Russia’s Muzeon Park redefines fate of Soviet-era monuments

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) – The Muzeon Park of Arts in the heart of Moscow is one of Russia’s most famous museums, home to hundreds of sculptures.

It is known around the world as the Fallen Monument Park, a nod to the unique history of its collection, which comprises many pieces saved from imminent destruction and sets Muzeon Park apart from its global contemporaries.

Over past decades, destruction of monuments, memorials and cultural heritage has been an unfortunate feature of raging conflicts, both by mainstream militaries and non-state groups.

In Iraq and Syria, the US damaged a plethora of archaeological treasures, including ancient Babylon, one of the world’s most renowned sites.

Currently in Gaza, Israel has laid to waste thousands of years of history, wiping out buildings, monuments and archaeological sites that stood for centuries.

In Afghanistan, the Taliban destroyed the Buddhas of Bamiyan, while the Daesh/ISIS terror has destroyed numerous historic monuments in the Middle East.

Apart from conflict, political reasons are also often cited for the removal or destruction of monuments.

These include shifts in political systems and values intrinsic to them, historical reassessment, or opposition to figures and events.

In the 1990s, dozens of monuments were demolished in the former Soviet republics, the largest percentage in the Baltic states.

In Ukraine, the removal of Soviet memorials began in the early 2000s.

Since the conflict with Russia began on February 2022, Ukrainian authorities have intensified their drive to erase any signs of Russian history, including from the Russian Empire era. Some Western countries have also followed suit in solidarity with Kyiv.

- Saving Russian history and heritage

In Russia, there have been two waves of demolitions of monuments and memorials.

In 1918, the Soviet government led by Vladimir Lenin issued a decree ordering the removal of all monuments to Russian Tsars and emperors, many of which were replaced with memorials to Soviet leaders.

After the Soviet Union’s dissolution in 1991, people began toppling monuments to Lenin and other Soviet figures.

However, authorities decided to collect these sculptures, paving the way for the eventual establishment of Muzeon Park.

“At the end of the last century, the Central House of Artists was built in the Soviet Union … and a landscaped park was formed next to it,” Elena Soboleva, head of the historical and cultural sector at Moscow’s Gorky Park, told Anadolu.

“After 1991, when the monuments of the Soviet period became toxic, many of them were brought here, and not just from Moscow but also from other regions.”

One of the first to be moved to the park was a statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky, the chief of the first Soviet secret police, which was removed from Lubyanka Square in Moscow, Soboleva said.

“As time went on, the city authorities realized that it was necessary to somehow formalize this territory, and it was decided to establish an open-air museum,” she said.

Today, Muzeon has around 700 sculptures, with 540 exhibited in the park and the others kept in storage, she said.

It is also a center of attraction for people interested in history and art, and there are different scientific, educational, cultural and art events organized here, Soboleva said.

“Symposiums of sculptors started taking place here, bringing together young and experienced artists. This place has developed an atmosphere of its own, associated with modernity,” she said.

However, there is also the continued and growing presence of monuments from the Soviet period, she said.

“We have eight sculptures of Lenin, brought from abroad and different regions of Russia. Though they are of the same man, all of them are different, with features specific to its place of origin,” she said.