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reviews_and_ramblings ([personal profile] reviews_and_ramblings) wrote2009-10-24 10:52 am

Around the World: Victory Park

This is not a perfect picture, I did it by night, without stand with a reflex camera, meaning that I had to take the camera firmly in hand and silently count how many second I wanted the lens to stay open... When I do photos like this one the result is always a surprise, the lesser fault ruins completely the picture... I like how this one came out, in a way the fuzzyness is even more nice, it gives a soft tone to the pictures.

 
by Elisa, Victory Park, Moscow, 2001
http://www.elisarolle.com/travel/2001Russia.htm

Poklonnaya Gora (Russian: Покло́нная гора́, lit. a bow-down hill) is, at 171.5 metres, one of the highest spots in Moscow. Its two summits used to be separated by the Setun River, until one of the summits was razed in 1987. Since 1936, the area has been part of Moscow and now contains the Victory Park with many tanks and other vehicles used in the Second World War on display.

Historically, the hill had great strategic importance, as it commanded the best view of the Russian capital. Its name is derived from the Russian for "take a bow", as everyone approaching the capital from the west was expected to do homage here. In 1812, it was the spot where Napoleon in vain expected the keys to the Kremlin to be brought to him by Russians.

In the 1960s, the Soviet authorities decided to put the area to use as an open-air museum dedicated to the Russian victory over Napoleon. The Moscow triumphal arch, erected in wood in 1814 and in marble in 1827 to a design by Osip Bove, was relocated and reconstructed here in 1968. A loghouse, where Kutuzov presided over the Fili conference which decided to surrender Moscow to the enemy, was designated a national monument. The huge panorama "Battle of Borodino" by Franz Roubaud (1910-12) was installed here in 1962. A monument to Kutuzov was opened in 1973.

Since the 1980s the hill was transformed into the monumental museum to the Soviet victory in the Great Patriotic War. The main building of the museum was constructed between 1983 and 1995. The Victory Park and the Square of Victors are important parts of the outdoor museum. In the 1990s an obelisk was added with a statue of Nike and a monument of St George slaying the dragon, both designed by Zurab Tsereteli. The obelisk's height is exactly 141,8 meters, which is 10 cm for every day of the War. A golden-domed Orthodox church was erected on the hilltop in 1993-95, followed by a memorial mosque and the Holocaust Memorial Synagogue.

At the 60th V-day celebrations in 2005, President Vladimir Putin inaugurated 15 extravagant bronze columns, symbolizing main fronts and navies of the Red Army during the World War II. (From Wikipedia)

[identity profile] shadownyc.livejournal.com 2009-10-24 02:33 pm (UTC)(link)
This turned out quite beautiful! I love the shimmering effect.

[identity profile] elisa-rolle.livejournal.com 2009-10-24 02:38 pm (UTC)(link)
The special effect was me, shivering for the cold ;-) Elisa

[identity profile] ryan-field.livejournal.com 2009-10-24 06:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Just beautiful!!

[identity profile] elisa-rolle.livejournal.com 2009-10-24 06:53 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you! Elisa

[identity profile] krakozyubra.livejournal.com 2009-10-27 08:24 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, you've been to Russia? ^^ My flat and my parents' flat where I used to live are both situated quite near the Poklonnaya Gora, btw. ;) Many people born in Moscow don't like these red fountains because well, they remind us of blood fontain... *sigh* All in all, how did you find Moscow? Except it was cold (of course).

[identity profile] elisa-rolle.livejournal.com 2009-10-27 09:21 pm (UTC)(link)
It was 8 years ago but I liked very much Moscow, and Saint Petersburgh, Jaroslaw, the Kirilla-Belozersky Monastery and Uglich, the Kiji Islands... BTW I should come back in Moscow soon, I have already the VISA, for work, probably in November/December.

Elisa

[identity profile] krakozyubra.livejournal.com 2009-10-27 10:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Ohh, that's good. Anything you want me to help you with? Sight-seeing? ^^ No prob, if it doesn't intervene with my studies, feel free to ask anything. BTW, pity it's so cold already, don't forget to pack warm clothes.

[identity profile] elisa-rolle.livejournal.com 2009-10-27 10:38 pm (UTC)(link)
Probably I will post on my LJ when I will leave, so you will know. I will have meeting 5 days a week, 8 hours a day, so very few free time, probably I will stay over one weekend yes and one no. Maybe in those weekend yes I will ask you ;-)

Elisa

[identity profile] krakozyubra.livejournal.com 2009-10-27 10:46 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, I'm game as long as you actually want it. I'm not a guide or anything but as an insider I could answer any questions you come up with (it's what I always want for myself when I'm travelling). Anyway, I will probably just leave you my sell phone number some time later and you decide what to do with it. :)

[identity profile] elisa-rolle.livejournal.com 2009-10-27 10:50 pm (UTC)(link)
That is good ;-) I love to see foreign cities through the eyes of who is living there. Elisa