Small Arena, Luzhniki Sports Complex, Moscow 2012
Swimming Stadium, Luzhniki Sports Complex, Moscow 2012
© Leslie Hossack
The Small Arena and the Swimming Stadium shown above are part of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Complex which also includes Luzhniki Stadium featured in yesterday’s post. Originally the main arena held 103,000 spectators, the small arena 16,000 and the swimming stadium 8,000.
The Soviet Union achieved its first post-war success at the 1952 Olympics and determined to upgrade its sports facilities to guarantee future medals. The Luzhniki Sports Complex was constructed from 1954-1956. It was completely rebuilt for the 1980 Olympics, the first games held in a communist country. Led by the United States, 65 countries boycotted the Moscow Games because of the Soviet War in Afghanistan; four years later the Soviets lead a boycott of the 1984 Los Angeles Games.
The Moscow Photographs, a collection of limited edition fine art prints by Leslie Hossack, examine Joseph Stalin’s architectural legacy in Russia’s capital. The structures are linked to Stalin by era, architect and anecdote. Hossack painstakingly deconstructs these historic landmarks, revealing them as they appeared when the architects first put their designs on paper.
The Moscow Photographs include: Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow’s 1980 Olympic Stadium; the Small Arena and Swimming Stadium also located at the Luzhniki Olympic Sports Complex; Lenin’s Tomb and Saint Basil’s Cathedral in Red Square; Bolshoi Theatre and Red Army Theatre; Moscow City Hall and Dinamo Metro Station; Gorky Park and Ukraine Pavilion; Lubyanka Building and Moskva Hotel; Russian White House and Kotelnicheskaya Apartment Building, one of Stalin’s high-rises known as the Seven Sisters.
These images are part of Leslie Hossack’s larger body of work that explores Nazi architecture in Berlin, sacred sites in Jerusalem and a Cold War bunker in Ottawa. To view more images, please visit her website. lesliehossack.com
HAUTE VITRINE 