The Stalin Matryoshka Doll is located in the National Cold War Exhibition at the RAF Museum in Cosford.
The RAF museum Cosford is dedicated to the history of aviation and the Royal Air Force in particular. It is located next to an active airfield and is the only place in the Midlands where you can get close to so many breathtaking aircraft for free.
There are over 70 aircraft of international importance are housed in three Wartime Hangars and within the National Cold War Exhibition. See the world’s oldest Spitfire and a Lincoln Bomber, just two of the highlights in the War in the Air Collection.
In 2007 the £12.5 million National Cold War Exhibition was opened at Cosford by Her Royal Highness Princess Anne. This land mark building truly has the ‘wow’ factor with its eye catching architecture and design. A number of the 19 aircraft are suspended in flying attitudes. Iconic cars, models, audio visual hotspots and life-size Russian (Matryoshka) dolls, tell the story of the Cold War in an innovative way. This is the only place in the UK where you can see Britain’s three V Bombers: the Vulcan, Victor and Valiant.
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"Matryoshka dolls also known as babushka dolls, stacking dolls, nesting dolls, Russian tea dolls, or Russian dolls are a set of wooden dolls of decreasing size placed one inside another.
Matryoshka dolls are often designed to follow a particular theme; for instance, peasant girls in traditional dress. Originally, themes were often drawn from tradition or fairy tale characters, in keeping with the craft tradition—but since the late 20th century, they have embraced a larger range, including Russian leaders.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s during Perestroika, freedom of expression allowed the leaders of the Soviet Union to become a common theme of the matryoshka, with the largest doll featuring then-current leader Mikhail Gorbachev. These became very popular at the time, affectionately earning the nickname of a Gorba or Gorby, the namesake of Gorbachev. With the periodic succession of Russian leadership after the collapse of the Soviet Union, newer versions would start to feature Russian presidents Boris Yeltsin, Vladimir Putin, and Dmitry Medvedev.
Most sets feature the current leader as the largest doll, with the predecessors decreasing in size. The remaining smaller dolls may feature other former leaders such as Leonid Brezhnev, Nikita Khrushchev, Joseph Stalin, Vladimir Lenin, and sometimes several historically significant Tsars such as Nicholas II and Peter the Great. Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko rarely appear due to the short length of their respective terms. Some less-common sets may feature the current leader as the smallest doll, with the predecessors increasing in size, usually with Stalin or Lenin as the largest doll."
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Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who governed the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. (
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