In general, our country has always been famous for both a huge number of talents and the general non-standard of thinking. And therefore it is not at all surprising that over the past 10-15 years (when it became fashionable to install various art objects almost in front of each office, not like in front of large enterprises), in almost every Russian city many of the most unusual, sometimes strange , sometimes even amazement and drowsiness of monuments and sculptures.
Among them there are monuments to cartoon characters (for example, the wolf from the cartoon “Once upon a time”, which “I’ll sing right now!”, Personifies well-fed happiness in Tomsk; in Voronezh there is a monument to a kitten from Lizyukova Street; a crocodile Gena, Cheburashka and Shapoklyak with Kryisky Lariska delight residents of the Moscow region Ramensky, etc.).
Monuments of food are often found: in 2015, a sculpture standing tenderly in Moscow of tenderly embraced crows and foxes with Druzhba curd was removed for 10 years; in Mamonovo (Kaliningrad Region) there is a monument to a sprat bank; in Lukhovitsy - a monument to pickles; in Kursk - an apple, etc.
Just do not count the sculptures depicting people of various professions: builders, plumbers, janitors and even designers. In addition, in Russia you can find monuments to money: in Tomsk - “wooden” ruble, in Krasnoyarsk - 10-ruble note.
All these sculptures and monuments are very different, and some have (hmm ...) very dubious artistic value, but they are, and obviously more and more will appear in the near future.
And from all this diversity it is very difficult to choose the very best (in our case, the strangest, funniest or really ridiculous), but we still try.
So, let's get started?
10. Bald Monument to Peter I (St. Petersburg)
It is difficult to find a person in Russia who would not know who Peter I is. Of course, he is the great Russian reformer tsar who “cut a window to Europe”, etc., etc. And we are somehow used to the fact that the monuments to Peter are always magnificent, even pompous.
Therefore, when you see this interpretation of the image in front of you, you feel sincere bewilderment and even a slight shock - the bald Peter with a very small head on a large disproportionate body sits on the throne.
Yeah ... But the artist Mikhail Shemyakin, who “sees so”, claims that everything is true, and in general, they say, the face of the bronze Peter is his exact portrait, taken from a wax mask stored in the Hermitage. This "work" is located on the territory of the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg (established in 1991).
9. Monument to the caught lover (Tomsk)
And in Tomsk since 2001, you can admire the monument to her lover, caught "on the hot." Agree, before you saw the photo, a completely different image appeared in your head - a luxurious handsome man with a huge bouquet (well, maybe a little scared).
But no, the Tomsk lover is a fat uncle in family shorts hanging on the balcony of his beloved (yes, so to speak, a picture from life). Next is also a slightly mocking inscription: "Who was not - will be, who was - will not forget."
And, by the way, panties-sails are changed to the lover every year: he already wore bright red, and lurid multi-colored, and stylish "military" ...
At first, this sculpture was on the building of the Council of Trade Unions, but now (apparently, the mistress moved) settled on the wall of the Museum of History of Tomsk.
8. Monument to the mosquito (Noyabrsk)
There is an even more unusual sculpture in the city of Noyabrsk (Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug) - it is a huge (2.5 meters high) "cyberpunk" mosquito made of metal parts. This mosquito- "oil pump" appeared in 2006.
Why "oil pump"? Well, firstly, Noyabrsk is a city of oil and gas workers; and secondly, imagine what will happen to a person if such a "beast" sticks to him - she only needs to suck oil and, moreover, directly from the well.
And why do they put a monument to a mosquito? Those who lived in the North (or “just” in Siberia) are aware that here, in order to survive, one must contend with not only severe frosts for six months and almost the same long polar darkness, but also with a huge number of mosquitoes and midges, bothering you everywhere in the rest of the year.
7. Loving dogs (Krasnodar)
But in Krasnodar, thank God, there are no problems with blood-sucking insects, and indeed - it is warm and good here. And therefore, two bronze dogs walking arm-in-arm (under the paw) at the intersection of Krasnaya and Mira Streets have become the favorites of local residents since 2007.
These dogs are obviously very pleased with their lives. They are dressed up in costumes of the beginning of the 20th century, because they were created based on the playful short poem by V.V. Mayakovsky's “Dogs Wilderness”, dedicated to Krasnodar, where there are such lines: “Well this is not a dog Wilderness, but the dog’s capital.”
That's just, as one of the commentators of this sculpture on the Internet ironically remarked, hinting at very not bad “figures” of dogs, it seems that the sculptor generally usually casts bells, and this monument took up a side job.
6. Monument to Yoshkin the cat (Yoshkar-Ola)
Well, what kind of Russian people do not use at least sometimes a completely harmless curse "Yoshkin cat!"? Do you know that the inhabitants of Yoshkar-Ola abbreviated as their city "Yoshka"? That is why they once decided to make an urban symbol and a real travel brand out of Yoshkin Kot.
This most notorious cat now appears on many souvenirs, has a cafe named after himself, etc., and since June 2011 he personally “welcomes” local citizens and guests of the city, imposingly lounging on a bench (and raising one paw) next to the main building of Mariysky State University. And next to Yoshkin’s cat is the newspaper Naked Truth and the fish bones lying on it.
5. Monument to the central heating battery (Samara)
Eh. Mother Russia, to many you are good! But with good weather in our area for most of the year the situation is, frankly, not very. It is impossible to live without heating not only in Siberia, but also in much more favorable (in terms of climate) regions.
Here he, darling, - heating (or rather, we all know the battery-radiator) - and created a monument in the glorious city of Samara. Since 2005, at the entrance to the oldest Samara State District Power Plant in our country, a bronze cat lying on a window sill above the battery is warming up (by the way, the author chose a sketch for this sculpture from photographs of citizens sent to a contest specially announced for this occasion).
The monument was erected in honor of the 150th anniversary of the invention (in Russia, in St. Petersburg, in 1855) of the world's first heating battery.
4. "Chocolate Fairy" (Veil)
What is the city of Pokrov famous for in the Vladimir region? And the fact that there is a confectionery factory of the same name that produces very good chocolate.
And so, in 2009, on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the American company “Kraft foods” (which owns the Pokrov factory) in our country, the Chocolate Museum was opened in the city, and with it the first in the world (like assured in the press) a monument to chocolate.
As conceived by the author, this is not just an abstract chocolate bar, but a “chocolate fairy” in a magic cap that holds a small chocolate “Milka” that brings good luck (of course, it must be rubbed).
The idea was an idea, but in the end the “fairy” looks like (forgive me, God!) Some transvestite in heels, in a kind of body armor and a long half-open coat.
3. Permyak Salty Ears (Perm)
Another very unusual, but, in our opinion, much more attractive and witty monument is, as you might guess, in the city of Perm.
The fact is that once (in the XV-XVII centuries) the vicinity of Perm was famous for its salt industries. Workers carried heavy bags of extracted salt on their backs, and therefore their heads (and especially their ears) were always well “salted”. Hence the inoffensive nickname Permyak Salty Ears.
A bronze frame with huge ears (which anyone can try on) and a bronze photographer opposite it appeared on Komsomolsky Prospekt at the Prikamye Hotel in 2006.
And since then, a selfie with these “ears” has been a favorite pastime for both Perm residents and, of course, city guests.
2. Monument to the enema (Zheleznovodsk)
Why is there some kind of mosquito, battery or ears: in the city of Zheleznovodsk a monument was even erected for a medical enema! (Here he is definitely the only one in the world!)
The three little cheerful angels that hold this gigantic “instrument”, in the idea of the author of this sculpture, symbolize, so to speak, the trinity of “forces” that are involved in the cure of the disease: the patient himself, the nurse and, in fact, the medical equipment.
This bright idea - to perpetuate an enema in bronze, occurred to the former head physician of the Mashuk-Akvaterm sanatorium. Well, what is it? Indeed, thousands of enemas are given to patients of the Cavminvod daily!
And since 2008 we can see this "work of art". (Oh Lord! How can I stop laughing? Enema and cherubim ... Yes, even with philosophical overtones!)
1. Monument "horse with eggs" (Voronezh)
And finally, the unconditional “masterpiece” and the unconditional winner of the “dozen” are the monumental “Horse with Eggs”, which appeared in 2007 near the private hotel “Yar” on the Don highway, not far from Voronezh.
Locals call this heavy horse Yaryzh, and they have repeatedly begged the administration of the hotel and the city to remove it, away from sin.
No, well, you yourself look at this monster: height is 3.5 meters, weight - more than three tons; instead of a normal horse tail - a short stump (like a bulldog); the fact that this is a horse, and not some mare, is immediately evident in the huge, carefully executed genitals (hmm ... by the way, more like human than horse).
Yeah ... Freud would have fainted with delight at the sight of such a vivid illustration of his theory.
And to top it all - a horse-fire somewhere tore the rail and chews it! Apparently, these sculptors Dikunov wanted to emphasize the power of an outlandish animal. (Wipe the tears of hysteria ...)