Fallen Monument Park

The Fallen Monument Park in Moscow (Russian: Парк Искусств in Russia translated as Park Iskustv) or the Park of the Fallen Heroes is now called the Muzeon Park of Arts.  The Muzeon park can be located at the New Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. This landmark is an open gallery that houses busts and statues of Soviet leaders and modern sculptures. 

CURRENT INFORMATION

The Muzeon Park of Arts has undergone major changes since 2011. The park has now been transformed into a modern park which accommodates an open-air cinema, and cafes. The facility has been decorated with unique flower beds and furnished with lanes for skateboarders and bikers. The Muzeon Park of Arts is now a unique place for exhibitions, music festivals, and creative workshops. The park also homes busts of prominent Soviet-era leaders Stalin and Lenin. You will also find a statue of Dzerzhinsky here. 

People who visit the place get to view over 1000 sculptures and statues as well as busts. You will find interesting sculptures like one based on popular Russian Children’s story “Grandfather Mazay and the Hares”. Visitors can often enjoy exhibitions and music festivals that are held in the park. You can usually see people skating and cycling in this park as it is very popular with people who like to be active outdoors. There are also playgrounds for children and a lot of relaxation space for tourists. 

Currently the park is open all night and is free.  However, access to some of the buildings are limited to specific hours and charge an entrance fee of 500 rubles.

HISTORICAL INFORMATION

This park is where statues and sculptures go to die.  Statues and busts of communist leaders were torn down after the fall of communism in Russia. In October 1991, these statues were dumped at the Fallen Monuments Park. The broken statues were later rebuilt. As time went on, all the statues were raised and you find inscriptions with their names and a brief description. In the 2000s, symposiums were hosted for sculpture donations. Those sculptures were displayed in a special reserve for white stone sculptures.

In the 1940’s, years before the park was set up with the statues it was the largest snow dumping ground for the city.

MISCELLANEOUS IMPORTANT FACTS

You will also find a giant statue of Peter the Great. The statue is 100 meters tall, this is strange considering the fact that Peter the great hated Moscow and moved the capital to St. Petersburg. The statue has been voted as one of the Ugliest statues in the world by Foreign Policy Magazine. 

There are enough World War 2 statues that they now have a special section of the park designated as the Great Patriotic War section.

Even with the more than 1000 statues on display, more than 200 are still kept in storage!

The fate of the statues at the Muzeon Park is unknown following the new developments. Elena Baturina, wife of former mayor Yuri Luzhkov, who is commonly referred to as Russia’s richest woman oligarch, has commissioned British architect Norman Foster to design a multipurpose structure to replace the park. The new structure has been named “Orange”.

Park Iskustv is the largest open-air sculpture museum in Russia.

There are 2 other known parks in former Soviet East bloc countries that have statues or sculptures that have fallen out of favor.  Grutas Park, also known as “Stalin’s World” because of all the statues of Stalin inside of it is located near Druskininskai in Lithuania.  The other is Memento Park which is located near Budapest in Hungary.