Russia may have a lot of political baggage – but this is just silly. A giant, two-storey designer Louis Vuitton suitcase was erected on the red square, just metres away from Vladimir Lenin’s sacred mausoleum – where the mummified body of the mastermind of the Bolshevik Revolution remains.

Russian politicians were up in arms over the decision to build a shrine to bourgeois, capitalist excess near such ‘sacred’ ground. Subsequently, Russia’s presidential administration ordered the removal of the massive suitcase on Wednesday. A Kremlin spokesperson said that:

The installation of this pavilion was not agreed with the administration.

Later that day, another spokesperson clarified that a written order hadn’t actually been issued, but that the Kremlin was in favor of the suitcase’s removal because of “the problem with its sense of proportion.” In other words, “we think it’s too damn big.”

The oversize trunk was to house a temporary exhibition called “The Soul of Travel” detailing the history of the company’s luggage, starting on 2 December.

Brought to you by Pierre Jourdan

[Source : The Wall Street Journal]