The tallest sculpture in Russia is the center of a large-scale architectural composition dedicated to the heroic warriors of the Battle of Stalingrad. This is the Motherland Calls monument erected on Mamaev Kurgan near Volgograd.
Main parameters of the sculpture
The tallest sculpture in Russia is a figure of a woman who is rapidly moving forward and calling all her sons behind her. The height of the statue, standing on a sixteen-meter foundation, is fifty-two meters. The mother woman holds a sword in her right hand.
It is thirty-three meters long. The weight of the sword is fourteen tons. The total height of the sculpture is eighty-five meters.
Such parameters testify to the uniqueness and scale of the main monument of the complex. The total weight of the statue is eight thousand tons.
The team involved in the creation of the project
The figure of a woman is a modern interpretation of the image of the goddess of victory - ancient Nike. She calls on her daughters and sons not only to give a decisive rebuff to the enemy, but also to go on the offensive.
The construction of the memorial complex was of great importance for the whole country. The government did not limit the best creative forces involved in the work either in materials or in means. Project manager and chief sculptor - Evgeny Viktorovich Vuchetich. His assistants were the architects Demin and Belopolsky. The sculptors Novikov, Matrosov and Tyurenkov also took part in the project. All of them were awarded the Lenin Prize upon completion of construction. Vuchetich, in addition, became a Hero of Socialist Labor. He was awarded the Gold Star.
The engineering team that worked during the construction of the monument was led by I. V. Nikitin. Subsequently, he created the Ostankino tower. The project also had its own military consultant. They became Marshal V. I. Chuikov. During the war, this commander commanded the army that defended Mamaev Kurgan. Later, he was honored to be buried at the memorial next to the fallen soldiers.
Construction
The Motherland Calls monument was erected on 1967-15-10. At the same time, the construction lasted from May 1959. At that time, it was the tallest sculpture in the world, so information about it was included in the Guinness Book of Records.
The monument is made of prestressed reinforced concrete blocks. For their manufacture, it took two thousand four hundred tons of metal structures. At the same time, five thousand five hundred tons of concrete were used. And this is without the base on which the statue is installed.
The tallest sculpture inRussia stands on a slab that is only two meters high. This foundation, in turn, rests on a foundation hidden underground.
The thickness of the walls of the sculpture, made of reinforced concrete, is relatively small. It is twenty-five to thirty centimeters. The rigidity of the huge frame is provided by ninety-nine stretched metal cables. They are inside the sculpture.
Restoration work
In the original version, the sword held by the statue was made of stainless steel. Outside, it was sheathed with titanium sheets. However, in strong winds, the sword swayed. Steel sheets rattled. And so in 1972 the blade was replaced with one made entirely of fluorinated steel. In the same period, they also got rid of problems with winds by placing blinds on top of the sword.
The tallest sculpture in Russia, which is the main monument of the monument-ensemble in Volgograd, has been restored twice in its entire history. This happened for the first time in 1972. Then the blade of the sword was replaced. The statue's hydrophobic coating was restored in 1986.
Significance of sculpture
Monument "The Motherland Calls" E. V. Vuchetich has an amazing property. It produces a certain psychological impact on each viewer. How the author achieved this, each of us can only guess. Those critical remarks that sounded against the creation (in which it was compared with the Marseillaise on the Parisian Arc de Triomphe), this phenomenon is not explained. The sculptor personally experienced the most cruel in humanwar history. His work has become a tribute to the memory of all the fallen and an eternal reminder to the living. It was the great skill of the sculptor that made it possible to create this majestic monument.
History of monumental art
The entire period of our country's existence is rich in various events. They are reflected by the monumental sculptures of Russia. Many of them were conceived and staged, destroyed and revived again. All existing monuments are a huge cultural layer of the country.
An interesting sculpture of classicism in Russia. This style of European art dominated the 17th and 19th centuries. Those sculptures that were created during this period are characterized by harmony and clarity of images, strict organization, and balance.
Thus, the city of Yekaterinoslav in 1846 decorated a monument depicting Empress Catherine II. Performed in the period from 1782 to 1788 in Germany, it was in the family possessions of the Goncharovs for a long time.
Very interesting is the history of the monuments of St. Petersburg during the periods of classicism. For example, the colossal portrait bust of Alexander I was modeled by I. P. Martos and carved from marble by B. I. Orlovsky. In 1822, this bust became one of the first imperial monuments in the interior of the Exchange, located on Vasilyevsky Island. It is worth saying that Martos gained true fame thanks to the monument he created, installed in Moscow. This is a monumental sculpture to Minin and Pozharsky (1818). It reflected the pathos that was characteristic of the Russian people during the invasion of Napoleon.
To this day, St. Petersburg is decorated with a monument to I. A. Krylov, who appeared in 1855. The style of classicism found its most perfect expression in another monumental work. She became a monument to Suvorov sculptor M. Kozlovsky. The author depicted the commander with a shield and a sword in his hands. At the same time, the figure of Suvorov froze in an impetuous movement. All sculpture is designed to synthesize the idea of triumph and citizenship. The monument erected on Suvorovskaya Square is one of the most popular.
The sculpture of the Silver Age in Russia was created by the young generation of craftsmen. They stopped adhering to classicism and looked for new forms of images of their heroes. The monumentality of the sculptures of this period became less significant. The most prominent work of this period is the monument to the poet Pushkin, which was erected in Pushkin. Among the significant monumental sculptures of the Silver Age is the monument to Alexander III. The sculptor P. Trubetskoy, who created it, managed to embody the image of the Tsar in an unusually expressive and sharp form.
Soviet period
With the coming to power of the Bolsheviks, sculptures began to have special requirements. First of all, they had to be popular. In this regard, the workers of the village and the city, military personnel and representatives of the Soviet intelligentsia became the images for creating sculptures. The monument was supposed to have an ideological meaning and show the peaceful life of the people, as well as their heroic deeds. Important in sculpturesThere was also a specificity factor. The image was supposed to indicate a process in historical development, which corresponded to the materialistic understanding of history.
The most significant monuments of the Soviet era
What is the tallest sculpture in Russia after the Motherland Calls statue? This is a memorial erected in Murmansk. It is dedicated to the defenders of the Arctic from the Nazi invaders. The memorial was opened in 1974. Its authors are the sculptor Brodsky and the architect Pokrovsky. The height of the memorial sculpture itself is 35.5 meters. The monument with a pedestal rises to 45.5 m.
The third place in the list of the tallest statues belongs to the monument to Lenin, erected in Volgograd. Its height with a pedestal is 57 m.
Known throughout the world and the monument "Worker and Collective Farm Girl". This sculpture has become a symbol of the Soviet era. The author of the twenty-five-meter composition is Vera Mukhina.
