A Park to Remember: Commemorating Soviet Victory

This is an aerial view of the park, showing all there is to see in this wonderful memorial park. 

Victory Park is an utmost treat in a tour of Moscow, both in its physical grandeur and historical intricacy. As the name insinuates, the park is a post-Soviet attempt at commemorating the “victories” over Nazi Germany during the Second World War.

Unlike the very old and historic park at Lefortovo that we just visited, Victory Park was not completed until the mid-1990s. It is, however, incredibly historically relevant for many reasons. For one, it is built on Poklonnaya Gora, the hill that Napoleon himself walked on in 1812 as his troops took control of the city (a scene forever immortalized in Tolstoy’s War & Peace!). And moreover, it today serves as the “last gasp for the Soviet tradition of monumental triumphal art.”[1] Beyond this, it is also the site and center of Victory Day celebrations in Moscow.

The Park is expansive and includes a Weaponry and Fortification Exposition, which is an exhibition of tanks from the war years. There is also an Orthodox Church, a memorial Mosque and the Memorial Synagogue, along with many other monuments and fountains. The park is perfect to sit and revel in history--and goes to show how public spaces can function as places of remembrance. Parks, as we’ve learned, aren’t just public meeting spaces--they have many functions, and memory and commemoration is certainly one of them.  

-

[1] Victory Park on Poklonnaya Gora. Moscow.info, accessed Oct. 20, 2016.