The Great Patriotic War Museum and War Memorial – Gori

Gori Great Patriotic War Museum - 01

Gori Great Patriotic War Museum – 01

More on the Republic of Georgia

The Great Patriotic War Museum and War memorial – Gori

The Museum

This is quite a small museum and considering the huge numbers of people – especially during the tourist season – who go to Gori for the Stalin Museum (only a couple of hundred metres up the road) doesn’t get many visitors at all.

For many of those who do go there it might appear somewhat underwhelming as it doesn’t contain a lot of artefacts. However, I think that’s the ‘problem’ of the visitor not the museum – but also a ‘problem’ of which I myself am guilty.

War museums in the west – or certainly in the UK – are devoted to the instruments of war, the weapons that have been used through the ages as technology makes the task of killing someone ‘easier’ and more sophisticated. Yes, there will be exhibitions, normally ‘special’ ones that complement/supplement the permanent display, that place a greater emphasis on those who were fighting or were caught up in the conflict but the norm is to display what does the killing.

I think I’ve come to understand – and it took the visit to a number of museums in various part of what was the Soviet Union – that Soviet museums of the Great Patriotic War were primarily dedicated to those who fought and died. The museums were more like memorials to the dead than celebrations of what was used to kill them.

Although the museum in Gori is small this is even more evident in a couple of the larger museums I have visited recently – the first being the Museum of the Great Patriotic War in Moscow and the second the Museum to the Battle of Stalingrad in Stalingrad/Volgograd. Both those museums have military equipment on show but the vast majority of the items on display are much more personal, items that the soldiers and civilians carried as well as many photographs of those who fought and died.

At the heart of both those museums is a virtual shrine to those who gave their lives for the Soviet Motherland to which visiting groups of school children, military personnel – as well as many other Russian visitors – treat as a sort of pilgrimage to pay homage and thanks to those who died in the fight against Nazism. Even though the Soviet Union collapsed many years ago the Russian people still understand that the Great Patriotic War was an ‘existential’ (a word that has probably become overused in recent times) struggle for the country. Defeat wouldn’t have just meant losing the war, it would have resulted in the end of the Russian people as a nation.

And the museum in Gori mirrors that but on a much smaller scale. When it comes to exhibits there more in the way of photographs, of scenes from the various battle fronts but also of Georgians (and, I must assume, those from Gori and the surrounding area) who died in the war. Although there was no fighting on the territory of Georgia as such around 350,000 Georgians lost their lives on other fronts and in other battles against the Nazis. In this museum some of those are remembered with their photographs displayed in the corner of the museum.

Gori Great Patriotic War Museum - 02

Gori Great Patriotic War Museum – 02

There are, however, other items of interest for a visitor. These include;

  • a full length statue of Joseph Vassarionovich Djughashvili (Joseph Stalin) standing at the bottom on the single room which is the museum. Not the best of likenesses but one to add to those searching for his statues in Gori, complementing those in a near-by park and the railway station. (Both those a more accurate likeness, I think.);
  • a number of interesting banners from different regiments and battalions, some with images of VI Lenin and/or JV Stalin. Some are not in the best of condition but not surprising considering the ferocity of the battles;
Gori Great Patriotic War Museum - 03

Gori Great Patriotic War Museum – 03

  • a collection of Nazi insignia, in display cases on the floor – emulating the fate of the Nazi banners thrown at the feet of Stalin, and in front of the Lenin Mausoleum, in Red Square on the first Victory Day in 1945;
  • a small statue depicting homage to the Red Flag.

The War Memorial

Great Patriotic War Memorial - Gori

Great Patriotic War Memorial – Gori

Gori’s War Memorial, to the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, is located in Hero’s Square – which is the small garden in front of the main entrance to the museum.

The memorial begins just to the right of the museum entrance. Here there’s a plaque, in Georgian, with an inscription which quotes part of the poem by the Georgian poet Galaktion Tabidze – ‘Let the Banners Wave on High’ (დროშები ჩქარა):

‘დიდება ხალხისთვის წამებულ რაინდებს,

ვინც თავი გასწირა, ვინც სისხლი დაღვარა.

მათ ხსოვნას სამშობლო სანთლებად აინთებს’

‘Glory to those with souls devoid of fear,
Who for the people’s cause did bravely die…
Their names shine bright like torches in the night…’

Then there is ceramic mural which takes the form of an ‘L’ shape, with a small part on the wall of the museum and then the longer side being on a wall that runs the length of the square. On here you see depicted both figures in the land army as well as those from the naval armed forces. As stated above no battles actually took place on Georgian soil but many Georgians did fight and die on the various fronts and those from Gori are memorialised inside the museum.

Georgian Socialist Realist art, especially when it comes to murals and bas reliefs, is very distinctive. The same can be said of the statuary of the period. In both those art forms the rounds are exaggerated as are the straight edges of the human form. This can be seen here in Gori but is also demonstrated on the Mother of Georgia – Kartlis Deda statue in Tbilisi; the wall panels next to the Bodorna Hydroelectric plant (along the ‘military road’ which goes up to the Russian border at Kazbegi); and the mural on the side of the telephone exchange in Tskaltubo.

The specific Georgia style gives the figures an almost comic aspect. This is enhanced by the fact that the murals, at least the majority I’ve seen, are made up of smaller sections (whether ceramic or stone) and the spaces between the blocks give the impression that the figures are string puppets where there are gaps between the joints.

The first group of three, on the museum wall, are sailors and the ’rounding’ of the figures makes them out to be burly, muscle bound bruisers and the exaggerated cheeks bones make them out to be the picture of health.

This style also appears to make the figures less serious in their demeanour. In the first group along the long wall, nearest the museum, we have a group of sailors marching in formation. Some of them are looking at the viewer and seem happy that they are going off to war.

In the centre of the long wall (now partially obscured by an Christian cross, part of the monument to the Russo-Georgian War of 2008) is a group of three soldiers, giving a clenched fist salute – the sign of victory.

The Soviet symbol of the the Hammer and Sickle appears underneath the dates 1941-1945 (the duration of the war) and stars surround the figures of the left side of the wall.

Everything changes on the right of the dates where we see a celebration of peace, a child being protected from its fall by open, outstretched hands with images of doves flying around behind.

A few metres in front of the central part of the long bas-relief is a small stone circle that, at one time, would have housed the Eternal Flame. When this ceased to be in use I don’t know but seems to represent a denial of the sacrifice of Georgians in the struggle against Nazism in the 1940s – because it was the Soviet Union for which they fought. This is also reflected in the manner in which the War Memorial in Vake Park, in Tbilisi, has been allowed to go to rack and ruin.

Related;

Stalin Museum – Gori

Gori – Rediscovered statues of Joseph Stalin

Museum of the Great Patriotic War – Moscow

Location;

19 Stalin Avenue (between the Stalin Museum and the Town Hall square)

GPS;

41.98387º N

44.11199º E

Opening times of the Museum;

Tuesday to Sunday (closed Mondays) from 10.00 to 17.00

Entrance;

3 GEL

More on the Republic of Georgia

Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy (VDNKh) – Moscow

VDNKh - 10

VDNKh – 10

More on the USSR

Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy (VDNKh)

Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy (VDNKh) is located in Ostankinsky District of Moscow, less than a kilometer from Ostankino Tower. It is served by VDNKh subway station, as well as by Moscow Monorail. Cosmonauts Alley and the Worker and Kolkhoz Woman statue are situated just outside the main entrance to VDNKh. It also borders Moscow Botanical Garden and a smaller Ostankino Park, and in recent years the three parks served as a united park complex.

VDNKh - 07

VDNKh – 07

The exhibition was established February 17, 1935 as the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition (VSKhV) (Russian: Всесоюзная сельско-хозяйственная выставка; Vsesoyuznaya selsko-khozyaystvennaya vystavka). An existing site (then known as Ostankino Park, a country territory recently incorporated into the city limits), was approved in August 1935. The master plan by Vyacheslav Oltarzhevsky was approved in April 1936, and the first show season was announced to begin in July 1937 and was designed as a ‘City of Exhibitions’ with streets and public spaces, which was very common in the 1930s. However, plans did not materialise and three weeks before the deadline Joseph Stalin personally postponed the exhibition by one year (to August 1938). It seemed that this time everything would be ready on time, but again the builders failed to complete their work, and regional authorities failed to select and deliver proper exhibits. Some pavilions and the 1937 entrance gates by Oltarzhevsky were torn down to be replaced with more appropriate structures (most pavilions were criticised for having no windows). According to Oltarzhevsky’s original plan, all of the pavilions were to be constructed from wood. In 1938, a government commission examined the construction and decided that it did not suit the ideological direction of the moment. The exhibition was considered too modest and too temporary. Oltarzhevsky was arrested, together with the Commissar for Agriculture and his staff, and eventually released in 1943. Later, he worked on the 1947-1953 Moscow skyscraper project [The ‘Seven Sisters’ on the USSR page.].

VDNKh - 06

VDNKh – 06

As a result, in August 1938 Nikita Khrushchev, addressing the assembled Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, declared that the site was not ready, and the opening was postponed until August 1939. It finally opened on 1 August 1939, and was open to the public until 25 October. The 1940 and 1941 seasons followed but following German invasion in 1941 the exhibition was closed until the end of World War II.

VDNKh - 13

VDNKh – 13

In October 1948 the State ordered the renewal of the Exhibition, starting with the 1950 season. Again, the opening was postponed more than once; the first post-war season opened in 1954 (still as Agricultural exhibition). In the 1956 season the planners set aside an Industrial area within the main territory; more restructuring and rebuilding followed. In 1959 the park was renamed Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy (Russian: Выставка достижений народного хозяйства, Vystavka dostizheniy narodnovo khozyaystva) or ВДНХ/VDNKh.

VDNKh - 03

VDNKh – 03

By 1989 the exhibition had 82 pavilions with an exhibition area of 700,000 square metres. Each pavilion (including the 1939 regions) had been dedicated to a particular industry or field: the Engineering Pavilion (1954), the Space Pavilion (1966), the Central Industrial Zones Pavilion (1955), the Atomic Energy Pavilion (1954), the People’s Education Pavilion (1954), the Radio-electronics Pavilion (1958), the Soviet Culture Pavilion (1964).

VDNKh - 11

VDNKh – 11

During Soviet times, each year VDNKh hosted more than 300 national and international exhibitions and many conferences, seminars and meetings of scientists and industry professionals. The most memorable feature of the exhibition site was the Worker and Kolkhoz Woman (Rabochiy i kolkhoznitsa) statue, featuring the gigantic figures of a man and woman holding together the ‘hammer and sickle’. The sculpture, which reaches 25 meters toward the sky, was designed by Vera Mukhina and originally crowned the 35-meter-tall Soviet pavilion at the Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne (1937).

VDNKh - 08

VDNKh – 08

In 1992, VDNKh was renamed, receiving the new acronym VVC, which remained in use until 2014. It occupies 2,375,000 square metres of which 266,000 square metres are used for indoor exhibits. The territory of VDNKh is greater than that of the Principality of Monaco and has approximately 400 buildings.

On 14 May 2014 the previous name VDNKh was restored, following an interactive poll. In addition, the mayor of Moscow announced that the Russian space shuttle, the structural test article – TVA, which was an attraction and restaurant at Gorky Park in Moscow was to be moved to the VNDKh, to be displayed near the Vostok rocket in front of the Cosmos hall. It was moved 5–6 July 2014 and re-assembled by 21 July.

The above text from Wikipedia.

VDNKh - 09

VDNKh – 09

This park is vast and it’s impossible to see all there is on a single visit – even a handful of visits would probably mean missing out on something. There’s so much to take in that it exhausts you with information, image, and impression overload.

The slide show below, which I have to admit is huge (perhaps too big?) can only give an impression of what exists in the park – and I didn’t have time to enter any of the pavilions, just satisfying myself with taking in the architecture from the outside.

VDNKh - 05

VDNKh – 05

For anyone interested in Soviet era architecture it allows you to see, and appreciate, the marriage between Socialist Realism and the cultural influences of the various Republics of the Soviet Union.

Originally the various pavilions would have contained exhibitions related to the Republic under whose name it was built but more recently many of the pavilions have been taken over by commercial companies to promote themselves and their own capitalist values.

VDNKh - 04

VDNKh – 04

This commercial ‘development’ has also meant the construction of more contemporary buildings and/or temporary modifications of existing buildings. This has drastically changed the environment of the park, more specifically that part of the park closest to the entrance. Commercial companies know that if they built their edifices down by the Cosmos Pavilion and the Transport Museum no one would see them let alone enter.

VDNKh - 02

VDNKh – 02

There’s a fine statue of VI Lenin just in front of the Russian Republic pavilion.

The Worker and Kolkhoz Woman is outside the main park space, to the right as you look at the main site entrance arch, about 10 minutes away. That has been the subject of a separate post so images of that magnificent sculpture, truly accepted to be an iconic representation of the Soviet Union, can be seen by following the link above. It’s very much worth a short diversion to appreciate the sheer scale and beauty of the, now, renovated and restored masterpiece.

VDNKh - 01

VDNKh – 01

As (in June 2024) the conflict in the Ukraine is still ongoing it might be worthwhile to make a reference to the pavilion that was dedicated to the Republic of Ukraine. Although many of the pavilions are impressive that of the Ukraine is even more so.

The Ukrainian Republic pavilion is probably bigger, more ornate, more complex in its imagery, having had more attention paid to it, having had more money given to it and stands out amongst many impressive buildings. And this is the case with many other references to the Ukraine in Moscow. Both the two stations on the metro system (Line 3 and Line 5) are amongst the most ornate amongst a collection of very ornate structures. As is the internal decoration of the Kievskaya mainline railway station.

VDNKh - 12

VDNKh – 12

It seems that if you pay attention to your ‘favourite child’ it will still turn against you because you haven’t given it enough.

Location;

VDNKh is located in Ostankinsky District of Moscow and is served by VDNKh subway station, north east of the city centre, on Line 6, the brown line.

GPS;

55°49′47″N

37°37′56″E

Opening times;

‘VDNKh is open around the clock’.

Entrance;

Free to the complex but you might have to pay to enter some of the pavilions.

Website;

VDNKh (in English)

More on the USSR

Moscow Metro – Teatralnaya – Line 2

Teatralnaya - Line 2 - A Savin

Teatralnaya – Line 2 – A Savin

More on the USSR

Moscow Metro – a Socialist Realist Art Gallery

Moscow Metro – Teatralnaya – Line 2

Teatralnaya - Line 2 - 01

Teatralnaya – Line 2 – 01

Teatralnaya (Russian: Театра́льная, English: Theater) is an underground metro station on the Zamoskvoretskaya line of the Moscow Metro, named for the nearby Teatralnaya Square, the location of numerous theatres, including the famed Bolshoi Theatre. The station is unique in that it does not have its own entrance halls. The north escalator leads to Okhotniy Ryad and the south escalator to Ploshchad Revolyutsii.

Teatralnaya - Line 2 - 04

Teatralnaya – Line 2 – 04

History

Ploshchad Sverdlova station opened on September 11, 1938, as part of the second stage of construction of the Moscow Metro system. It was the terminal station of the Zamoskvoretskaya line until the line was extended on January 1, 1943. Teatralnaya’s architect was Ivan Fomin. The station is located at a depth of 33.9 meters (111 feet). The central hall has a diameter of 9.5 meters (31 feet), with an 8.5 meters (28 feet) lateral lining of cast-iron tubing.

From its opening until 1990, the station’s name was Ploshchad Sverdlova, which was named in honour of the prominent Bolshevik, Yakov Sverdlov. In 1990, the city changed the name of the square to Teatralnaya Ploshchad. The name of the station followed accordingly.

Teatralnaya - Line 2 - 03

Teatralnaya – Line 2 – 03

Decoration

Teatralnaya Station has fluted pylons faced with labradorite and white marble taken from the demolished Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. Crystal lamps in bronze frames attached to the centre of the room give the central hall a festive appearance. The vault of the central hall is decorated with caissons and majolica bas-reliefs by Natyla Danko on the theme of theatre arts of the USSR, manufactured by Leningrad Porcelain Factory. These bas-reliefs are a series of fourteen different figures, each representing music and dance from various nationalities of the Soviet Union. Seven male and seven female figures attired in their national costumes are either performing an ethnic dance or are playing a distinctively ethnic musical instrument. The series included Armenia, Byelorussia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. Each figure is reproduced four times for a total of 56 figures. Initially, the floor was of black-and-yellow granite patterned as a chessboard; however in 1970, the yellow panels were replaced with gray.

Teatralnaya - Line 2 - 02

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A bust of Yakov Sverdlov, for whom the station was originally named, was located at the end of the platform opposite the escalators. Only the base remains today. A bust of Vladimir Lenin was however, preserved.

Text above from Wikipedia.

Teatralnaya

Date of opening;

11th September 1938, known as Ploshchad Sverdlova till the 5th November 1990

Construction of the station;

deep, pier, three-span

Architect of the underground part;

I. Fomin

Transition to stations Okhotny Ryad and Ploshchad Revolyutsii

The cubic pylons of Teatralnaya are faced with slightly yellowish grainy marble. The pylon edges are decorated with round broken-rib columns. Lamp-brackets with two white spherical shades are between the columns. Benches are placed at the bases of the pylons.

The vault of the very short central hall is decorated with rhomb-like coffers, while the vaults of the track tunnels are with square coffers. There are round porcelain medallions alone the base of the main vault – ‘Folk Music and Dance’ manufactured at the Leningrad Porcelain Factory by painter

Danko’s cartoons. The transit to station Okhotny Ryad begins with a bridge in the central part of hall, which ends by a small hall from which a long running-up passageway starts (built in 1945-1946). The left and right walls of the small hall have medallions with Chaikovsky’s profiles. The pediments of the bridge are adorned with bas-reliefs of pair ballet jump and ballet support. The northern exit ends in the underground entrance hall common with station Okhotny Ryad. There is a portrait of K. Marx on the wall made of red and white marble as Florentine mosaic.

Text from Moscow Metro 1935-2005, p68/9

Location:

Tverskoy District, Central Administrative Okrug

GPS:

55.7578°N

37.6190°E

Depth:

33.9 metres (111ft)

Opened:

11 September 1938

More on the USSR

Moscow Metro – a Socialist Realist Art Gallery