Often in history, when an old regime is overthrown, the leaders go down with it. But not in Moscow. After the fall of the Iron Curtain, instead of toppling and then destroying those powerful looking statues of Soviet leaders, the Muscovites toppled them, and then simply moved them out of site, to a plot of land off the Krymsky Val Street to be precise. At some point, someone had the brilliant idea of transforming this graveyard of old monuments into a sculpture garden. Planting ensued, hundreds of new sculptures were added, and the Muzeon Park of Arts was born.

A quick journey from the Sheraton Palace Hotel, Moscow on trollybus number 10 gets you to the park in about twenty minutes. There, you'll find a fascinating place to visit any time of year, the park blooms with red roses in summer and in winter the snowy, leafless grounds offer a wonderfully stark backdrop to these cold, stone figures. There's a larger than life statue of Stalin, and a massive statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky, founder of the Bolshevik secret police. "Lenin's Corner" traces the evolution of the iconic Soviet powerhouse from student to head of state, with a series of statues and busts. Of course there are requisite monuments devoted to the peasants and the workers, some of them created by famous Soviet era artists such as Yevgeny Vuchetich and Vera Mukhina. Beyond all these staunch faced figures, there are tranquil plots with babbling fountains and shallow ponds where graceful cranes pose among Grecian goddesses and bearded Chinese warriors.