Mask of Sorrow

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Mask of Sorrow monument is perched on a hill above Magadan, Russia, commemorating the millions of prisoners who suffered and died in the Gulag prison camps in the Kolyma region of the Soviet Union during the 1930's, 40's, and 50's. It consists of a large stone statue of a face, with tears coming from the left eye in the form of small masks. The right eye is in the form of a barred window. The back side portrays a weeping young woman and a headless man on a cross. Inside is a replication of a typical Stalin-era prison cell.

The statue opened on June 12, 1996 with the help of the Russian government and financial contributions from seven Russian cities, including Magadan. The design was created by famed architect Ernst Neizvestny, whose parents fell victim to the Stalinist purges of the 1930's; the monument was constructed by Kamil Kazaev. The mask stands 15 meters high and takes up 56 cubic meters of space.