Lenin Stadium

Lenin Stadium 

(in full, Central V. I. Lenin Stadium), a sports complex in Moscow. One of the largest sports complexes in the world, Lenin Stadium was constructed in 1955 and 1956 on the low-lying left bank of the Moskva River, on a bend opposite the Lenin Hills. The complex contains approximately 140 sports facilities, including the Bol’shaia and Malaia sports arenas, which seat 103,000 and 14,000 spectators, respectively. It has a pool for swim meets with seating for 13,000 spectators, as well as five smaller swimming pools. The complex also has a sports palace seating 12,000–15,000 and a children’s stadium seating 3,000. Other facilities include a complex of tennis courts, an indoor artificial skating rink used for lessons, 26 gymnasiums, ten soccer fields, four track-and-field complexes, approximately 80 outdoor courts for basketball, volleyball, gorodki (a Russian folk game), and other sports, and an archery range. In winter the stadium operates skating rinks with a total area of approximately 120,000 sq m, approximately 20 rinks for ice hockey and figure skating, and a ski area.

The stadium has industrial workshops, a shop for the production of special surfaces for soccer fields, tennis courts, and running tracks, a center for the repair of motorized equipment, and a printing office. It also has a medical dispensary for athletes, medical examination rooms, a sports museum, and a hotel. The Sport-firm laboratory operates in the complex. The buildings have modern equipment and public-address systems.

Lenin Stadium offers instruction in various sports. It also holds competitions in more than 30 sports—as many as 2,500 major and minor competitions annually. Between 25,000 and 30,000 people between the ages of five and 75 regularly take part in the activities, including more than 10,000 in physical-fitness groups.

Between 1956 and 1975, 15 world and European championships were held at Lenin Stadium in boxing, basketball, volleyball, gymnastics, fencing, figure skating, ice hockey, table tennis, the modern pentathlon, and tennis. In the same period, there were five USSR Spartakiads and a World Student Universiad (1973). Athletes from more than 100 countries participated in the international competitions.

Concerts, ice ballets, New Year’s celebrations, films, and other events are regularly scheduled at the stadium.

Lenin Stadium lies along an axis that runs from the main entrance to the Bol’shaia Sports Arena, parallel to the picturesque esplanade on the high right bank of the Moskva River. The esplanade leads visually to the lofty Moscow State University, unifying the spatial composition of the buildings. The main sports facilities—the pool and the Malaia and Bol’shaia sports arenas—are arranged symmetrically. The western section of the complex has a sports palace and a children’s playground. There are separate entrances to all buildings from a wide street that separates the parking lot from a park surrounding the entire complex. The various districts of Moscow have access to the complex by subway and other means of transportation.

Lenin Stadium was designed by the architects A. V. Vlasov, I. E. Rozhin, N. N. Ullas, and A. F. Khriakov, who collaborated with the engineers V. N. Nasonov, N. M. Reznikov, and V. P. Polikarpov. The complex was awarded the Lenin Prize in 1959.

A. P. GUSEV