The Tsoi Wall (or Tsoi's Wall; ) is a

graffiti Graffiti (singular ''graffiti'', or ''graffito'' only in graffiti archeology) is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written "monikers" to elabor ...

-covered wall in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, dedicated to musician

Viktor Tsoi Viktor Robertovich Tsoi (, ; 21 June 1962 – 15 August 1990) was a Russian singer-songwriter and actor who co-founded Kino, one of the most popular and influential bands in the history of Russian music. Born and raised in Leningrad (mode ...

and his band Kino. The wall is located at the house №37, at the intersection of

Arbat Street Arbat Street (, ), mainly referred to in English as the Arbat, is a pedestrian street about one kilometer long in the historical centre of Moscow, Russia. The Arbat has existed since at least the 15th century, which makes it one of the oldest ...

and Krivoarbatsky Lane and is considered one of Moscow's landmarks. It is customary for Tsoi's fans to leave a broken lit cigarette in the special ash plate by the wall. Frequently visited by Tsoi's fans, the wall has become a place to hide a note for a friend or arrange a meeting. There are also memory walls of Tsoi in other cities, such as

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

Khabarovsk Khabarovsk ( ) is the largest city and the administrative centre of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia,Law #109 located from the China–Russia border, at the confluence of the Amur and Ussuri Rivers, about north of Vladivostok. As of the 2021 Russian c ...

Dnipro Dnipro is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper River, Dnipro River, from which it takes its name. Dnipro is t ...

and

Sevastopol Sevastopol ( ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea and a major port on the Black Sea. Due to its strategic location and the navigability of the city's harbours, Sevastopol has been an important port and naval base th ...

History

The wall was first inscribed on 15 August 1990 with "Viktor Tsoi has died today" (Сегодня погиб Виктор Цой) in black. Subsequently, someone inscribed a reply: "Tsoi is alive!" (Цой жив!) Later, many other inscriptions were added, including snippets from Kino's songs "Pachka sigaret" ("

Pack of Cigarettes A pack or packet of cigarettes (also informally called fag packet in British slang; as in the idiom Back-of-the-envelope calculation, "back of a fag packet" or "fag-packet calculation") is a rectangular Packaging, container, mostly of paperboard ...

") and "Muraveinik" ("Anthill"). In 2006 the wall was painted over by the Art Destroy Project members, but the graffiti was restored by Tsoi's fans. In 2009 the Moscow authorities announced plans to renovate the wall, but the plans were met with skepticism and were dropped. A monument of a barefoot Tsoi, sitting on a motorcycle, was planned to be installed near the wall, but the idea was rejected by local residents and Tsoi's fans.

References

{{coord, 55.7491, 37.5909, type:landmark_region:RU, display=title Walls Culture in Moscow Tourist attractions in Moscow Graffiti in Russia

History

See also

References