Gorky Central Park: Reimagining the Pulsating Heart of Moscow
Above: An in-depth look at the Gorky Park. Here, you see just how busy it is, and how it truly is the heart of the city!
One of the most tourist destinations in Moscow (ranked 14 in “things-to-do” in Moscow on TripAdvisor.com), Gorky Park is the ultimate cultural treasure of the city of the Moscow. At an expansive 120 hectares, the park runs along the Moskva River and really does seem to have it all: “gardens, cycling infrastructure, museums, viewing point, cafes, beaches, climbing park, open-air cinema, sports center, observatory, eco-school for kids, open-air dance-floors, tennis courts, table tennis areas.”[1] And not to mention free Wi-Fi.
While it may today be a central location of leisure and enjoyment in the city, it has a fascinating and complicated history. Much like many of the other sites on this tour, it was built right before the Second World World--in 1928, becoming the very first park of culture and leisure in the Soviet Union.[2] It was designed in an avant-garde, constructivist fashion, much like other public spaces at the time. Once socialism gained stronghold and became widespread during the twentieth century, Gorky Park was its perfect reflection: a place for people to gather with one another under a cover of collectivism, and a place for them to engage in sport, Socialist idealism at its finest.
Yet, perhaps the most fascinating chapters of its history as a post-Soviet public space started in 2011, when a major reconstruction began to revitalize this vibrant cultural landmark in the center of the city. Once the Soviet Union dissolved in the late twentieth century, newly post-socialist cities throughout the nation were faced with the monumental task of “reinventing” their public spaces in an attempt to reflect this change in political and economic ideology.
2010 was a monumental year for the city of Moscow’s urban policy, as a new city mayor pushed for urban spaces to reflect this idea of Moscow as a “city for people.” Gorky Park, then, was one of the key sights to become a stronghold and model for this method of urban planning. As --- write in an expansive case study of the park, “Current Gorky Park director Olga Zakharova admits that the park’s target audience changed significantly after the reconstruction, particularly with the influx of young progressive people for whom the renovated park is ‘the space of freedom’. [3] This is very important in reflecting a larger idea of public spaces in Moscow today: are being re-fashioned to appeal to a younger, more progressive era to better reflect the changing times in the area.
Today, now fully reconstructed and regarded as one of the best parks in the world, Gorky Park is the true heart of the city: one can find a mix of just about everything in this behemoth, and all walks of life will collide here. Young people gather here to attend world-famous concerts and performances; lovers frolic around its beautiful greenery. Monuments line the park throughout, and one sees thousands of people biking, walking, and skating around to create a quintessentially cosmopolitan, youthful, and fun vibe. It’s perhaps even an exercise of gentrification at its finest; hip, youthful cafes and street vendors line up the streets today.
As Boren and Kalyukin say it best in an academic, exploratory case study of Gorky Park, “the new “public space” of Gorky Park is both safe and depoliticized whilst being carefully planned, controlled, and ordered.” Gorky Park serves as the perfect example of how urban spaces can acutely reflect the political landscape of a place, as its transformation goes to fashion a departure from Soviet ideals--as it today champions ideas of consumerism, excess, and individual freedom and enjoyment. Today, it is a reflection on the changing ideologies of Moscow, as The Guardian goes so far as to even call its reimagination “hipster Stalinism.” [4]
And beyond its place in the politics of urbanity, Gorky Park is frankly just the best place to go for some hustle and bustle at any time of the day. So head over and enjoy this pulsating, exciting park--and for an intimate look at the role that urban spaces can play in responding to political and social change.
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[1] Gorkiy Central Park of Culture and Recreation. TripAdvisor, accessed Oct. 21, 2016.
[2], [3] Alexander Kalyukin, Thomas Borén & Andrew Byerley (2015). The secondgeneration of post-socialist change: Gorky Park and public space in Moscow, Urban Geography,36:5, 674-695.
[4] Omidi, Maryam. "Moscow embraces 'hipster Stalinism'." The Guardian, Dec. 12, 2014.