MISSION TO MOSCOW, PART 6-A: THE “SOCIALIST SCULPTURE PARK”--REALITY OR MYTH??? According to the tourist guidebook I’d purchased prior to my trip, there is a “socialist sculpture park” in or near Gorky Park, but the book’s map was confusing. Supposedly this was a dumping ground for unwanted statuary after the USSR dissolved in 1990/91 and reportedly included a statue of Leon Trotsky! (If you’re uninformed of the meaning of Trotsky vs. Stalin, I’ll have to leave it to you to research this on your own.) The very idea that such a sculpture could have survived in Stalin’s Russia amazed me, so this was a must-see site for me. Though my travel companion had gotten thru the “First Level” of Rosetta Stone’s Russian language program, we were getting nowhere seeking guidance from native Muscavites who were in Gorky that day. Up steps a dude calling himself “Gary” to offer assistance. Said he was from Uzbekistan and in Moscow making good money teaching English. When we explained what we were seeking, he said “I don’t know why you’d want to see those bloody things.” And then he deliberately gave us bad directions that led to a 90-minute wild goose chase. Bastard!! It turned out the “park” was just across the street from the Main Gate to Gorky, adjacent to one of the main art galleries of Moscow. But wouldn’t you know it, the site was closed for renovation!! Or perhaps they were demolishing it?!? So I had to settle for shooting some of the sculptures remaining outside the fenced-off area. There is no signage/guidance provided, so I interpret the stuff on my own. Below on left may well be a depiction of sailors of Battleship Potemkin celebrating their celebrated (in Sergei Eisenstein’s landmark movie) mutiny in 1905; next two pics show members of ethnic minority groups who suffered Nazi cruelties. They are walking on a fallen Nazi flag.
Posted on: Wed, 28 Aug 2013 18:28:45 +0000
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