In Moscow and expressing the ideology of the Soviet state during the construction of the socialist system. The monument was built for the World Exhibition in Paris in 1937; the idea of its creation belonged to the architect Boris Iofan, and the project was brought to life by sculptor Vera Mukhina.
Can the sculptural group “Worker and Collective Farm Woman” be called a monument? In a sense, yes, since it is a monument to the Soviet era.
Description
The composition represents the dynamic figures of a girl and a boy, in whose raised hands there is a hammer and sickle, the emblem of the USSR. While working on the project, Boris Iofan wanted to show the unity, friendship and determination of the working class and peasantry, that they are the masters of the country of the Soviets.
The monument is made of stainless steel and its height is 23.5 meters. The monument is installed on a pavilion-pedestal 34.5 meters high, which houses Museum complex“Worker and Collective Farm Woman”, the total weight of the composition is about 185 tons.
The museum's exhibits tell the story of the construction of the monument; its halls display projects, models and photographs, and personal belongings of the monument's creators.
Address of the monument “Worker and Collective Farm Woman”
Prospekt Mira, house No. 123B, travel to VDNKh metro station
How to get to the sculpture “Worker and Collective Farm Woman”
Soon, the monument “Worker and Collective Farm Woman,” which expressed the ideology of the socialist state, appeared on the screens of the films “Foundling,” “Shining Path” and “Hello, Moscow,” and since 1948, the image of the sculpture has become the emblem of the Mosfilm film studio.
In 2003, the monument was dismantled into 40 parts and its reconstruction began. The opening of the sculptural group “Worker and Collective Farm Woman” took place in November 2009. The base of the monument is a specially built pavilion of the museum and exhibition center, its shape reminiscent of the one built at the exhibition in Paris in 1937.
With the Hammer and Sickle - this is the most famous sculpture Soviet era, an outstanding work by Soviet sculptor Vera Mukhina.
The sculpture “Worker and Collective Farm Woman” is a sculptural composition, one of the most famous works sculptor Vera Ignatievna Mukhina. “Worker and Kolkhoz Woman” are two intertwined steel statues of a worker and a collective farmer, raising a hammer and sickle above themselves - a symbol of the union of workers and peasants. The height of the sculpture is 24 meters. “Worker and Kolkhoz Woman” is truly a symbol of the Soviet era, a symbol of the USSR.
"Worker and Kolkhoz Woman" is the emblem of the Moscow film studio "Mosfilm".
International Exhibition 1937
The sculpture was made for the International Exhibition in Paris in 1937.
“Worker and Collective Farm Woman” was produced in the shortest possible time; for this, the workers had to work from morning until evening. The weight of the finished sculpture was 37 tons. After Stalin's approval of the sculpture, "Worker and Collective Farm Woman" were loaded into 28 wagons and sent by railway to Paris.
The sculptural group received a large gold medal Grand Prix, however, the joy of victory was overshadowed by the fact that “Worker and Collective Farm Woman” was placed opposite the pavilion of Nazi Germany.
USSR intelligence was interested in the design of the German pavilion; as a result, the height of the Soviet exhibition was several meters higher, which pleased the leadership of the USSR and upset Germany. Parisians and guests of the exhibition specially went to look at Soviet sculpture Vera Mukhina several times a day, as she constantly changed her color - in the morning she was pink color from the morning sun, during the day - bright silver as it should be, and at sunset in the evening - golden. France planned to buy the sculpture for Paris, but the Soviet delegation, by order of Stalin, refused to do so.
After the closure of the World Exhibition in Paris, most of the creators of “Worker and Collective Farm Woman” went to camps and exile, the commissioner of the Soviet pavilion I. Mezhlauk was shot. And Vera Mukhina was suspended from work.
Transportation of sculpture
During transportation, the statue was damaged, since some parts did not fit into the railway tunnels due to its dimensions, but in 1939 it was reconstructed, and in fact rebuilt and installed in front of the Northern entrance of the All-Russian Agricultural Exhibition (VVC, aka VDNKh). Vera Mukhina believed that the most best place for the sculpture - the USSR pavilion, but her opinion was not listened to.
Once again “Worker and Collective Farm Woman” was restored in 1979.
Since the late 40s, the sculpture “Worker and Collective Farm Woman” has been the main symbol of the Mosfilm film studio.
Reconstruction of the sculpture
In 2003, the sculpture was disassembled into 40 component parts. After the reconstruction of "Worker and Collective Farm Woman" it was planned to place a theater and a museum on the pedestal, on an area of about 8 thousand square meters. According to the new project, the height of the pavilion-pedestal will be 34.5 meters. With the “growth” of the sculpture being 24.5 meters, the total height of the monument will be about 60 meters, as intended by Vera Mukhina. At the foot of the sculpture there will be special high reliefs, as was the case at the Paris exhibition.
Installation on a pedestal
The complete reconstruction was completed in 2009. The installation was carried out on November 28, 2009 using a crane, and grand opening took place in Moscow on December 4, 2009.
In 2010, the museum and exhibition center “Worker and Collective Farm Woman” was opened on the pedestal.
The famous sculpture, named in the Bolshoi Soviet encyclopedia"standard socialist realism", was made in 1935-1937 for the Soviet pavilion at the World Exhibition in Paris, which was opened there on May 25, 1937. It was created by the famous Soviet sculptor Vera Mukhina and architect Boris Iofan. A sculptural group of two figures raising a sickle above their heads and a hammer, made of stainless chromium-nickel steel. Its height from the base to the top of the sickle is 24 m. The height of the worker is 17.25 m, the height of the collective farmer is 10 m. The total weight is 80 tons.
In 1937, the monument was transported from Moscow to Paris for the World Exhibition. In order to be taken out of the Union and transported through a tunnel in Paris, and then reinstalled in their homeland, the 24-meter figures had to be cut and welded on the spot. The sculpture was transported to Paris, disassembled into 65 parts and fitting the parts into 28 railway cars. Leading engineers, installers, mechanics, welders and tinsmiths went to Paris for on-site assembly. Then French workers were hired to help them. It took eleven days to assemble - and already on May 1, 1937, the sculpture was assembled. There, the sculpture was erected in the USSR pavilion just opposite the German pavilion with Hitler’s eagle on the top of its head.
After the exhibition, they planned to melt down the sculpture, but the French really liked it; the Parisians even wanted to keep it.
The sculpture was returned from Paris dismembered into 44 parts. It was damaged during transportation. For eight months (January - August 1939) in Moscow, the sculpture was reconstructed and installed on a pedestal in front of the Northern entrance to the All-Russian Exhibition Center (VVTs).
The sculpture became not just the pride of the country; in 1947, “Worker and Collective Farm Woman” became a brand of Russian cinema - a symbol of the Mosfilm film studio. Grigory Alexandrov’s film “Spring” began with her image against the backdrop of the Kremlin’s Spasskaya Tower in 1947. In July 1948, the Ministry of Cinematography officially approved this Mosfilm emblem. But since the sculpture is large and when filming it at an angle, some distortion of the image occurred, in November 1950 a special agreement was concluded with Mukhina, according to which she undertook to make a scaled-down model of her “Worker and Collective Farm Woman” for Mosfilm. Made of plaster, the sculpture became the property of the studio on May 29, 1951 - it received the right to use its three-dimensional image on the screensaver for its films. In accordance with the current Russian legislation Mosfilm has re-registered trademark as a legally protected trademark until 2009. The stamp “Worker and Collective Farm Woman” began with such films as “The Cranes Are Flying”, “The Ballad of a Soldier”, “Andrei Rublev”, “Kalina Krasnaya” and hundreds of other films that made up worldwide fame domestic cinema. The entire cinematic world began to associate this image both with the name of Mosfilm and with the great names of Russian film masters. And the sculptural group itself is now kept with special care at Mosfilm.
In 1979, the sculpture was restored. During the perestroika years, the idea arose to install a monument on the spit of Bolshoi Kamenny Island, between the Udarnik and the Crimean Bridge, but this place turned out to be occupied by Peter I by Zurab Tsereteli. A little later, lawyer Anatoly Kucherena became interested in the fate of the monument, turning to the Moscow Office for the Protection of Architectural Monuments with a request to sell “Worker and Collective Farm Woman” to an American company. He was refused, deciding that Russia would sooner or later have the money for restoration.
In October 2003, work began on the reconstruction of the sculpture “Worker and Collective Farm Woman”. It was dismantled, first disassembled into 17 parts, then into forty. This is the first time that restoration of this level has been carried out. According to the new project, the height of the pavilion-pedestal will be 34.5 meters ( formerly sculpture stood at the ten-meter mark). With the “growth” of the sculpture being 24.5 meters, the total height of the monument with the pedestal will be about 60 meters. At the foot of the sculpture there will be special high reliefs, as was the case at the Paris exhibition. The monument will be included in a beautiful multifunctional complex. The investor, the owner of the multi-tiered underground parking lot, which will be “sunk” under the multifunctional complex, is responsible for everything that will be located under the monument.
The deadline for completing the restoration is constantly being pushed back - it was planned to be completed in 2005, then 2006, they promised that in 2007, on the 70th anniversary of the Paris World Exhibition, "Worker and Collective Farm Woman" will again take its place. But in March 2007, First Deputy Mayor of Moscow Vladimir Resin announced that the sculpture would return to its historical place - on the pedestal at the Moscow pavilion of the All-Russian Exhibition Center - no later than 2008.
For the first time the world saw the sculptor's work on International exhibition in Paris 1937. Huge, strong and at the same time unusually light, the sculpture was built on the pavilion Soviet Union, built according to the design of the architect B.M. Iofan. A young man and a girl hold symbols of labor high above their heads - a sickle and a hammer. The fabric of the skirt and scarf flutter in the wind like a scarlet banner - the hero of Soviet parades and demonstrations.
In 1937, Vera Ignatievna Mukhina took part in a sculpture competition for the USSR pavilion. Together with her, V.A. took part in the competition. Andreev, M.S. Manizer and I.D. Shadr.
The Soviet pavilion was intended as a symbol reflecting the growing achievements of the young country. The building rose up with increasing ledges and was crowned with a “powerful sculptural group.” This was the architect's intention. The sculpture had to emphasize the dynamics and power of the building without overwhelming it.
“The group had to be drawn with a clear openwork against the sky,” recalled V. Mukhina.
Mukhina's sculpture was recognized as the best. “Worker and Collective Farm Woman” in her performance became one with the building conceived by Iofan.
The scarf in the hands of the Kolkhoz Woman turned out to be an excellent solution, emphasizing the horizontal movement of the pavilion. A banner fluttering from the headwind, arms thrown back, united sculptural composition with a pedestal, with a pavilion building. However, it was the scarf that became the reason for the commission’s quibbles and the sculptor’s worries. It was too unusual a piece of clothing for a simple working woman. But without him, the group lost its horizontal line and ceased to be dynamic.
The entire composition was made of a then new material - chromium-nickel steel. Parts of the sculpture were knocked out on wooden templates, and then welded and attached to a powerful skeletal beam frame. This was a new word in sculpture. The engineer of the Central Research Institute of Mechanical Engineering, P.I., was responsible for the embodiment of the sculpture in the new material. Lviv. And he did his job perfectly.
At the exhibition in Paris, Mukhina's sculpture was a huge success. All leading newspapers published photographs of the statue, and copies of it were repeated on many souvenirs of the exhibition.
After the Paris exhibition, the sculpture was transported back to Moscow. At first there were no plans to restore it in its homeland, but in 1939 it took a place in front of the Southern entrance to the Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy. For many years the sculpture stood on a low pedestal, which Mukhina called a “stump.” Only in 2009, after several years of restoration, the sculpture was returned to the square. By this time, a pavilion had been built here, replicating the Iofan pavilion designed for the 1937 Exhibition. Today, “Worker and Collective Farm Woman” stands on a building that rises upward with ledges. They remind us of the time when the Hammer and Sickle were symbols of the young Soviet country.
Photo: Sculpture "Worker and Collective Farm Woman"
Photo and description
The sculpture “Worker and Collective Farm Woman” is a monument of monumental art, a symbol of the Soviet era. The idea belongs to the architect Boris Iofan. The sculpture competition was won by Vera Mukhina's sculpture.
The monument was made of stainless chrome-plated steel. The height of the monument is approximately 25 meters, and the height of the pedestal is approximately 33 meters. The weight of the monument is 185 tons.
First, Mukhina made a one and a half meter plaster model. Based on this model, a huge monument was made at the pilot plant of the Institute of Metalworking and Mechanical Engineering. The work was supervised by Professor P. N. Lvov. The sculpture decorated the Soviet pavilion at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1937.
During transportation from Paris, the monument was damaged. In the first half of 1939, it was restored and installed on a pedestal at the entrance to the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition (now the All-Russian Exhibition Center). The Great Soviet Encyclopedia called the sculpture “the standard of socialist realism.”
In 1979, the monument was restored. But by the beginning of the 2000s the monument demanded major reconstruction. In 2003, the monument was dismantled. 40 individual fragments were sent for restoration. It was expected to return it to its place by the end of 2005. Funding problems delayed the restoration work and it was not completed until November 2009.
Restorers strengthened the supporting frame of the sculpture. All parts of the monument were cleaned and anti-corrosion treatment was carried out. They installed the monument in its original place, but on a new pedestal. It was exactly the same as the original one, built in 1937, but slightly shortened. The new pedestal is 10 meters higher than the old one. The monument “Worker and Collective Farm Woman” was installed on November 28, 2009, using a special crane. It was officially opened on December 4, 2009.
In the pedestal-pavilion there is exhibition hall and the Vera Mukhina Museum. In September 2010, the “Worker and Collective Farm Woman” museum and exhibition center was opened in the pavilion. It houses an exhibition dedicated to the history of the creation of the monument in projects, models and photographs.
After reconstruction, the monument “Worker and Collective Farm Woman” became part of the “Capital” association of museums. In addition to it, the “Capital” includes: Moscow State Exhibition Hall “New Manege”, Central Exhibition Hall “Manege”, “Chekhov’s House”, Sidur Museum and others.