Święte Ikony Stalinowskie
Holy Stalinist Icons

Summary/Abstract: A presentation of the different ways of portraying Stalin during the period of the greatest intensification of his cult. Portraits played an essential part due to the fact that the leader of the Soviet state, totally devoid of natural charisma, was unwilling to made public appearances. His omnipresence was guaranteed by icons, through whose intermediary the nation remained in a constant and almost mystical contact with its Leader. Stalinist icons possess multiple features of Orthodox icons, and were the object of a truly religious cult best evidenced in accounts about the mourning after Stalin’s death, when, in the one hand, special altars were erected while, on the other hand, his portraits became the target of intentional profanation. The author also considers the complicated history of photographs, whose purpose was to falsify Stalin’s appearance and biography, as well as monuments and the history of their erection and toppling.

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