Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow 2012

© Leslie Hossack

This is the first in a series of posts featuring 15 iconic landmarks in Moscow.

The Grand Sports Arena shown above was officially opened in July 1956. It was the signature stadium during the 1980 Moscow Olympics, hosting the opening and closing ceremonies. In a 1996 renovation, the roof was added.

Recently, the 2018 FIFA World Cup was awarded to Russia, and Luzhniki Stadium will host the final match. It will then join Rome’s Stadio Olimpico, Munich’s Olympiastadion and London’s Wembley Stadium as the only stadia to have hosted the finals of the FIFA World Cup, UEFA’s FIFA World Cup and also featured as a main stadium of the Summer Olympic 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 presented 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