Statue of Mariskal Zukov

The monument to Marshal Zhukov on Manezhnaya Square is a rare sculpture, in general, which, due to its location, has become one of the most famous places in Moscow. The monument was presented on May 8, 1995, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War.

Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov – Illustrious Soviet commander, Marshal of the Soviet Union. Four times Hero of the Soviet Union, holder of two orders of Victoria and several other Soviet and foreign awards. During the Great Patriotic War, he held successively posts of the Chief of the General Staff to the Deputy Supreme Commander, after the war he held the positions of Commander in Chief of the Army, Commander of the Ural and Odessa Military Districts, Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR and Minister of Defense of the USSR. After Nikita Khrushchev came to power, he was expelled from the Central Committee of the CPSU and dismissed due to “political insolvency” and “violation of the Leninist principles of the Armed Forces leadership party.” Anyway, for his services during the Great Patriotic War, Zhukov received the national nickname “

The monument represents Zhukov in one of the most solemn moments of his life when the commander organized the Victory Parade of 1945. Riding a horse, flying German flags and a stylized eagle from the Third Reich coat of arms, which stands on stirrups, the marshal greets his comrades in arms. The sculptor tried to convey the image of the commander, who, ignoring German standards, took Victoria to the walls of the Moscow Kremlin. The sculpture is mounted on a massive granite pedestal, the total weight of the monument reaches 100 tons.

• Among other things, the composition evokes associations with George the Victorious, defeating the snake.
• the authors of the monument: the sculptor Vyacheslav Klykov and the architect Yuri Grigoryev.

The history of the installation of the monument.

It is interesting that it was planned to erect a monument to Zhukov in the Soviet years: the USSR Ministry of Culture organized a contest to erect a monument in Smolenskaya Square, then the installation option in Manezhnaya Square was discussed, and the idea was extinguished

They decided to return to the discussion after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1993. Initially, a monument was designed to be erected by Vyacheslav Klykov in front of the Historical Museum building on the Red Square; According to the sculptor, this was the only suitable place for a personality monument of this magnitude, however, it suddenly turned out that the Red Square is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

• As a result, the monument was erected on the other side of the Historical Museum, in Manezhnaya Square; According to the author, the place was chosen without success.
• Subsequently, the sculpture was criticized more than once for unfortunate proportions, the lack of naturalness of the image of the physiological characteristics of the horse, the general inexpressivity and the inexpressivity of the decision.
• The monument to Marshal Zhukov is located in Manezhnaya Square, just in front of the Historical Museum. You can walk from the Okhotny Ryad metro stations on the Sokolnicheskaya and Teatralnaya line of Zamoskvoretskaya.

Characteristics

In the center of Moscow, on Manezhnaya Square, next to the Alexander Garden and the Kremlin, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War, a monumental sculpture was opened to the great commander G.K. Zhukov Authorship belongs to the sculptor Vyacheslav fang. architectural and artistic solution – Yuri Grigoriev.

The commander monument was supposed to take its rightful place in the Red Square. But, being an object of cultural heritage on the UNESCO list, the central metropolitan area cannot be “changed or complemented.” The decision to install an equestrian statue in Manezhnaya Square was approved, from the north facade of the Historical Museum.

A monumental bronze sculpture on a heavy granite pedestal made in the spirit of socialist realism. The weight of the monument of five meters – approximately 100 tons. At the base of the picture in reliev Georgy Zhukov on the horse. Pulling the reins, rising on the stirrups, the marshal greets his comrades with a gesture of his right hand. Under the horses’ hooves – flags of Nazi Germany defeated. The sculptor’s creative idea – they portray solemn episode victory parade episode in June 1945.

The monument has been the subject of multiple criticisms due to its “inexpressivity”, bad location and “retraction” (the huge museum building obscures the sculpture), a strange and reassuring that prohibits the gesture of the marshal, the march of the horse, the lack of night and night lighting. But the monument – from the word “memory”, and the symbol of victory in bronze, another example of historical heritage for posterity. George is placed.

It was planned to install the monument to Marshal Georgy Zhukov in Moscow in the late 1980s. According to the results of the competition, Victor Dumanyan (the author of the monument to the commander in his homeland, in the village of Strelkovka, Kaluga region) He would become his architect, but in 1992 the work on this project was reduced.

In 1993, the new authors of the monument were the sculptor, awarded the State Prize of the RSFSR Vyacheslav Klykov and the architect Yuri Grigoryev. The work on the sculpture Fangs was completed in December 1994.

after the soviet union

On January 27, 1994, in the Leningrad region, Russian President Boris Yeltsin, in a meeting with the blockade and participants in the battle for Leningrad, announced that the decision had been made to erect a monument to Georgy Zhukov on horseback in the Red Square. However, this proved to be difficult, since the main square of the capital is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List and any change in it can only be carried out with the agreement of this organization. On May 9, 1994, the head of state, Boris Yeltsin, signed the Decree “On the construction of the monument to GK Zhukov” and ordered to allocate funds for its installation of the federal budget (the total cost of the monument was 4 billion unnamed rubles).

On September 8, 1994, Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin signed a decree on the placement of the monument at the Victory Memorial Complex on Poklonnaya Hill. But already on January 21, 1995, a new resolution of the Prime Minister adopted a final decision on its installation in Manezhnaya Square in front of the Historical Museum.

The monument is a bronze statue of 6 meters on a granite pedestal (the total weight of the monument is 100 tons). Marshal Zhukov is represented on a horse during the adoption of the Victory Parade on June 24, 1945 in the Red Square. The commander’s horse steps on the helmets of the banners of Nazi Germany. On the pedestal of the monument there is an image of St. George the Victorious.

Immediately after the opening, the monument became the object of criticism. In 1995, Yevgeny Sidorov, who held the position of Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation, observed the unnatural pose of a sculpted horse. The sculptor Zurab Tsereteli declared that “the fangs are a very talented person, but in this case it did not work.” Klykov himself was not happy with the placement of the monument in Manezhnaya Square, calling it “illiterate” and referring to the fact that the shadow of the Historical Museum falls on the monument for most of the day. At one time, he turned to the mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov, with a request to erect a monument on the Red Square, believing that all other possible installation sites would become a “mockery of the hero’s memory”. The eldest daughter of the commander, Margarita, insisted on the same accommodation option.

Address:

Zhukov Monument – Moscow, Manège Square

Metro station:

Okhotny Ryad