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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Moscow Metro – Ploshchad Revolyutsii – Line 3

Posted on 03/05/2023 by Michael

Ploshchad Revolutsii

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Moscow Metro – a Socialist Realist Art Gallery

Moscow Metro – Ploshchad Revolyutsii – Line 3

Ploshchad Revolyutsii – Line 3 – 05

Ploshchad Revolyutsii (Пло́щадь Револю́ции) is a station on the Moscow Metro, in the Tverskoy District of central Moscow. The station is named after Revolution Square (Resurrection Square until 1918), under which it is located. It is on the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line.

Ploshchad Revolyutsii – Line 3 – 01

When the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line was first built, the tracks from Ploshchad Revolyutsii extended westward to Aleksandrovsky Sad rather than Arbatskaya. When the westward extension of the line was completed in 1953, trains were rerouted through the new segment.

Ploshchad Revolyutsii – Line 3 – 04

The station opened in 1938, its architect was Alexey Dushkin. The station features red and yellow marble arches resting on low pylons faced with black Armenian marble. The spaces between the arches are partially filled by decorative ventilation grilles and ceiling tracery.

Ploshchad Revolyutsii – Line 3 – 02

The station contains 76 statues in the socialist realism style. Originally, 80 sculptures were created for the space—10 pairs, each replicated 4 times throughout the station. Today, nine pairs are in the archways, and a copy of the final pair (‘The Pioneers’) appears on each of the two platforms, bringing the total number of statues to 76. Each arch is flanked by a pair of bronze sculptures by Matvey Manizer depicting the people of the Soviet Union, including soldiers, farmers, athletes, writers, aviators, industrial workers, and schoolchildren. The series is meant to be considered in order, symbolizing Russia’s transformation from the pre-revolutionary past, through the revolution, into the (then) contemporary era. The order of sculpture pairs are:

Male worker-partisan and male enlisted soldier
Male agricultural labourer and male sailor with pistol
Male sailor and female aviator
Male soldier with dog and female sharpshooter
Male miner and male engineer
Male and female agricultural labourers
Female and male students
Male football player and female athlete
Mother and father in swim clothing
Male and female students in Young Pioneers uniforms

Several of the sculptures are widely believed to bring good luck to those who rub them. The practice is targeted at specific areas on individual sculptures, including the soldier’s pistol, the patrolman’s dog, the roosters, and the female student’s shoe. An observer in the station will see numerous passengers touching or rubbing the statues as they pass, and the bronze of these details is highly polished as a result.

Ploshchad Revolyutsii – Line 3 – 03

From this station, passengers can transfer to Teatralnaya on the Zamoskvoretskaya Line and Okhotny Ryad on the Sokolnicheskaya Line, but the latter can be reached only through Teatralnaya as there is no direct transfer.

Text above from Wikipedia.

Ploshchad Revolyutsii

Date of opening;

13th March 1938

Construction of the station;

deep, pier, three-span

Architect of the underground part;

A. Dushkin

Sculptor; M. Manizer

Transition to stations Okhotny Ryad and Teatralnaya

Ploshchad Revolyutsii is one of the most known and popular stations of the Moscow Metro. The idea of its architectural decoration is absolutely clear, while the form of realisation, which has been used by sculptor M. Manizer, is intelligible and understandable for everyone. He stationed a gallery of figures [personages of the revolution, civil war, and peaceful development) under ground, which illustrated the stages of the creation of the Soviet country. The statues are established on pedestals nestled into niches between the station’s pylons. Each pylon has four bronze figures, which look through famous stages of the revolution – from the civil war to the peak of the Stalin era.

Now there are 76 (initially 80) bronze figures. The Manizer’s gallery begins from the western end of the central hall. At the time of opening, it was the only exit while the opposite blind end was decorated with a pair bas relief of Lenin and Stalin, which crowned ‘the triumphal step of the Soviet people’. The bas-relief was dismantled in 1947 after the opening of the eastern overland vestibule. There are 20 unique figures in total. The gallery begins with a revolutionary worker (bow on the bosom) with a grenade and a trench soldier. In the next niche – a peasant and revolutionary sailor with a famous revolver, which is regularly stolen. Then, parachutist girl and signal sailor from Marat cruiser. In the fourth arch – a Voroshilov rifle girl with pneumatic rifle and a frontier guard with a lucky dog. If one wants to catch luck, it is needed to rub the dog’s nose. In the fifth arch – Stakhanovite (rewarded Soviet worker) with air hammer and an engineer who examines a gear wheel and records something in a book. His pencil is also regularly stolen. In the sixth arch – a poultry-woman with chicken and grain-grower machine-operator sitting on a Fordson’s wheel. Then, a dreaming student boy and reading student girl. In the eighth arch – discus thrower girl and football player. In the ninth arch – a father with a child and mother with a child. In the tenth arch on the side of the platforms – a model aircraft constructor pioneer boys and geographer pioneer girls. All figures sit, or are on their knees, or bended for work. It was even a joke – ‘Here all the Soviet people sits (in Russian means be imprisoned as well) or is on its knees’.

The other decoration of the station serves to emphasize the figures but do not withdraw attention from them – narrow edgings of red marble along the arches of the inter-pylon passageways, black marble covered the low pedestals of the statues, grey-blue on the walls. The ceiling is a chessboard of granite plates of subdued grey and pink colours. There are very uncomfortable oak benches along the platform walls opposite the stops of first and last carriages. They are separated from each other by stone pedestals covered with black marble. There is a bronze arrow with inscription ‘Exit to the City’ above the benches. It is one of the first direction signs in the Moscow metro.

Western ground pavilion

The hall looks rather strange. Two buildings, from which one is oval while the other is square, are connected by a passageway. The deconstructivist aesthetics of the hall has been formed occasionally. Dushkin initially projected that the oval escalator hall would be one of the internal rooms of the Academic movie theatre. According to the project, spectators appeared immediately from the metro to the movie theatre foyer by escalator. However the largest movie theatre in the USSR has not been built. Hence a square hall whose portal was decorated with columns was attached to the oval hall.

Eastern ground pavilion

The portal of the hall was built into the line of existing buildings. It consists of two (entrance and exit) low arches. Going through them, one appears in a huge two coloured semi-circular hall faced with greyish-white marble. A striking mosaic, which consists of red flags, the coat of arms of the USSR, and years of 1917-1947, is located on the eastern wall, opposite the arch of the escalator tunnel. Words of one of the first versions of the USSR hymn are carved with gold on the right and left of the mosaic. There are oak desks under the mosaic and benches along the wall. Sitting on them, it is comfortable to observe the giant 24-branch chandelier suspended over the escalator arch and unique column-shaped torchieres of two human heights on marble pedestals on the right and left of the escalators. The hall staggers with its barbarian pomp and overwhelms by its gigantism so much that passengers often do not notice small but very good looking details of the decoration, e.g., an oak carved flower on the door of the office of senior cashier or intricate bronze tracery on the torchieres.

Text from Moscow Metro 1935-2005, p36-39

Location:

GPS:

55.7566°N

37.6216°E

Depth:

33.6 metres (110 ft)

Opened:

13 March 1938

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Moscow Metro – a Socialist Realist Art Gallery

Moscow Metro – Partizanskaya – Line 3

Posted on 30/04/2023 by Michael

Partizanskaya – by A Savin

More on the USSR

Moscow Metro – a Socialist Realist Art Gallery

Moscow Metro – Partizanskaya – Line 3

Partizanskaya (Партизанская), known until 2005 as Izmailovsky Park (Измайловский парк), is a station on the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line of the Moscow Metro. It was built during World War II, opened in 1944 and is dedicated to the Soviet partisans who resisted the Nazis. The name was changed on the 60th anniversary of the Soviet victory to reflect the theme of the station better. The station’s design was the work of the architect Vilenskiy.

Partizanskaya – Line 3 – 01

Partizanskaya is an unusual three-track layout, with two island platforms. The rarely-used centre track was built to handle crowds from a nearby stadium that was planned but never built because of the war. There is one row of pillars per platform. Both the walls and pillars of the station are faced with white marble and decorated with bas-reliefs honouring the partisans. The two pillars closest to the exit stairs are adorned with statues: Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya on the left and Matvey Kuzmin on the right.

Partizanskaya – Line 3 – 03

The circular ceiling niche at the foot of the stairs originally contained a fresco by A.D. Goncharov, but it has since been painted over. At the top of the stairs is a sculptural group by Matvey Manizer entitled ‘Partisans’ and bearing the inscription ‘To partisans and partisan glory!’.

Partizanskaya – Line 3 – 02

The station’s original name was ‘Izmailovsky park kul’tury i otdyha imeni Stalina’ (English: Stalin Ismailovsky Park of Culture and Leisure). It was changed to ‘Izmailovskaya’ in 1948. In 1961, new station, named ‘Izmailovsky Park’ at the time of its opening, was introduced. And in 1963, names of stations ‘Izmailovskaya’ and ‘Izmailovsky Park’ were switched, the reason being which station was closer to the actual park’s main entrance.

Partizanskaya – Line 3 – 04

The 2005’s rename to ‘Partizanskaya’ has been mentioned in the open letter of a resigning Moscow’s toponymy commission member, as one of a number of then-recent renames with political causes rather than the historical toponymy upholding ones.

Text from Wikipedia.