The Red Star and the Hammer and Sickle

Bishkek Revolutionaries – Lenin – Marx – Engels – Dzerzhinsky – Frunze – Red Guards – Revolutionary Martyrs

For those interested in the Soviet (and Socialist) past of Bishkek and Kyrgyzstan there are still a few remaining statues and monuments to that period of a time when the people were attempting to make a better future for workers and peasants.

Unfortunately, as is becoming almost universal now, (as yet) I have few, if any, details about any of these statues or monuments.

VI Lenin – Bishkek

VI Lenin – standing, making a speech

This statue was originally in Lenin Square (now Ala-Too Square) on the other side of the Historical Museum. The statue was originally installed in Bishkek in 1984 and the statue stands 10 metres high.

Location;

In the park behind the State Historical Museum and across the road from the House of Government.

GPS;

42.877582 N

74.606187 E

VI Lenin – in school precinct, Bishkek

VI Lenin bust – with small garden

Location;

Razzakov Street 62/103. Behind the lyceum and seemingly part of a housing estate.

GPS;

42.873294 N

74.603402 E

Karl Marx and Frederick Engels – Bishkek

Karl Marx and Frederick Engels – seated, relaxed and in discussion

Location;

At the north-west edge of Central Square Park, across the road from the Supreme Courft of the Kyrgyz Republic.

GPS;

42.878999 N

74.605547 E

‘Iron Felix’ Dzerzhinsky – Bishkek

Felix Dzerzhinsky (‘Iron Felix’)

It might be surprising for some people to realise that Felix Dzerzhinsky, the first head of the Cheka, the organisation tasked with defeating counter-revolutionary elements within the young Socialist state, is still considered with great deal affection and respect by populations throughout the former Soviet Union.

Location;

In the small park on the west side of the National Library.

GPS;

42.881221 N

74.610105 E

Mikhail Frunze – Bishkek

Equestrian statue of Mikhail Frunze

This, I think, is unusual. The Soviets weren’t really into equestrian statues – or at least as far as I knew. The only other one I’m aware of is of Marshal Zhukov, in Revolution Square by Red Square, in Moscow – but that was installed in 1991, when Socialism had been ditched and the nascent capitalists were looking for some sort of justification for their miserable existence, piggy-backing on past Soviet/Socialist glory.

The city that is now known as Bishkek was called Frunze from 1926, on the founding of the Kirghiz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR).

Location;

At the bottom end of Erkindik Boulevard, opposite the station building of Bishkek 2.

GPS;

42.865110 N

74.605887 E

Martyrs of the Revolutionary Movement – Bishkek

Martyrs of the Revolutionary Movement

This was inaugurated in 1978 and is the work of a local sculptor, Tinibek Sadykov. For this work he won the All Union Lenin Prize. The female figure at the top of the colon is of a young local woman, Urkuya Saliyeva, a Socialist organiser from the south of the country, who was murdered in 1924 by reactionary locals. The figures in the rest of the monument represent the ‘awakening’ workers and peasants.

Location;

In its own park opposite Chui Avenue 100

GPS;

42.876498 N

74.610505 E

Memorial to the Red Guards – Bishkek

Memorial for the Red Guards

This was erected in 1960 and marks the common grave of of the Bolshevik dead in the Belovodsk counter-revolutionary uprising of December 6, 1918. Unfortunately, the Eternal Flame has been extinguished by the local reactionary capitalists – the same breed they died fighting against in the early days of the Socialist Republic.

Translation of text on monument;

Eternal Glory to those who fell in the struggle for Soviet power – original in Russian. [Facing the eternal flame.]

For Soviet power Glory forever for the fighters – original in Turkman.

Two commanders are buried here. [On the left hand side]

Location;

In Dubovny Park, just behind the Russian Drama Theatre.

GPS;

42.87840 N

74.60840 E

Lubyanka Building

Lubyanka (Russian: Лубянка, ) is the popular name for the building which contains the headquarters of the Border Guard Service, (an agency of the FSB) and its affiliated prison, on Lubyanka Square in the Meshchansky District of Moscow, Russia. It is a large Neo-Baroque building with a façade of yellow brick designed by Alexander V. Ivanov in 1897 and augmented by Aleksey Shchusev from 1940 to 1947. It was previously the national headquarters of the KGB.

The Lubyanka was originally built in 1898 as the headquarters of the All-Russia Insurance Company (Rossiya Insurance Company). It is noted for its parquet floors and pale green walls. Belying its massiveness, the edifice avoids an impression of heroic scale: isolated Palladian and Baroque details, such as the minute pediments over the corner bays and the central loggia, are lost in an endlessly repeating palace façade where three bands of cornices emphasize the horizontal lines. A clock is centred in the uppermost band of the façade.

A fountain used to stand in front of the building, at the centre of Lubyanka Square. Following the Bolshevik Revolution the structure was taken over by the government in 1918 for use as the headquarters of the the Cheka. The prison is on the top floor, but since there are no windows on that floor, most prisoners, and therefore popular conception, thought they were being detained in its basement.

Lubyanka in 1961

In 1940, Aleksey Shchusev was commissioned to enlarge the building. By 1947, his new design had doubled Lubyanka’s size horizontally, with the original structure taking up the left half of the façade (as viewed from the street). He added another storey and extended the structure by incorporating backstreet buildings. Shchusev’s design accentuated Neo-Renaissance detailing, but only the right part of the façade was constructed under his direction in the 1940s, due to the war and other hindrances.

Lubyanka – 01

In 1958, the fountain at the centre of Lubyanka Square was replaced by a statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky (‘Iron Felix’), founder of the Cheka. This statue now stands, on its original plinth, in the Muzeon Art Park (Park of the Fallen).

The building’s asymmetric façade survived intact until 1983, when the original structure was reconstructed to match the new build, at the urging of Communist Party General Secretary and former KGB Director Yuri Andropov, in accordance with Shchusev’s plans.

Lubyanka during renovation in 1983

Although the Soviet secret police changed its name many times, their headquarters remained in this building. Secret police chiefs from Lavrenty Beria to Andropov used the same office on the third floor, which looked down on the statue of Cheka founder Felix Dzerzhinsky.

Lubyanka – 02

After the dissolution of the KGB in 1991, the Lubyanka became the headquarters of the Border Guard Service of Russia, as well as the Lubyanka prison, and is one directorate of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB). A museum of the KGB (now called Историко-демонстрационный зал ФСБ России, Historical Demonstration hall of the Russian FSB) was opened to the public (but you have to get special permission to enter).