Worker & Kolkhoz Woman

About the holiest of Soviet icons, this powerful monument designed by Vera Mukhina depicts a fierce-looking couple raising the hammer and sickle, symbolising the union of peasants and the working class. Initially, the sculpture crowned the striking Soviet pavilion at Paris Expo in 1937, but it came back to Moscow in 1939. After a recent reconstruction, the monument now stands on top of an exhibition hall that resembles the Paris pavilion. Exhibitions rotate every year or so.