Obituary: Yuri Luzhkov died on December 10th
The long-time mayor of Moscow and transformer of the city was 83
IN SEPTEMBER 1997 Yuri Luzhkov, proud mayor of Russia’s capital, threw a three-day birthday party. It had been three years in the planning, down to the last almost Godlike detail, seeding the clouds to keep the rain away. A huge pageant, with 1,200 performers and a fire-breathing dragon, filled the streets. A son-et-lumière show was beamed onto the hilltop façade of Moscow State University. The Bolshoi ballet danced outside, Luciano Pavarotti sang in Red Square, and in the cathedral of Christ the Saviour, which Mr Luzhkov had raised again from Stalin’s dynamiting with its gold cupolas gleaming, three orchestras boomed out Tchaikovsky’s “1812”. There was nothing like that shout of victory over Napoleon to make the mayor’s stout Russian heart beat stronger in his breast.
This article appeared in the Obituary section of the print edition under the headline “Tearing down the past”
Obituary January 4th 2020
From the January 4th 2020 edition
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