Exhibit reveals history, culture of Moscow

By Chung Ah-young

Moscow, the heart of Russia’s politics, economy, culture, education and science, is a historic city where Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Kandinsky and Eizenshtein once lived and worked.

To show the history, culture and development of Moscow from the 19th century to the present day, the Seoul Museum of History is holding a special exhibition displaying some 80 photographs.

The event is part of the museum’s series of “Portraits of Cities in the World,” which began in 2010 to offer a look into other cities around the world as well as a mirror that reflects memories of Seoul.

Following “Portrait of London” last year, this year’s exhibition “Portrait of Moscow” is being held in conjunction with the Moscow City Museum through July 3.

The exhibition features Moscow’s history, landscapes, figures and everyday lives of Muscovites, selected from a vast photo collection of more than 70,000 pieces from the Moscow City Museum.

The Seoul museum signed an agreement of exchange and cooperation with the Moscow museum last year. The special exhibition in Seoul is the first fruit of the agreement. The Moscow museum will then hold a special exhibition, “A Portrait of Seoul” this coming fall.

The exhibition consists of four sections — Imperial Moscow, Moscow in Soviet Times 1917-1991, Moscow in the Third Millennium, and Enhancing Korea’s Image in Russian Eyes.

The first part explores the 19th-century landscape of the city through historical images capturing the Romanov Dynasty and Kremlin Palace. The photos display the coronation ceremony of the Romanov families, the Kremlin Palace, transportation, ordinary Muscovites and patrol marches near the Bolshoi Theatre from 1890 to 1917.

In the second section, the growth of socialism in the Soviet era is vividly shown through photographs. A sculpture depicting a beheaded emperor and Lenin in the Red Square, the bombed Kremlin Palace in the Russian Revolution in 1917, a march by communists, laborers clad in blue uniforms vividly show the steep changes of Moscow.

The photos introduce constructivist architecture styles such as the interior of a subway station in the 1930s and Yuri Alexeyevic Gagarin, the first man in space in 1961. They show the efforts and energy of the city to leap toward as one of the powers with strong industrial prowess under socialism. Visitors can see the videos showing Moscow’s history and landscape, which are installed at the center of the exhibition hall.

The third part consists of photos capturing the beauty of the megapolis saddled with traffic, housing and environmental problems in which traditional and modern elements coexist. After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the city turned into a flamboyant place with unique night landscapes escaping from the gray city.

The Kremlin Palace attracts tourists and monasteries and historical sites which were destroyed during the Soviet Union era have been restored, exuding a wonderful coexistence between modernity and tradition. Until now, the industrial facilities are moving out from the historical sites and the skyscrapers are creating an impressive skyline of the city.

In the fourth section, relations between the two countries are shown through various images. In 1990, diplomatic relations resumed,

and the two nations have grown increasingly close over the past decades. In 1991 a “sister city” relationship between Seoul and Moscow was established. In 2004, “Moscow Day” was designated in Seoul, while “Seoul Day” was declared in Moscow as part of the cultural exchanges.

In 1999, Korean fashion designer Lie Sang-bong unveiled an exclusive collection featuring “Cyrillic” (the alphabet used in Russia) and “Hangeul” (the alphabet used in Korea). The collection was inspired by verses of Korean poet Kim So-wol and Russian poet Alexander Pushkin. In addition, annual festivals celebrating Korean culture have become popular, attracting hundreds of Muscovites to enjoy traditional Korean art, music, dance and cuisine. The Korea Foundation hosted an exhibition titled “Neighbors Meet Again” in 2010 at their Moscow Cultural Center to celebrate 20 years of diplomatic relations between Moscow and Seoul. These activities have expanded into diverse areas, including transportation, economy, information and communications and tourism.

The exhibition provides a chance to appreciate the bilateral ties between these two capitals that may be geographically distant but have nonetheless been close historically.