Public Parks in Moscow
[Originally posted to polis] After growing up with an image of Moscow as bleak and inhospitable, I was surprised to find so many attractive parks on my first visit to the city. According to the Moscow Wikipedia entry, here are 96 parks, 18 public gardens, and 100 square kilometers of forest. These figures come from a Russian government site that is currently not accessible, but they seem fairly accurate (please let me know if you’ve seen any good studies on this). The entry provides an estimate of 27 square meters of parkland per citizen, compared with 8.6 in New York, 7.5 in London, and 6 in Paris. Besides official parks, there are countless tree-lined paths, landscaped squares, and other plantings throughout the city.
It seems that crews of workers are always performing maintenance, although I’ve heard that parks are neglected in some parts of the city. Many have simple dirt paths that weave through dense foliage. It can seem like you’re in the middle of the wilderness, even though busy streets are never far away. Many parks have flowerbeds, ponds, benches, fountains, statues, and playgrounds. These additions are beautiful in the way of functional, durable, understated things. Of course, there are also grandiose structures from the past, but these are counterbalanced by views of birch trees that sparkle against deep forest backgrounds.
Moscow’s parks are highly accessible. They can be found within walking distance of any residential area, and on the metro, bus, and tram lines. My favorite is Neskuchny (Not Boring) Garden, which lines the Moscow River just southwest of Gorky Park. It has restful paths, a public amphitheater, and this statue of a swimmer facing the river. Neskuchny Garden leads to Vorobyovy Hills, where a majestic ski jump (complete with working chairlift) watches over the city. Izmaylovsky Park covers over 15 square kilometers. To give a sense of scale, Central Park in New York covers 3.4 square kilometers. Sokolniki, another expansive city park, borders Losiny Ostrov National Park, which has an area of 116 square kilometers (thanks again to Moscow’s Wikipedia page for these numbers). The Botanical Garden of the Russian Academy of Sciences is vast and multifaceted, with exhibitions, research facilities, exotic plants, greenhouses, streams, and old-growth forest. Moscow University has a botanical garden just north of the garden ring, which was built over 300 years ago as a source of medicinal herbs. Trees grow through the stone wall that surrounds it.
Parks in Moscow reflect the influence of historic ideas on urban landscapes. There are elements of feudalism, socialism, and capitalism. There is monarchy, anarchy, religion, modernism, and post-modernism. I think I will begin a series on the history of Moscow’s public park system. Each post could look at the influence of a different era: first, the rise of new ideas that culminated in socialist visions for the city; second, Stalin; third, Khrushchev and Brezhnev in Stalin’s wake; fourth, perestroika and the end of the Soviet state; fifth, economic crisis, recovery, and capitalist development. In looking at how different ideas shape urban landscapes, there may be lessons for improving the quality of life in cities.
Credits: Photo of Moscow’s Chistye Prudy Park by Peter Sigrist. Photo of a statue in Neskuchny Garden by trueol.
March 17th, 2010 at 8:24 am
Peter (can I call you Peter?)
I would love to discuss Moscow more. I understand you’re working on a Ph.D. about Moscow’s parks. Moscow being more vast than anyone can handle, I’d love to see if I could work with you on some english-language discussion of Moscow’s incredible (good and bad) architectural condition.
Otherwise, I was thinking of adding you to my blogroll. Would you prefer here or at Polis?
March 17th, 2010 at 1:51 pm
Thank you for getting in touch. ЦARЬCHITECT is one of my favorite blogs, so I must say it’s an honor. I would definitely be interested in working on a discussion of Moscow’s architectural tradition. My dissertation is a historical study of Moscow’s public park system, focusing primarily on how it has changed in relation to economic restructuring from 1985 to 2005. I’m fascinated by so many aspects of Moscow’s architectural history, I would really enjoy participating in the discussion. I found a book recently published by the Moscow Architectural Preservation Society, which has great pictures and commentary about buildings from different eras and their present states. Perhaps this would be a good chance to post about it.
And thank you for thinking of adding me to your blogroll. I would say Polis is a better bet, since I haven’t been very good about keeping this site up to date. I’m hoping to start posting here regularly, but haven’t yet gotten into the habit.
March 17th, 2010 at 8:37 pm
An honor. Hot damn! I’m honored you’re honored.
The period you’re working on it probably the one I know the least about, but after Stalinism, the visual culture of Russia seems to have gone to a weird place. There is very little english-language literature on anything after 1955, and even after 1932, it’s sparse. There are Russian books on it, but 1. most Americans can’t read them and 2. they’re in Russia.
I’d love to see some more about this book. I was thinking about repurposing some papers I wrote in college about Melnikov’s workers’ clubs, the Moscow General Plan of 1935, and a couple of Art Nouveau houses over near Arbat.
In general, Moscow’s parks are a real wonder. The Boulevard Ring is one of the best parks in the world. And like you say, you just keep finding more everywhere. And they let you drink in them.
Anyhow, you have my email.
March 18th, 2010 at 3:07 am
I just came across a book today with a lot of really good color pictures of constructivist architecture in Moscow, probably taken in the 1980s. Unfortunately it was in German, but if you’re interested I could find out the title. Great idea to post based on your papers. Sounds fascinating. The book from MAPS is called Moscow Heritage at Crisis Point. I’ll send an e-mail.