Monument to the Invisible Man - a monument that does not exist

2023 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-26 12:05

The Monument to the Invisible Man was installed in Yekaterinburg relatively recently, in 1999, and has already become one of the most memorable among other sights of the city.

This monument in honor of the protagonist of the novel by the English writer HG Wells "The Invisible Man", by the way, is the first and only (however, not quite like the only one, but more on that below) is located at the main entrance to the Regional Scientific library at the address: Yekaterinburg, Belinsky street, 15. The nearest metro station is Ploshchad 1905 Goda.

Looks like

This rather modest, at first glance, but very witty monument was dedicated to the festival of the literary provinces of Russia "Cultural Heroes of the 21st Century". The project was sponsored by the library director and Mark Gelman's Moscow Art Gallery of Modern Art.

The monument looks very simple - like a bronze flat square plate with two prints of bare feet. On top of the slab you can read the handwritten inscription: "The world's first monument to the Invisible Man, the hero of the short story" H. G. Wells ".

By the footprints, by the way, it is clear that they belong to different people, since one of them is 43rd, and the second is 41st. They actually belong to two different people: the author of the idea of the monument to the Russian writer Yevgeny Kasimov (left footprint) and the artist Alexander Shaburov, he is one of the members of the then-created Blue Noses art group. The latter created a sketch of the monument, found sponsors and immortalized his right foot.

"Why are the legs different sizes?" - ask the guests of the city who come to see. The writer and artist would probably answer like this:

A hero is a hero, but I also wanted to immortalize myself…

In winter, the plate with prints is covered with snow, and in summer it hides in the grass of the lawn, so you won’t notice it from afar. But this also makes sense. So the Invisible Man was hiding from everyone.

Idea

Evgeny Kasimov later explained that the monument was designed in just a week. And in fact, it is dedicated not so much to the protagonist of Wells' novel, but to one of the most important problems of our time - the "tragedy of loneliness and incomprehension" of man. No matter how paradoxical it may sound, nothing contributes to the disunity of people in our world as much as gadgets, the Internet and the "individualminks" - pages of social networks. The types of communication that are available to us via e-mail, instant messengers and Skype have completely destroyed the warm atmosphere of friendly meetings that was common before. Not to mention the epistolary tradition, it has practically disappeared in our time.

And here is what Nadezhda Tsypina, director of the Regional Scientific Library named after I. I. Belinsky:

We have less and less material left in our lives. We meet with friends much less often. We read real books much less often, we practically do not write real, good letters. And this monument, like never before, reflects the essence of our time.

This is how the creators of the monument interpreted this tragic and romantic hero of the English science fiction at the same time. The invisible man reflects, in their opinion, the essence of the global problem of our time.

Reviews

The monument to the hero of the book "The Invisible Man" in Yekaterinburg causes the most controversial reviews. It is understandable, it is very easy not to notice and pass by. And this view is not very consistent with our ideas about the monument in general. By the way, Yekaterinburg residents do not recommend visiting the monument in winter, when there is snow on the roads. City utilities do not have time to clean the streets, not to mention the stove. Therefore, at this time, which is quite likely, you simply will not find it, even if you look.

In general, the monument to the Invisible Man is witty andunusual. Such works of art are, of course, only a sign of the new time. Such "signs" have a right to exist, and they already have their place in the history of the city. However, there are also directly opposite, indignant reviews.

Well, everyone is en titled to their own opinion. Do you like this Invisible Man? If you are in Yekaterinburg - come and see.

And in St. Petersburg

"The Monument That Doesn't Exist" is yet another kind of Invisible Man. Actually, from the monument in the Northern capital there is only a pedestal and an inscription on it, which notifies that this is a monument to the Invisible Man. But this is already an unofficial monument, it was named so thanks to local jokers. Which almost repeated the creative technique of Yekaterinburg.

The fact is that at the end of the century before last, a monument to Alexander II was erected on this site. During the years of Soviet power, as usual, he was "overthrown." They say they threw it right into the nearby Fontanka. However, this is not entirely reliable. Later, here, on the same pedestal, a monument to Lenin appeared, which, which may seem incredible, one day simply disappeared. Where the location of this artifact is still unknown. Well, then it's simple: not wanting to spend money on a new statue, the city authorities simply went along with the local wits, who have already dubbed the empty pedestal the "Monument to the Invisible Man".

This miracle is located in the courtyard of the Psychoneurological Dispensary No. 7, at the address:St. Petersburg, Fontanka river embankment, 132. The nearest metro station is "Technological Institute".