminal reopened after a two-year reconstruction. And it looks amazing!

The building has returned [to] its original look: the columns and halls have been restored, including mosaics with Soviet symbols.

Outside, the façade is decorated with historical medallions with various ideological themes, such as the country’s main constructions, Moscow metro trains, the development of the Arctic and big ships.

All of its 17 piers have also been repaired and now the Terminal will be able to receive up to 24 ships a day. Moscow officials said they expect 1.5 million tourists during the navigation season.

From here, you’ll be able to take a cruise to St. Petersburg, Yaroslavl, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Astrakhan, Volgograd, Kostroma, Saratov and even Valaam.

….

On the roof, there’s now an observation desk with a panoramic view of the Khimki reservoir.

….

Soviet fountains and navy-themed sculptures were restored in the park around the Terminal.

Text above from Moscow’s Stalinist Empire-style North River Terminal opens after large-scale renovation

The medallions that flank the columns of the entrance on both sides of the terminal are created for the passenger either about to leave or arriving in Moscow. Those which passengers on their way to their ship for other parts of the country are faced with those sort of images they will encounter on their journey. So we have images of various types of ships they might encounter (remember the building was constructed in the late 1930s) as well as an image of the entrance of the Volga canal (complete with a statue of Comrade Stalin).

The Volga Canal

For those who are arriving in Moscow there are images of Red Square; the Lenin Mausoleum; the Red Army Theatre (although I haven’t been able to confirm if it ever had a statue on the top); the Mayakovsky Metro station; the never built Palace of the Soviets, which was planned to have a huge statue of VI Lenin standing on the top, as well as representations of industry and even war production.

The Palace of the Soviets

Also to note are the three emblems of what used to be the Latvian, Estonian and Lithuanian Soviet Republics. They are depicted high up on the walls of the entrance hall but I doubt there are any departures to those locations at the moment – or for the foreseeable future. It must be said, however, that the Soviet emblems are much more attractive than the ones they presently use to represent their countries.

Architects;

Alexei Rukhlyadev

(possibly) Vladimir Krinsky

Sculptors;

IS Efimov

LA Kardashov

Artists;

N Ya Danko

AI Shcherbakov

Location;

51, Leningradskoye Highway

GPS;

55°51′03.93″ N

37°28′00.94″ E

How to get there;

The nearest Metro station is Rechnoy Vokzal (which means ‘River Station’) on the northern part of Line 2. The terminal is about a ten minute walk from the station.

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We are together in the fight against fascism – Park Pobeda – Moscow

Posted on 02/05/2025 by Michael

: We are together in the fight against fascism

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We are together in the fight against fascism

This particular sculpture, impressive as it is, poses and challenge to me when being asked ‘What is a piece of Socialist Realist art?’ Art can be realist without having any reference to socialism even though it might represent a worker or workers sympathetically. But what takes one piece of work from a mere representation of a person or an event to a different level, to imbue it with a meaning that is over and above what is merely in front of the viewer.

My simple interpretation of that has been the intention of the artist at the time of the work’s creation, the intended audience and what was hoped would be achieved by it’s presentation to the public. But these intentions and hopes are not concrete. They can exist in one period of time but can just disappear if (and unfortunately) or when the social system reverts to what it was pre-Revolution – as happened in the Soviet Union (and all the other post-Socialist societies).

But if, as it did, Revisionism took control soon after the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953 can those works of art produced after that date until 1991 still be considered works of Socialist Realism? They were still produced for the same audience as were the target in the 1930s and 1940s but for a different purpose, after the mid-50s the aim was to project an image of being in favour of revolutionary change whilst at the same time doing everything practically to avoid such a transformation occurring.

The history (or more accurately to say, its genesis) of this particular monument is quite unique and exceptional, fitting in more with the political agenda of the Russian Government at the time rather than a desire to remind future generations of the sacrifice made by those during the Great Patriotic War or the desire to foment a willingness of self sacrifice amongst a population who are attempting to build Socialism.

On 19th December 2009 a Soviet era monument, the Kutaisi Glory Memorial, which had been unveiled in 1981, was blown up by Georgian fascists under the cloak of ‘nationalism’ and ‘reconstruction’ of the city. The location of the monument was to be the site of the new Parliament building.

The original plan was for the monument to be destroyed on 21st December (coincidentally the anniversary of Stalin’s birth) and a mass demonstration had been planned to oppose this desecration of the memory of all those Soviet citizens (including those from Georgia) who had died in the fight against fascism. The decision the destruction should take place two days earlier than originally planned is considered to have made to circumvent any opposition. Because the task was rushed it was botched with pieces of concrete flying all over the place, some of it killing a woman and her eight year old daughter who lived close by.

But the destruction of this monument also has to be taken in the context of what was happening in the region at the time. This was just after the short war between Russia and Georgia, in 2008, over the separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia – one started by Georgia under the encouragement of the US. This was all part of a strategy to surround (with hostile NATO states) and eventually dismember the Russian Federation – which had been the intention of the neo-liberals in the west since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

For that reason the demolition of the memorial was more than an attack on the memory of all those who died fighting fascism it was part of the present war against Russia. This created a sense of urgency, an advert for the commission was circulated and by July 2009 there were already six maquettes of the proposed statue to be erected on a site in Park Pobeda (Victory Park) in Moscow. These designs were on display in the Great Patriotic War Museum, awaiting a popular vote.

At the same time the maquettes were on display in Moscow Hilary Clinton was visiting Tbilisi, adding fuel to the conflict and mouthing her meaningless phrases about the US in support of national liberation of those countries ‘occupied’ and vowing never ending US support for ‘the fight for freedom’. Similar declarations, before and subsequently, ultimately led to the situation we have in the Ukraine at the moment and have led to continued efforts by the US to destabilise other countries in eastern Europe – cut short recently by Trump’s rethink on how to allocate resources to maintain the US’s ‘full spectrum dominance’ in the region.

So a somewhat unique genesis of a World War II monument.

The design of the monument follows many, well established tropes for such statues. In general it depicts the events surrounding the Fall of Berlin, the occupation of the fascist liar by Soviet troops, the raising of the Red Flag over the Reichstag and the first ever Victory Day Parade in Red Square in Moscow.

A common theme of the three, separate components of the statue is the dominance of Soviet over Nazi weaponry, imagery and culture. At the very top two Soviet soldiers are in the process of raising the Red Flag, one of the soldiers pointing his weapon at the pile of German weapons that lay discarded on the ground. Amongst this pile of weapons and debris is a toppled German eagle. We’ve won, you’ve lost!

On the left hand side we have a group of Soviet soldiers who are greeting others, unseen, as they stand beside the burnt out dome of the Reichstag building. Under their feet and before them, discarded on the ground, are Nazi weapons, ruined machinery, barbed wire, destroyed Nazi standards (with the swastika broken) and on top of all this detritus a dove of peace is in the process of alighting.

On the right hand side we have the depiction (the only example I’ve seen in a monumental form) of an episode that took place during the first Victory Parade where Soviet solders entered Red Square with dozens of captured Nazi banners, marched to the Lenin Mausoleum, upon which Comrade Stalin and other members of the Soviet leadership were standing to review the parade, and there the troops threw the Nazi standards down into the mud at the door of Lenin’s resting place. In the background of the monument can be seen the Spasskaya Tower and the building that used to be the Lenin Museum but which is now the Museum of the Patriotic War of 1812.

However, there are two aspects which differentiate this monument from those that would have been created even in the Revisionist period of the Soviet Union. And both these are on the right hand side. Amongst the group of soldiers cheering there is one face that is looking out directly at the viewer whilst all the rest are looking to the front. Also, tucked behind the folds of the flag on that side is an incongruous figure on a horse. This figure is long haired and bearded and is totally out of place. A Christ figure? And I couldn’t work out what he has in his hand.

At the rear of the monument are two plaques. One explaining the reason for its existence and the other with the names of those involved in its creation.

Translation of the plaques on the rear of the monument. (Machine translated so apologies for any eccentricities.)

Monument to the Unity of the Peoples of the Soviet Union who fought and won together in the Great Patriotic War.

Symbolising the inviolability of monuments to victorious soldiers

It was opened in 2010 in memory of the Glory Memorial which was barbarously destroyed in the city of Kutaisi on December 19, 2009

Built with folk remedies

Sculptors/Architects; – the names listed. However, I don’t know the exact level of their involvement but assume that Shcherbakov was the principal sculptor.

S A Shcherbakov

A N Kovalchuk

I N Voskresenskiy

B V Perfiliev

V V Seliverstov

A A Ustenko

E H Zhivotinsky

G J Gattenberger

In the centre of the concave, stone wall set back a few metres from the statue the high structure pays homage to the monument that was blown up in Tbilisi. The large letters (in Russian) declare the name of the ensemble – ‘We are together in the fight against fascism’. Lower down and on either side are smaller images of other memorials from other Soviet Republics. I can identify Mother Armenia in Yerevan, the original monument in Kutaisi and the Motherland Calls! in Stalingrad but have problems with the others.

On either side of the installation stand two pillars upon which is place a horizontal, large, golden star.

Closest public transport;

Park Pobeda Metro station

Location;

In Victory Park (Park Pobeda), Moscow

GPS;

55.72845 N

37.50152 E

How to get there:

From the metro station head towards the obelisk and main museum but take a path off to the left which goes beside the church. Keep on this track as it goes past the entrance to the Military Weapons Museum (on your left) and then rises as it skirts around the left of the principal, circular structure. The monument is on the left hand side of the track.

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