Whether it is honoring Ivan the Terrible, Vladimir the Great or Mikhail Kalashnikov, new monuments in Russia are a sign of the times.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Borodin
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An older, bearded man in royal clothing sits atop a horse, holding a cross in his outstretched hand and a sword in his other. It is a monument to Russia's first czar, the Grand Prince of Moscow, better known as Ivan the Terrible. The monument was inaugurated Friday in Oryol, a city in southern Russia. The five-meter-tall (16 feet) bronze figure rests atop a concrete base next to an Orthodox church.
Controversial ruler
At first, the statue was to stand next to a children's theater and made official in early August to coincide with the 450th anniversary of the city. Activists opposed its location as well as its glorification of a controversial historical figure. Ivan IV ruled from Moscow with an iron fist in the 16th century. His notorious secret service, known as the Oprichnina, spread fear and terror. His brutal rule gave him the name, the Terrible.
Oryol's regional governor, Vadim Potomski, is not troubled by this history. "Ivan the Terrible made Russia strong and expanded its territory," he told a state broadcaster. Three-quarters of residents were in favor of the monument, according to a survey the city circulated.
Three-quarters of Oryol residents were in favor of the Ivan the Terrible monumentImage: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Borodin
Vladimir vs. Vladimir
The Ivan monument is just the latest in Russia's seemingly new-found enthusiasm for them. Another is to be established on October 16 in Moscow for Vladimir the Great. The Grand Prince of Kyiv is considered the most important ruler in the history of Kievan Rus', a medieval state to which Russia and Ukraine trace their peoplehood, statehood and Christian Orthodoxy. Kyiv has been home to a major monument to Vladimir the Great for more than 150 years. Now, Moscow wants one of its own - within sight of the Kremlin, where a contemporary Vladimir now rules. It will be inaugurated on November 4, Russia's Unity Day.
Some observers believe the monument will bear greater resemblance to today's President Vladimir Putin than Vladimir, the Grand Prince of Kyiv. An actual monument for Putin has stood in St. Petersburg, the current Russian leader's home city, since 2015.
A monument to President Vladimir Putin has stood in his native St. Petersburg since 2015Image: picture-alliance/NurPhoto/S. Nikolaev
Kalashnikov: Symbol of modern Russia
An even newer and more symbolic monument is to be opened in the beginning of 2017. This will be for Mikhail Kalashnikov, the inventor of the famous Kalashnikov assault rifle. He died in 2013.
The monument is set to stand seven meters high in the center of Moscow. Its sculptor, Salavat Scherbakov, will include a globe to symbolize the rifle's impact around the world as well as St. George on a horse. Scherbakov calls the Kalashnikov a "weapon of good." The 61-year-old artist is currently the top monument maker in the country, responsible for Moscow's Vladimir the Great and Oryol's Ivan the Terrible.
The monuments are highly symbolic, said Oleg Kashin, a Russian journalist, who told DW he finds the globe behind Kalashnikov more menacing than celebratory. "It's become normal in Russia today to speak of war not as a tragedy but as good promotion for Russian weapons," he said.
Pacifism is out of fashion, Kashin added, making a "giant Kalashnikov" an adequate symbol for the Russian zeitgeist.
The Kalashnikov rifle has become a symbol for armed conflict around the worldImage: picture-alliance/dpa
Stalin not popular everywhere
It is a zeitgeist that again reveres history's controversial rulers for making the Russian empire bigger and stronger. Joseph Stalin is a prime example: a myriad of monuments to the former Soviet leader have begun appearing in cities across Russia in the last few years.
Russians are not uniformly in agreement with this development. In October, authorities in the Siberian city of Surgut took down a Stalin monument less than a month after it had first been put up. They argued it was illegal and many residents were against it. During Stalin's reign, nearly half the Surgut population became victims of his terror, a city spokesperson said.
How churches in the Soviet Union were desecrated and repurposed
In the Soviet era, ambitious communists destroyed many houses of prayer or re-appropriated them for their own purposes. Moscow's majestic Cathedral of Christ the Savior was not the only one to undergo drastic changes.
Image: DW/M. Mortsiefer
Rising up from ruins
Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior wasn't the only church to suffer at the hands of the communists. Just as it did, some of the city's other churches were restored to their grandeur after the Soviet era.
Image: Alvesgaspar/picture-alliance
Holy art depot
The Church of St. Nicholas in Tolmachy is located near Moscow's famous Tretyakov Gallery. During Soviet times, the house of worship served the museum as a storage chamber for art works.
Image: Kirchengemeinde Tolmatschach
Screenings at the altar
For decades, this church served as the state cinema theater in Noginsk. Cupolas and relics were removed - so much so that cinema-goers could not recognize what the building was formerly used for. These days, it is easily identifiable as a house of prayer.
Image: Marius Mortsiefer/Gemeinde Noginsk
The sacreligeous in a sacred building
The majestic St. Isaac's Cathedral is St. Petersburg's largest church. The Soviets used it as an anti-religious museum - hanging up a 91-meter-long (299-foot) Foucault's Pendulum in the cupola.
Image: eichinger.ch/TASS
Home to the secret police
Near the Church of the Martyr St. George the Victorious in Moscow is the Lubyanka - the headquarters of the infamous KGB. During Soviet times, the KGB used the church as a residential home - complete with newly installed kitchens, toilets and bedrooms.
Image: DW/M. Mortsiefer, Kirchengemeinde Grigori
Water for drinking, not baptizing
The Kazan Cathedral is located directly on the Red Square. Following its demolition in 1936, a pavilion was installed to honor the communists. Later, it was turned into a public restroom and drinking water fountain. Rebuilding of the church - one of the first to be demolished by the Soviets - began in 1990.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Soulless place
Moscow's Church of the Resurrection was used as a gym for workers at the nearby sausage factory. Then, in 1964, the Grabar Restoration Center opened up its workshop in the former church.
Image: Patriarchat Moskau
From a swimming pool to the seat of a bishopric
The Lutheran Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in St. Petersburg is Russia's largest Protestant Lutheran church. The Soviets transformed it into a storage hall and, in 1962, into a swimming pool. A diving board was installed at the altar. It reopened as a church in 1992. Since 1993, it's been the bishopric seat of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Central Asia.
Image: petersburg-info.de/
Political prisoners in a monastery
Andronikov Monastery of the Savior is a well-preserved monastery from the late Middle Ages. Ironically, the communists turned this into of the first concentration camps for political prisoners. Following the Soviet era, the monastery was given to the Russian Orthodox Church in 1992. The Andrei Rublev Museum of Ancient Russian Art is located on the premises.
Image: DW/M. Mortsiefer, Andronikow Kloster
Armory in the church
A factory was moved into the Church of St. Nicholas during the Stalin era. Munition was produced here during World War II, and later, pins and medals.
Library without a Bible
The Cathedral of the Archangel Michael in Bronnitsy underwent a relatively mild transformation: It was used as a state book archive - but the "book of books," the Bible, surely couldn't be found there.
