Muzeon Art Park

On Krymsky Val, next to the New Tretyakov Gallery, lies Muzeon Art Park — Russia’s largest open-air sculpture museum. Among the trees and lawns stand hundreds of Soviet-era monuments alongside works by contemporary artists, and access to them is unrestricted: visitors are free to wander among the sculptures and view them up close.

The site took shape gradually. Between 1965 and 1979, during construction of the Central House of Artists, old buildings in the surrounding lanes and along Krymskaya Embankment were demolished, and in the 1980s trees were planted around the new building, turning the site into a park. A turning point came in August 1991: the collapse of the State Committee on the State of Emergency (GKChP) triggered a wave of demolitions of Soviet monumental propaganda across the country, and some of the dismantled figures — including Lenin, Stalin, and Dzerzhinsky — ended up here, laid haphazardly on the ground. The park’s administration later decided not to repair the chips and damage that resulted, considering them part of the monuments’ own history.

On 24 January 1992, Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov signed a decree establishing an open-air Museum of Sculpture on the site. Its first director, Mikhail Pukemo, laid the foundation of today’s collection, including works by Oleg Komov, Dmitry Tugarinov, Alexander Rukavishnikov, and other sculptors. In 1995, as the country marked the 50th anniversary of Victory, a military-themed display was added, and three years later a section dedicated to the memory of the victims of political repression: beside the damaged figure of Stalin, sculptor Yevgeny Chubarov built a wall of more than two hundred stone heads.

Among the most discussed exhibits are the monument to Felix Dzerzhinsky by sculptor Yevgeny Vuchetich, toppled from its pedestal on Lubyanka Square during the days of the putsch and kept in the park ever since, and the monument to Maxim Gorky by sculptor Vera Mukhina, which stood here for more than a decade after being removed from Belorussky Station Square in 2005, until it was returned to its historic location in 2017. In 2011 the city authorities dismantled several dozen busts and memorial plaques that had been illegally installed in the park, commissioned for money by various foundations without official approval.

A 2012–2013 reconstruction designed by architect Evgeny Asse united the park with Krymskaya Embankment: paths for pedestrians and cyclists were laid out, a wooden staircase with a view of the river was built, and the site became part of a continuous route from Vorobyovy Gory to Lavrushinsky Lane. Today the park is not only a collection of sculpture but also a venue for exhibitions, film screenings, and festivals, and its collection continues to grow with new works.

Muzeon is unique for having turned the chaotically dumped fragments of Soviet monumental propaganda into a coherent open-air museum, where leaders, victims of repression, and works of avant-garde art now stand side by side. For Moscow it is a rare example of urban space where the history of the 20th century is laid out literally on the lawns, accessible to every passer-by, free of charge and without guards.