Article Victory Park
A walk through a large war memorial
On the outskirts of Moscow, behind Kutuzovsky Prospect and the Arc de Triomphe, on the Mount of Thanksgiving, there is a huge green space, a large war memorial over 140 hectares, Victory Park (Victory Park). To mark the 50th anniversary of the victory over Nazism, the complex was opened by former Russian President Yeltsin.
Victory Park
At the beginning of the park stands the Orthodox Church of St. Jiří. There is also a mosque, a synagogue and a Catholic chapel in the park as a reminder that people of different faiths took part in the war. The synagogue houses a small museum of Judaism and the Holocaust.
Victory Park
The bell tower of the Church of St. Jiří.
Victory Park
Interior of the Church of St. Jiří.
Victory Park
Beautiful iconostasis in the interior of the Church of St. Jiří.
Victory Park
The park is dominated by a 142 meter high obelisk covered with bas-reliefs of war scenes with a statue of the goddess of victory Nike and two angels on top. At the foot of the column is a statue of St. George on horseback, which kills the dragon with a spear.
Victory Park
The goddess of victory Nike and two angels at the top of the obelisk. The author of this work is Zurab Cereteli, who is also the author of dozens of leading Moscow monuments. Many of them are very controversial and even the professional public does not agree on these works. Some consider Cereteli to be a genius, others an uncrowned kitsch king.
Victory Park
At the foot of the obelisk, St. George kills a giant dragon.
Victory Park
The central building of the park standing just behind the obelisk is the Museum of the Great Patriotic War, which will introduce you in detail to the course of World War II. Here you will find unique collections of archival materials, including videos, sound recordings, documents and old photographs, an extensive collection of uniforms, orders, regimental flags, weapons and personal items. In the underground part, the dioramas are very realistically depicted, for example, the meeting of front-line troops after the siege of Stalingrad or the final battle in Berlin.
Victory Park
Side of the huge building of the Museum of the Great Patriotic War.
Victory Park
From the Museum of the Great Patriotic War, large green areas stretch in all directions, and from the obelisk in front of the museum towards the city center there is a central paved area with many singing fountains, serving as a place where various gatherings and celebrations take place. Although the whole park is dedicated to a serious topic, II. World War II, after which the wound was left in almost every Russian family, is a very popular and busy place that locals like to use for family walks and young people for sports activities. On the other side of the Museum of the Great Patriotic War stands a memorial, a tribute to the four nations that participated in the liberation of Russia.
Victory Park
At the back of the park is a mosque with a small pond and a maritime museum.
Victory Park
Not far from the mosque is a complex with exhibited military equipment. Here you will find migs, yaks, Ilyushins, „seagulls“, bombing tupolevs, but also a large number of tanks and cannons. There is also technology that the Allies supplied to Russia as part of military aid. A very interesting exhibit are parts of armored trains and especially the 305 caliber railway cannon marked TM-3–12m „Alexander“, which was installed on battery number 9 on the Hanko Peninsula, on the Russian-Finnish front.
Victory Park
On the north side of the Museum of the Great Patriotic War stands a bronze sculpture of the Tragedy of Nations. This expressive sculptural group of a crowd of people gradually changing into tombstones will force even the greatest enthusiasts of military technology to remain wondering how senseless all war conflicts are and what suffering war brings to the civilian population.
Victory Park
Detail of the sculpture Tragedy of Nations.
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