Travel Notes

Mukhina Redux

The famous socialist symbol of the collective farmer and worker has been fully restored and reinstalled near the World Exhibition Center (VDNKh) in northern Moscow. The 24-meter-high sculpture is made of steel and was designed by Vera Mukhina in 1937 for the Soviet pavilion at the Paris Exhibition. It was later moved to Moscow and became a symbol of Mosfilm, the largest Soviet film studio.

The statue was dismantled in 2003 for restoration and some skeptics doubted it would ever be put on view again, due to financial issues and unclear responsibilities of the various contractors. It cost Moscow about R1 billion to restore the monument.

The sculpture now stands atop a different base than previously. Its new home is a pavilion housing a cinema, a museum, and underground parking, Interfax reported. Mukhina originally wanted her statue placed atop Sparrow Hills (near Moscow University) or at the tip of the Moscow river island where Zurab Tseretely’s controversial statue of Peter the Great now stands.

Romanov Home

After over 50 years under the control of the Russian Navy, the Alexander Palace, home of the last Russian tsarist family, was transferred to a state museum complex in November. Twelve of the palace’s rooms are open for tours while the palace undergoes restoration.

Built in 1796 for Alexander I by his grandmother, Catherine II (“the Great”), the palace was first used extensively by Nicholas I, and then  by Nicholas II, who chose it as his family’s primary residence. Located in Tsarskoye Selo, the palace has housed within its walls an NKVD resort, a Nazi Gestapo base (during the World War II blockade), and an archive for the Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Russian Literature. The long restoration process began after the building came under the navy’s control in 1951.

Lion Palace

Tristar Investment Holdings intends to open the Four Seasons Hotel Lion Palace St. Petersburg in 2011. The hotel is being built in the former Lobanov-Rostovsky mansion, popularly known as the Lions Palace and designed and built in the early 19th century by architect Auguste de Montferrand. After restoration, the neoclassical hotel will include 183 rooms, seven conference halls, a spa, two restaurants, a café, and a bar. Much of the work on the $200 million project has already been completed.

According to Colliers International, St. Petersburg needs up to ten such “deluxe-class” hotels. InterContinental Hotels Group has announced its intention to open its 120-room “boutique” hotel Indigo in the city’s historic center in 2013.

Solovki Shuffle

A strange bureaucratic maneuver on the Solovetsky islands transferred Solovki Museum Director Mikhail Lopatkin to the position of local mayor, while his position as museum director was occupied by Solovetsky Monastery Abbot Porfiry Shutov. Shutov came to Solovetsky Monastery from Trinity St. Sergius Monastery just over a month before being appointed to head the museum by Culture Minister Alexander Avdeyev.

For over a decade, the monastery and the federal museum complex have been in conflict over the legacy and property of the Solovetsky archipelago; that dispute is likely now in the past as both the monastery and museum are headed by one individual. Lopatkin had worked in the museum since 1976.

Local Liquidity

About R25,700 in coins were collected from a fountain in Veliky Novgorod, prompting local authorities to open a special bank account for tourism development. The fountain was recently built in the town center and a regular extraction of change is performed (complete with special costumes) to keep the coins from damaging the fountain’s base.

Sochi Waits

The new terminal at Sochi airport has started receiving its first flights as it completes the final test stage before opening. The terminal, the opening for which has been repeatedly delayed (most recently to February/March of this year), is about a kilometer away from the currently functioning terminal, which is crowded and hopelessly outdated.