Palace Of Soviets Research Articles

The Palace of Soviets — From the Birth to the Setbacks of the Construction Project by Yuya Suzuki

<i>The Palace of Soviets &#8212; From the Birth to the Setbacks of the Construction Project</i> by Yuya Suzuki

The New Socialist City: Building Utopia in the USSR, 1917–1934

ABSTRACT Architecture and utopia have long been allies—not least in the history of imagining and building the new Soviet socialist city, an obsessive idea and project from before the 1917 revolution to the early 1930s. This essay explores these efforts as a determination to obliterate the poisonous cities of old and transcend the suffering cities of the present—as practiced utopia against the dystopia of the status quo. “Utopia” here is defined, drawing on Ernst Bloch, as perception, orientation, and critical method: the human impulse to “venture beyond” the “darkness of the lived moment” to discover the emerging “not-yet.” This essay examines Russian Marxist responses (including among workers) to the “hell” as well as the dynamism of the capitalist city, and examines, through the concept of “utopia,” visionary architectural projects and arguments, including Vladimir Tatlin’s monumental tower for the Third International (1919–20), “disurbanist” and “green city” plans in the 1920s and early 1930s, Georgy Krutikov’s flying “City of the Future” in 1928, the work of Moisei Ginzburg, and Boris Iofan’s “Palace of Soviets” in the early 1930s.

Designs of Soviet war monuments, 1941–1945: transformation of the memorial genre, the models, the visual language and its sources

Summary The article examines Soviet memorial designs of the Great Patriotic War period (1941–1945). These monuments were unorthodox in terms of visual language, and they differed strikingly from the Stalinist neoclassical mainstream of the previous decade. Architects tried to find means of commemoration of the enormous tragedy of war that they faced. Analysis of the poetics of their designs along with the commonplaces of the respective critical discourse reveals the process whereby the memorial genre was transformed. This article discusses the monumental tradition developed by the 1940 s, the models, the sources of motifs and solutions, and some stylistic and architectural peculiarities characteristic of wartime projects. Whereas previously the Soviet architects from the early 1930s had been working on the ‘ultimate’ monument – the Palace of Soviets in Moscow – with the beginning of the war they shifted to improvising in order to ‘stretch’ the limits of genre. I examine the ways in which they broke the limits and shaped the dense, overwhelming memorial narrative to be transmitted by the monuments. New memorials were considered as a form of heroic epic, analogous to the literary epics but expressed by means of architecture and sculpture. The nationalistic sentiments typical of the war years were reflected in both the design ideology and the perception of memorials. Alongside persistent motifs (such as 'prancing' tanks) emerged new themes (the commemoration of victims along with heroes). The technique of provoking the viewer’s emotions, as well as the visual language and architectural style of some structures and particular solutions (such as massive stone cubes), demonstrate the inheritance from the post-Revolutionary Modernist architecture. This unorthodox stylistic flexibility illustrates the ‘liberation’ of architects – and the short cultural ‘liberalization’ on the wartime period.

1922-1956 годы. Нереализованные проекты развития центрального композиционного ядра Москвы на примере Аллеи Ильича. Часть 1

Теоретические и практические аспекты влияния нереализо­ванных градостроительных решений, концепций и подходов на архитектурно-планировочное развитие городов являются вос­требованными для научного поиска. В работе рассматривается Аллея Ильича - часть Кремлёвского полукольца, начинающаяся от площади Дзержинского и заканчивающаяся районом строи­тельства Дворца Советов. Оценивается градостроительная роль концепции Аллеи Ильича - нереализованной, но оказывавшей реальное влияние на территориальное планирование Москвы. Возникшая по программе увековечения памяти В.И. Ленина, Аллея Ильича фигурировала во многих московских градострои­тельных концепциях и проектах 1920-1950-х годов: в конкурсах на Дворец Советов, Парк культуры и отдыха, дипломных работах студентов архитектурного факультета ВХУТЕМАСа и Московского архитектурного института, проектах реконструкции ансамблей центральных площадей столицы, Генеральном плане реконструк­ции Москвы 1935 года. Концепция Аллеи Ильича эволюциони­ровала вместе с изменением градостроительной политики - от «романтизированной схемы» до проектов радикальной пере­стройки центра Москвы, «ансамбля ансамблей». Практически ни одна из концепций Аллеи Ильича не была реализована в завершённом виде. При исследовании в качестве временной шкалы применена периодизация московского градостроитель­ства, основанная на ретроспективной оценке формирования планировочной структуры города в увязке с социально-эко­номическими и политическими факторами влияния. Изучение влияния нереализованных проектов на эволюцию городов и городских сообществ при формировании пакета сценариев социально-экономического и территориального городского развития даёт возможность использования возрождённых и актуализированных творческих концепций в реальном проек­тировании. Исследование сопровождается ранее не публико­вавшимися материалами проекта реконструкции центра Москвы, выполненными в мастерской-школе И.В. Жолтовского.

Soaring to dizzying heights: Christ the Saviour Cathedral as a historical arena for the persecution of Pussy Riot

On 21 February 2012, a female Russian punk collective ‘Pussy Riot’ performed a ‘Punk Prayer Against Putin’ on the soleas of Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. The ensuing controversy over the performance, as well as criminal charges brought against three members of the group, made explicit the contentious nature of the place of Pussy Riot’s ‘punk prayer’. The author examines place in its dual identity as an event and as an actor, one affected, the other affecting. As an actor, a place becomes capable of enacting change, and as an event, it takes on the qualities of its occupants. While the rebuilt Christ the Saviour Cathedral was once a women’s convent, a monument to Russian victory over Napoleon, a never-completed Palace of Soviets and a giant outdoor swimming pool, the author examines how this place oscillates between resonance and irrelevance, disenchantment and re-enchantment, deterritorialization and reterritorialization.

Snow White and the Enchanted Palace

This essay offers a chronotopic reading of V. I. Lenin’s architectural cult and its relation to Soviet sovereignty in the postrevolutionary period, as reflected in the discourse and plans surrounding the Lenin Mausoleum and the Palace of Soviets in Moscow. Central contexts include Andrei Platonov’s novella The Foundation Pit and Russian versions of the “Snow White” tale.

The pinnacle of Soviet modernism

The Moscow television tower, built between 1963 and 1967, could be compared with Iofan’s famous design for the Palace of Soviets. Both were in fact conceived in order to achieve, by means of a sophisticated structure, a record height to bear witness to the greatness of their country. However, apart from that similarity, the two towers are completely different and can be taken as models of Stalinist realism and of the ‘modernism’ which followed it under Khrushchev’s rule. The intention to build a town of extraordinary height in order to reach the whole of the Muscovite region, the most populous in the country, with modern television messages was in fact perfectly consistent with the period in which the design was conceived of and implemented. This consistency is borne out by the numerous echoes of the cold war, which can be seen in the history of the design, the construction site and the building: ranging from Fritz Leonhardt’s consulting services to the Solaris film set.

Beyond the Limits: The Concept of Space in Russian History and Culture by Jeremy s&gt; Smith (review)

520 SEER, 79, 3, 200I Hungarians, and the Southern Slavs,discussedhere by AndrewWachtel.The evident need to know about the history and interaction of these diverse culturesjustifiesthe book. Evalina Kelbetcheva'sessay on Bulgaria('Between Apology and Denial: BulgarianCultureduringWorldWarI') can be assessed alongside studies of Romania (Maria Bucur, 'Romania: War, Occupation, Liberation')beforeveeringWestwith 'Occupation, Propaganda,and the Idea of Belgium' by Sophie de Shaepsdrijver, to France (Marc Ferro), Italy (Walter L. Adamson), and 'Popular Culture in Wartime Britain' by Jay Winter. This dense tangle of alliances and patriotisms is seen against the shiftingscenarioof war and new ideologies. The editorsdescribethis as 'afirst step in the direction of a synoptic culturalhistoryof Europe duringthe Great War'.It is a brave undertakingwith a long way to go. The least familiar material concerns Eastern Europe. Harold B. Segel on 'Culture in Poland during WorldWar I' brings home the effects of transient armies trampling indigenous identities. Steven Beller describes Austrian culture from the Vienna Secession to Karl Kraus's operetta 7The LastDaysof iVIankind.It was ambitious to discuss Croatia, Slovenia and Serbia as 'the South Slavic lands', when their cultural differences recently proved so incompatible. By contrast the thread of Jewish culture may been glimpsed stretchedthroughoutEasternEurope, seemingly caught in every conflict and disadvantagedby everyformof nationalism. Any specialistexpertreaderwill encounter unfamiliarnames here, whether painters,writersor political activists.The effectcan be overwhelmingbut the aim is worthwhile and the overall vision coherent enough to provide the readerwith the prospectof culturalhistorythat does not prioritizethe biggest and most powerful countries. Furthermore the notes are extensive and scholarly, giving references to sources which can then be pursued by the individualscholar. This is a problematic,usefuland ambitiousbook which willoffersomething to any scholarworkingin the fieldwhetherin literature,artor history.Whilst it can never hope to be complete or coherent in itself, it provides a multitude of leads to follow. Department ofFineArt JOHN MILNER University ofNewcastle uponTyne Smith,Jeremy (ed.). Beyond theLimits.TheConcept ofSpace inRussian Histog and Culture.Studia Historica, 62. Suomen Historiallinen Seura, Helsinki, 1999. 276 pp. Illustrations. Notes. Index. Price unknown. BEYOND THE LIMITS consists of the following chapters: Jeremy Smith, 'Introduction'; Sergei Medvedev, 'A General Theory of Russian Space: a Gay Science and a Rigorous Science'; Elena Hellberg-Hirn, 'Ambivalent Space: Expressions of Russian Identity'; Christer Pursiainen, 'Space, Time and the Russian Idea'; Paul Fryer, 'Heaven, Hell or ... Something in Between? Contrasting Russian Images of Siberia'; Katerina Gerasimova, 'The Soviet Communal Apartment'; Anna Rotkirch, 'Travelling Maidens and Men with Parallel Livres Journeys as Private Space during Late Socialism'; Pentti REVIEWS 52I Stranius 'SpaceinRussian(Soviet)Cinema:theAesthetics ofCensorship and theCaseof "TheMirror"'; TimoVihavainen,'FromGlobalism in Confinement to Egocentrism Unbound:the Spheresof the RussianIntelligentsia'; ArtoLuukkanen, 'Sacredand SecularSpaceIntertwined...A CaseStudy: The BilateralEcumenicalNegotiationsbetweenthe Evangelical Churchof FinlandandtheRussianOrthodoxChurch Spacefor"UsefulIdiots"and SincereKebisty'(sic); ChrisJ. Chulos,"'APlaceWithoutTaverns": Spacein thePeasant Afterlife'; JarmoEronen,'DistanceandLogistics asProblems TheirSovietSolutions'; RobertArgenbright, 'Spaceof Survival: the Soviet Evacuation of IndustryandPopulation in I94I'; JeremySmith,'Delimiting NationalSpace:theEthnographical Principle in theAdministrative Division oftheRSFSRandUSSR, i9 i8-1925'; andRichardStites,'Crowded on the EdgeofVastness: Observations onRussianSpaceandPlace'. The editorarguesthat'theconceptof Spaceis a subjectwhichis of great fascinationand importanceboth to Russiansthemselvesand to thosewho havesoughtto understand Russia.Andyet,thestudyof Spaceasa category in its own rightis in its infancyas faras the academicworldis concerned' (p. iI). This volume arose from an internationalseminaron the topic organized attheUniversity ofHelsinki in I998.Theseminar brought together scholarsfroma rangeof disciplines, andSmithsuggeststhatbecauseof the infancyof the topic, it was appropriate to adopta varietyof approaches. Moreover,'in orderto providethe widestpossiblescopeof discussion,no definition ofSpacewaslaiddown'(p. 12). Thechapters therefore differwithregardtothetypeofspacediscussed. On thelevelofpersonalspace,forexample,Rotkirch writesaboutbusiness trips andholidaysintheSouthassettingsforromanticadventures, whileStites,in hisentertaining analysis ofRussianworkplaces, showshowtheyaresimultaneously 'impregnable' (theentranceisroundtheback),'irregular' (laidoutina confusingand disorderedway), and 'domestic'(a place for personaland family-oriented chat). On the macro-level,Medvedevand Hellberg-Hirn generalizeaboutRussiaas a whole;indeed,basinghis arguments on postmodernistRussiantheorizing ,Medvedevattemptsto constructa theoryof Russianspace.He presents,asanappendix,'Russian Historyin 22 Periods', suggesting thatRussianhistoryhasalternated betweenperiodsof 'horizontal' (liberal) and'vertical' (repressive) culture.Forexample,theChurchofChrist the Saviour(vertical)was underStalinto have been replacedby Tatlin's Palace of Soviets (the ultimate in verticality), but under Khrushchev was actuallyreplaced by a (horizontal)swimmingpool. While this schematization of Russian historyis of questionablevalue, Medvedev does also suggestmany interesting ways of looking at Russia, such as seeing Russian space as a 'conglomeration of [cultural] peripheries' (p.17). Hellbirg-Hirn's chapter contraststhe expansive symbolsof Russian national...

An old cathedral for a New Russia: The symbolic politics of the reconstituted church of Christ the Saviour

Moscow today resounds with the noise of hammers and heavy equipment. Market oriented reforms, not surprisingly, have sparked a boom in the construction of private housing, modern office space and retail outlets. Meanwhile, political reform is driving another real estate trend - the return of prerevolutionary religious sites to believers. Under new laws protecting religious freedom and private property, religious communities are reclaiming and restoring their former places of worship.' In the hope of attracting tourist dollars some local governments are also investing in conservation or restoration of religious and secular architectural landmarks and historical sites. Businessmen have also recognised the potential value and prestige of historic buildings in city centres when their interiors are converted into modem office space. In Mm:cow the city government, the Russian Orthodox Church hierarchy and the new rich all have a hand in the most massive restoration project in Russia today the rebuilding of the Church of Christ the Saviour from scratch. This cathedral, which once dominated the Moscow skyline, was completely demolished by the Bolsheviks in 1931 to make way for a planned 'Palace of Soviets' that would have commemorated Lenin and celebrated the Communist International. Ultimately the costs deterred the Soviet government from building much beyond the foundation. Today, however, at the cost of millions of dollars, the reconstruction of the cathedral is proceeding at a breakneck pace. Given Russia's dire economic situation, why is so much state and private money flowing into the rebuilding of a single cathedral? After all, federal and local authori­ ties must cope with the fact that 'even by official statistics one-third of the population lives in poverty, and one-quarter lives below the boundary of what is necessary for physical survival.'2 Meanwhile the Orthodox Church is struggling to find the means to restore or build parish churches for its faithful all across Russia. Industrial cities created during the Soviet period, for instance, have no church property to be reclaimed. 3 Even in Moscow, where many churches in the city centre have been reopened, not a single wholly new Orthodox church has been built to serve the vast dormitory communities surrounding the city .. Nor is the reconstruction of the Church of Christ the Saviour part of a general state programme of financial support for various religious confessions. The idea of reconstructing the cathedral was raised by religious believers and conservative Russian nationalists in 1989 to symbolise the rebirth of a strong, Orthodox Russia. Five years later the 'democratic' president of