This is a large open park with many buildings that were built to showcase Soviet achievements. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, these buildings have been taken over by vendors selling a variety of goods, including merchandise by well-known Japanese electronic companies. As one Russian told me, "The Russian people no longer have achievements, so the park has other peoples' achievements."
The whole thing was an invention of comrade Stalin. In order to convince himself, all the Soviet people, and everybody outside of the Iron Curtain that Socialism is the greatest political and social system in the world, Stalin must create a show. And he did. And since he was a master of fooling, he did it very well. For example, the Agriculture Pavilion showed the great methods of harvesting crops that far exceeded everything that mankind knew about it at a time when a good half of Russia's population was dying from starvation.
In fact, Stalin was not a pioneer in the field. The idea, also known as Potemkin villages, belongs to the Russian field marshal and statesman Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin, (1739-1791). After distinguishing himself in the Russo-Turkish War of 1768-1774, Potemkin became a count, governor-general of the Ukraine, and the favorite of the Empress. He played a major role in the Russian annexation of the Crimea and was created a prince. In 1787 he organized Catherine's triumphant Crimean tour, and he ordered huge murals to be painted and installed en route from Moscow to Crimea. These murals showed large wealthy villages with many peasants involved in happy labor. These murals were done so well that they were taken for real by Catherine and court. During the night the murals were transported further along the route. Her Majesty was duly impressed and awarded His Excellency many more lands.
A big arch at one end of the park.
The statue at the top of the arch has a man and a woman holding a
bundle of grain.
Ilia Rosenberg is in the blue coat at right foreground.
I don't know why European women with black hair like to dye it
red.
The hairdo at left is the typical disastrous result.
The arch from the other side.
There is the usual statue of Lenin wearing a trench coat.
In the distance is the monument to the Russian space program.
It is a large metal sculpture with a rocket at the tip.
No, you can't go up inside it.
The whole thing is said to be made of pure titanium and was supposed to impress wealthy foreigners who were staying in the most modern and luxurious hotel of the 70s, KOSMOS (Space), which is not far from the park.
It was possible to pay the camel driver some money to ride around the
park or have one's picture made on top of it.
I snuck this picture while the camel and driver weren't looking.
But it came out from behind, you get what you pay for. A free world wisdom works in the heart of Russia.
Fountain at the Park of Peoples' Achievements.
Another fountain at the Park of Peoples' Achievements.
Don't let the hammer and sickle fool you; there's a department store
inside.
Ross Drake in foreground.
This building looks very impressive from a distance; close up, it
is somewhat run-down.
The roof of the gazebo-like thing is a framework and provides no
significant amount of shelter.
I have no idea why it was built other than to look pretty.
I had a vision of putting one of those rotating swing rides under it.
I think that the building was unoccupied during this trip, but there
was a furniture store in there
on my second trip.
And is that Norm from Cheers?
The guy is a typical example of a proud citizen who might have had some doubts in the past, but now reinstated his confidence in the Peoples' Achievement (even though the exhibits are no longer here).
Another old building with new business.
Author: Porter Clark <jpc@suespammers.org>
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Last update: December 31, 2001
