In September 1918, as a contribution to Lenin's plan to decorate Soviet cities with instructive statues, bas-reliefs, and inscribed plaques and stone walls, the cultural journal of the Moscow Soviet recommended to its readers Ivan Shadr's idea for a "Monument to the World's Suffering," a large architectural and sculptural ensemble conceived during the war by an artist "from the laboring classes."' In its function and symbolism the monument was a shrine within which the visitor could experience a journey of spiritual awakening and deliverance. To enter the monument, the visitor passes through a narrow gate at the base of a massive granite wall inscribed with quotations from the Bible about eternal life and guarded by four female colossi, heads bowed, representing creation, courage, wisdom and eternity. Walking into a large courtyard, the visitor comes upon a long pool-a "lake of tears" according to Shadr. Before this "deathly still" pool stands a white marble statue representing Charity, inscribed with words from the Book of Job (14:1-2): "Man, born of woman, is short-lived and filled with sorrow. Like a flower, he blossoms and withers; as fleeting as a shadow, he leaves no trace." Nearby, on a smooth granite slab lies the figure of a handsome dead youth, his face expressing "aloneness in the universe," and near him a statue of a young girl, frozen in a scream, symbolically protesting death. From the opposite side of the lake of tears, she is echoed by a figure symbolizing youth and motherhood, which represent the striving to transcend death. Looming over the far end of the pool is a colossal stone pyramid, representing "humanity's Golgotha with countless steps of suffering." Into the face of the pyramid is set an ancient wooden cross, a "symbol of suffering and redemption," with a gran-