Moscow Guide
Krasnaya Presnya, Fili and the southwest
Victory Park
Moscow's Victory Park (Park Pobedy) was conceived in the Era of Stagnation, when the Party erected ever-larger war memorials in an effort to overcome ideological apathy among the masses. In 1983 the Politburo approved a design by Nikolai Tomsky that involved levelling the Poklonnaya gora (Hill of Greetings), where generations of travellers had exclaimed with joy as they reached its summit to suddenly behold Moscow ahead of them, and where Napoleon had waited in vain to be presented with the keys to the city. The intention was to erect a 75-metre-high monument to Mother Russia, supported by a host of allegorical figures, like the hilltop memorial at Volgograd (Stalingrad). With the advent of glasnost, the project was decried as a waste of money and cancelled – only to be revived by Yeltsin's government in an effort to restore Russia's battered national pride. Billions of rubles and battalions of conscripts were committed to "storm" the final stage, so that the park could be ready for the 49th anniversary of Victory Day, in 1994, while the 50th anniversary saw yet more additions to the complex, and the grandest military parade since Stalin's days.
Indeed, if you can, it's best to come here on Victory Day (May 9) – the only anniversary in Soviet times that was genuinely heartfelt – when crowds stream towards the park carrying bouquets. Bemedalled old women and bow-legged ex-cavalrymen in archaic uniforms reminisce, weep, sing and dance to accordion music.
At other times, the park is a popular meeting place for young Muscovites, with rollerbladers taking advantage of its ramps and paved expanses, and groups drinking and hanging out till the small hours if the weather allows. Even in winter, newlyweds come to be photographed by a 142-metre-high memorial obelisk topped by an angel and cherubs blowing trumpets, with St George beheading a Nazi dragon at its base – a typically kitsch design by Tsereteli.