Vladimir Lenin’s role in Russian history carries a lot of baggage, but a two-story designer suitcase has this week eclipsed his long shadow over Red Square.
A giant Louis Vuitton trunk in Red Square just steps away from the imposing granite mausoleum where the mummified body of the mastermind of the Bolshevik Revolution remains enshrined has Russian politicians up in arms over the decision to build a shrine to bourgeois excess near such “sacred ground.”
“This is a sacred place for the Russian state,” said Sergei Obukhov, a member of the Communist Party Central Committee. “There are some symbols that cannot be trivialized or denigrated.”
A firestorm of criticism swept through the capital Tuesday as workers put the finishing touches on the 30-foot-tall, 112-foot-long brown box adorned with the famed Louis Vuitton logo and the Russian flag that will be home to a temporary exhibit on the history of the company’s luggage that will run for six weeks starting Dec. 2.
One parliamentarian from the country’s ruling United Russia Party called for an investigation into whether the trunk violated the country’s advertising laws and the Civic Chamber, a government-sponsored civil society group, held a hearing while proposing a law to protect Russia’s important monuments from exploitation.
Louis Vuitton said the enormous suitcase—which first appeared in Moscow nearly two weeks ago—has deep ties to Russia’s history, as it is modeled after “a trunk which once belonged to Prince Wladimir Orloff,” and features his monogram “P.W.O.” in large letters on the front, using the 19th century spelling of the royal family member’s name.
“This exhibition is also a way for us to thank Russia for accompanying us for more than a century and a half,” the company said.
Proceeds from the exhibit, called “The Soul of Travel,” will go to the Naked Heart Foundation, a children’s charity that was created by Natalia Vodianova, a Russian model who is the girlfriend of the son of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA’s chairman,Bernard Arnault.
Originally serving as the city’s main marketplace, Red Square became the focal point of national pageantry during the Soviet Union, serving as home to military parades and celebrations of national heroes.
In recent years, it has returned to its more commercial roots, hosting fashion shows, rock concerts, motorcycle jumping and a corporate-sponsored skating rink in winter.
But the construction of the suitcase—which blocks the view of the famed St. Basil’s Cathedral from the square’s entrance—proved to be too much for some.
At the Civic Chamber hearing Tuesday, Mikhail Kusnirovich, the primary shareholder in Moscow’s GUM department store, which stands adjacent to Red Square and is sponsoring the Louis Vuitton event as part of the store’s 120th birthday celebration, said the government had been consulted and all the required approvals had been granted.
“The pavilion will work entirely in conjunction with charity, so there is no question of greed,” he said, according to Interfax. “As for the use of public space on Red Square, we turned to the federal authorities for approval.”
Source: The Wall Street Journal
