On January 1, 1950, the Kurskaya-ring metro station was opened for the first time. I - then a student of the diploma course - remember that day very well and the enthusiastic reception of the work of Zakharov and Chernysheva, who soon received the Stalin Prize of the 1st degree. Its re-discovery almost 60 years later caused a heated discussion, which was joined by representatives of different strata of society, including dignitaries of the Orthodox Church. And when the chief architect of Moscow spoke on this topic, I had a desire to write him an open letter and I did it. But since that text mentioned Viktor Yegerev and our common work - the Krasnopresnenskaya station, I found it necessary to discuss the above text with my colleague. Viktor Sergeevich, who served as a cooling factor in all the acute circumstances of our co-authorship, also in this case tempered my ardor. However, the problem did not go away and, moreover, concerned both of us in the most direct way. After all, at our station, in the niche of its central hall, there were figures of Lenin and Stalin, one of which was removed after the 20th Party Congress, and the second during the construction of the transition to the radial line. And I involuntarily thought - how would we react today to the recreation of this composition?
A couple of days later, I received from my friend a picture of that hall, with a sculptural group that completes it (postcard) and the following attached text: - “Fel! I would give a lot to return our station to its former appearance. This asshole Strelkov (the author of the Barrikadnaya station - FN) made a transition out of it with terrible store lamps. Sharing the assessment of the deed of the aforementioned “fellow” by profession, I thought about what was most dear to me in that photograph.
I must say that the device of the niche and the installation of the figures were made according to our author's proposal. It is clear that no one dared to reject him, although neither Lenin nor, moreover, Stalin had nothing to do with the events that happened in 1905 on Presnya. And we needed them for the sole purpose of completing the rhythm of the reliefs with a volumetric sculpture.
Interestingly, even before the death of the leader, we were invited to the Krasnopresnensky district party committee, where the project of the station and its sculptural design were discussed by the then participants of the Presnensky battles. One of them said emphatically: “This room is too small for us. And in general I do not see here a reflection of the feat of Kolya, Kolokolchikov! However, he did not say what Kolya had done. Be that as it may, the niche was already occupied. Calling Yegerev a second time, I made sure that he - like me - in the event of the restoration of our station and the re-arrangement of the niche, would willingly agree to replace a couple of leaders with the aforementioned hero. I have no doubt that Mikhail Konstantinov and Igor Pokrovsky, who shared the authorship of the station with us, but who have already left for another world, would gladly accept this option.
Of course, Aleksandr Viktorovich Kuzmin is right that “If you undertake restoration, then do it as it was, otherwise what kind of restoration it was … As the authors had, so it should be done”. And I believe his statement: - "I am not a Stalinist!" However, the performed reproduction of the text of the Stalinist anthem and the proposed secondary installation of the figure of Stalin will become not so much an architectural restoration as will serve to restore the ideology of Stalinism and the cult of this personality.
The legitimacy of this point of view was confirmed by the statement of the President of the Russian Federation, made on his blog on the Internet on the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repression.
In general, you don't need to erect monuments during your lifetime. In Russia, there is no need to rush into the matter of perpetuating anyone. For example, Opekushin erected a monument to Pushkin in Moscow 43 years after the death of Alexander Sergeevich. And in Leningrad, Anikushin erected a monument to the poet even later - 120 years later. And no problem!
It was enough for Stalin to wait three years. Who would have sculpted it after Khrushchev's speech at the XX Congress of the CPSU?
