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Peter the Great Statue
The <Peter the Great Statue> is a 325 foot-high monument to Peter the Great, located in central Moscow. It was designed by the Georgian designer Zurab Tsereteli to commemorate 300 years of the Russian Navy, which Peter the Great established. In November 2008, it was voted the tenth ugliest building in the world by Virtual Tourist. In 2010, it was included in a list of the world's ugliest statues by Foreign Policy magazine. Many people in Moscow hate this statue and think it should be somewhere else. They say, “Why pay tribute to Peter the Great, who loathed Moscow and moved the capital to St Petersburg?" In 2010 the statue was offered to St Petersburg but that offer was rejected by the city. Interesting though is that Petrozavodsk has offered to accept the statue. <Moscow Sightseeing>
There is a story that the statue was intended to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus in 1992. When no American was willing to foot the bill the statue was changed from Columbus to Peter. After talking a few photos of the colossus statue we discovered the “Park of the Fallen Heroes.”
Muzeon Sculpture Park
This fascinating park is the dumping ground for statues from the Soviet Union that lost their places in Russia’s parks and squares following the collapse of Communism. At one time it was called the <Park of the Fallen Heroes>. In October 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed statues of Soviet leaders and unidentifiable workers and peasants were removed from their pedestals, hauled to the park and left in their fallen form. Highlights include the huge steel sculpture of the Soviet world, the many giant pedestal-less Lenins, monuments to the Red Army and Joseph Stalin with his nose cut off. The park has over 700 sculptures although the majority are small cute replicas of children, clowns, poets and workers.
Our next stop was a visit to the Great Patriotic War Museum. I checked the map and decided we could get there by subway. We hopped on the Metro and got off at the Victory Park station. I had no idea which way to walk to the museum. I stopped what I thought was a Muscovite on his way to a meeting. I asked for directions to the museum. He asked me where we are from. When I said New York he said he was from Brooklyn and in Moscow on business. He gave us directions - small world.
Great Patriotic War Museum is a museum and memorial to those who fought in WWII. As you can see in the photos the building is immense, almost 212,000 square feet of exhibit space. On our way to the museum we made another discovery. Moscow was the host of the <2011 Swatch World Tour Beach> Volleyball. I wanted to take more pictures of the volleyball players but Gail said we had limited time. So it was on to the museum.
Great Patriotic War Museum
The Museum of the Great Patriotic War is located in Victory Park. Victory Park is a 6,000 acre park with plazas, fountains and memorials. It was designed by architect Anatoly Polyansky. Construction began in 1986, and the museum was opened in 1995. The museum features exhibits and memorials concerning World War II, known in Russia as "The Great Patriotic War". <The Great Patriotic War -1>
Near the entry to the museum is the Hall of Commanders, which features a decorative "Sword and Shield of Victory" and bronze busts of recipients of the Order of Victory, the highest military honor awarded by the Soviet Union. <The Great Patriotic War -2>
In the center of the museum is the Hall of Glory, a white marble room which features the names of over 11,800 of the recipients of the Hero of the Soviet Union distinction. A large bronze sculpture, the "Soldier of Victory," stands in the center of this hall. The Hall of Remembrance and Sorrow honors Soviet people who died in the war. This room is dimly lit and strings of glass beads hang from the ceiling, symbolizing tears shed for the dead. <The Great Patriotic War -3>
The upper floors feature numerous exhibits about the war, including dioramas depicting major battles, photographs of wartime activities, weapons and munitions, uniforms, awards, newsreels, letters from the battlefront, and model aircraft. There is a section that tells the story of the Holocaust. In addition, the museum maintains an electronic "memory book" which attempts to record the name and fate of every Russian soldier who died in World War II. <The Great Patriotic War -4>
It was now time to return to our ship for the evening program. This evening we met with <Russian WWII veterans> They told us their about their war experiences and answered questions.