Ed_Haynes

. . . seeming rather strange and nostalgic (at least to my guide), as reminders of what the USSR once included.

. . . and many of the old republic pavilions still stand . . .

. . . newly re-gilded . . .

The fountain of friendship among the republics is still there . . .

. . . but with cheap imported (mainly Chinese) electronics for sale inside.

. . . and reminders of the old days . . .

. . . still presided over by Lenin outside . . .

The central exhibition hall . . .

Inside . . .

But some inspiration was still to be had.

But what about the place, the Vystavka Dostizheny Narodnogo Khozyaystva (VDNKh) SSSR, or USSR Economic Achievements Exhibition? When I went there (with a guide much bemused as to why anyone would want to visit the place, she had last been there as a school kid in the 1960s), it was an interesting experience. The famous sculpture (shown on the medals) had been removed "for cleaning", but most thought it was gone for good.

. . . interior. (I am using those from the Lidias Vasilovna Shapovalona group here -- see http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=2735 for all.)

And their document . . .

We know these medals . . .

And all the exhibits had been sold off. Some to foreigners, most to the Russian "new rich". One of the surviving Soviet space shuttles has been converted into a bar down by Gorky Park.

It was however hosting a home and garden show.

The saddest was the space museum out at the VDNKh exhebition (deserving of a thread in its own right!) I had expected a great deal out of the Cosmonautics Museum.

And one more. Generally, this is not an "artform" I especially like, but these weren't badly done.

Another.

Some of the dioramas at the GPW museum:

Sadly, I was struck that most museums in Russia are probably not wheelchair accessable. Especially for military museums, where aging and injured GPW veterans congregate, this struck me as odd.

According to the guidebook, the main victory memorial is 141.8 meters high, representoing the 1418 days and nights of the GPW. It was desigmned by Z. Tseretsly. The stela has images of various battles of the war. At the 100-meter point is a flying victory (Nike) image with a gold wreath of glory and two angels blowing trumpets. (Socialist realism?) At the bottom of the pillar it is indeed St. George.

Not sure, but as we all know screws and awards often are the result of a free-and-easy mix-and-match process. That was my understanding too. But, if you look at the quality of current Russian awards, this medal (even from the one poor image available) could easily fall within the poor quality range of a contemporary Russian manufacture. I'd still suspect the current awards, without exception, are of domestic manufacture. The only exception would, presumably, be a Hero, where there are still a few specimens in stock, for hypothetical future use.

That is what I was told. Impressive anyway.

Let me try this (maybe too easy?) -- where is this plaque located and why??