Inside The Soviet Secret Erotica Collection

The ninth floor of the Lenin Library is home to a pornographic treasure trove that was gathered over decades of Soviet rule. Even today, it remains off-limits to the public but The Moscow Times' Joy Neumeyer gained access to the repository of the once-forbidden collection. Read the full story: Inside the Soviet Union's Secret Erotica Collection
Joy Neumeyer / For MT
The collection was created not long after the Bolsheviks came to power as a department to house materials found in confiscated aristocratic libraries.
Joy Neumeyer / For MT
There are 12,000 items in the collection, from Japanese engravings to 1970s romance novels.
Joy Neumeyer / For MT
A nude drawing from the collection. Other materials shown to our reporter are too explicit to show on our website.
Joy Neumeyer / For MT

One of the treasures of the ninth floor is series of drawings and watercolors by Mikhail Larionov, one of the leaders of the Russian avant-garde.
Wikicommons

Legend has it that Soviet henchmen used to come to the archive to peruse the pornographic collection.
Joy Neumeyer / For MT
Confiscated items were marked with special numbers but no one at the library knows what exactly they stand for.
Joy Neumeyer / For MT
The most recent additions to the collection date from the 1960s to 1980s, when material was confiscated at customs. This photo shows a shelf of books that were taken from their owners, including "Crash" by J. G. Ballard and Gore Vidal's "The City and the Pillar."
Joy Neumeyer / For MT