Volgograd - Stalingrad

Hi Folks,

Last post from Volgograd focuses entirely on the Battle of Stalingrad museum and panorama. Not only is it another very powerful and moving testament to the war-time experience of the Soviet Union in battle, it's also another example of stunning - or at least interesting - late-Soviet design. The museum could stand to be reorganized before 2018 World Cup. It has the sort of layout, hodgepodge of facts, figures, and maps that left this Russian-speaking Soviet historian scratching his head, saying, "so, what happened at Stalingrad again?" The battle is a perfect and dramatic narrative, and the museum should take the visitor through the narrative in a chronological march, in my opinion. Also striking for me were the arrangements of artifacts against red curtains and back lit in a way that lent them a semi-religious significance.

The museum is located on the ground floor and the top floor is an airy cylinder topped with a panorama. The panorama is a nice, military panorama that is quite fitting since it depicts the view from the top of the Mamaev-Kurgan hill, naturally with a 360 degree view. In addition to the pinched cylindrical shape, the lobbies, bathrooms, and cafe of the museum were all done in a spacious, late-Soviet modernist style, creating some intriguing spaces, and clearly with an unlimited budget for marble. As I did for the memorial hill complex, let me now take a moment to salute the architect, Vadim Efimovich Masliaev, who completed the museum in 1982. (If you aren't familiar with the book "CCCP: Cosmic Communist Constructions Photographed," check out the link: http://www.rferl.org/soundslide/1118.html ). I'm not sure if this museum makes it into the final book, but it probably deserves to.

Apparently the city planners of Stalingrad/Volgograd were faced with the decision of what to do with the ruins of the city when faced with the task of post-war rebuilding. Some wanted to leave the whole city center in ruined testament to the catastrophe, others wanted to retain only a ruined district. In the end, the choice was made to preserve only a few key buildings and to move forward proudly, confidently, and pragmatically like good Soviets. The ruined brick building below is one of the few structures preserved in place. It's a mill whose significance I fail to remember. The contrast between the cylinder of the panorama and its ruined brick is striking.

And with that, we bid adieu to Volgograd, until next time.



- museum at left; mill at right.

- bathroom lobby
- museum cafe
- former smoking area, next to the bathrooms.
- the panorama


- poster reading: "battle menu for the enemy, every day....starts with Russian hospitality and hors d'oeuvres.....then a little soup: navy-style borscht and okroshka.....for the second course: Cossack chops and Caucasians kebabs....and for dessert: fool" ("kisel'" in Russian is apparently "fool," but perhaps my Russian friends can explain this last bit).

- the battle was serious business, but that doesn't mean you can't poke fun at the enemies.
- with Soviet generals - iconastisis-like - in the background.
- Stalingrad was Hitler's....Stalingrad.