Russia is more than happy to put up monuments to important people from all over the world, and so, a few sons of America enjoy this honor. Who are they?
A monument to the King of Pop was erected in 2011 in the Ural region city of Yekaterinburg. The sculpture repeats Jackson’s emblematic pose from the video for his song “Black or White”. The monument was put up on the initiative of the singer’s local fan-club, which also paid for it. The author of the sculpture is Victor Mosielev.
Walt Whitman
Pictured L-R: Former Moscow mayor, Yury Luzhkov, Moscow State University Rector Viktor Sadovnichy, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during the ceremony of unveiling a monument to the American poet Walt Whitman. Akamar_87 (CC BY-SA 4.0); Ruslan Krivobok
A bronze monument on a granite pedestal in honor of this great 20th century American poet was installed on the campus of Moscow University in 2009. The grand ceremony was attended by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The sculpture was a return gift from the mayor’s office in Washington, D.C., after Moscow authorities had presented the U.S. capital with a monument to the poet Alexander Pushkin. (By the way, Whitman is called the ‘American Pushkin’ in Russia.) The authors of both monuments are architect Mikhail Posokhin and sculptor Alexander Burganov.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
A monument to Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill in Sochi. Oleg Kotlyarenko/Sputnik
This monument in the southern city of Sochi is dedicated to the 1943 Tehran Conference, the first meeting of the leaders of the anti-Hitler coalition – Soviet General Secretary Joseph Stalin, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt. The monument, installed in 2008, repeats the composition of the famous photo from the conference. The inscription on the pedestal reads “Dedicated to the cooperation of the Great Powers”. The author of the work is Israeli sculptor Frank Maisler.
A monument to Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin in Livadia, Yalta
K.Lavrentyeva and O.Lapina (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Another monument to the “Big Three” is installed in the Crimean city of Yalta and is dedicated to the fateful Yalta Conference of 1945. The monument by Zurab Tsereteli was unveiled in 2015 in a square near the Livadia Palace, where this meeting of the Allies took place. The sculptural composition also repeats the photo from the Yalta Conference.
Yul Brynner
A monument to Yul Brynner in Vladivostok. AlexNIKKOR (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The monument to the famous American actor was erected in Vladivostok not by accident. Brynner was born here in the family of a local merchant, an immigrant from Switzerland. However, Brynner left Russia at a rather young age and never returned – he moved to Paris and then to the U.S., where he became a star in movies and Broadway musicals. The monument replicates Brynner’s iconic pose from the movie The King and I, for the role in which he was awarded an Oscar. The sculpture was unveiled in 2012 near the house where he was born. His son, actor and producer Rock Brynner, attended the ceremony.
Michael Jackson
A monument to Michael Jackson in Yekaterinburg (Wainer str.) Yakov Glinsky/Sputnik
A monument to the King of Pop was erected in 2011 in the Ural region city of Yekaterinburg. The sculpture repeats Jackson’s emblematic pose from the video for his song “Black or White”. The monument was put up on the initiative of the singer’s local fan-club, which also paid for it. The author of the sculpture is Victor Mosielev.
By Alexandra Guzeva