Konstantin Skritutsky – sculptor and designer, author of many street sculptures in Kiev, including the complex on Landscape alley, sculptures of animals in Partizanskaya Glory Park (Darnitskaya landscape), the sculptural group “The bird that flew to the middle of the Dnieper” on Rusanovka, a cat made of disposable forks (the square near the Golden Gate metro station), the road of death (a concrete block with footprints, which symbolizes the road along which the Nazis drove the Jews to Babi Yar to be shot; stands at the intersection of Dorogozhitskaya and Melnikova streets), a monument to the Kiev tram in Taras Shevchenko Park and glades of foresters on 19 Milyutenko Street.
Monument to the intelligentsia Kingfisher
– This bird would be glad to fly to warmer climes, but it has taken root here so much that it cannot do it – it’s a shame … And in general, this image best of all symbolizes the Kyiv intelligentsia. By its nature, the kingfisher is a very bashful bird – it constantly hides its head under its wing, as if it is ashamed of everything that is happening around. With my work, I want to show that from the general callousness and inertia, the Kiev intelligentsia has become an endangered species, which it is time to put in the Red Book. But there is an intelligentsia, and it must actively manifest itself in all public affairs. This is a kind of friendly caricature that should make the intellectual think, – said the sculptor at the opening of the monument.
On the concrete pedestal, where the intellectual kingfisher stands, there is a sign with the inscription: “The intelligentsia is the guardian of the future.”
Monument to the intelligentsia Sparrow
– To the Owl-scientist, the wise Raven and the conscientious Kingfisher, the rebel Sparrow was also added. This bird is peaceful and calm, but in moments of danger and injustice, a threat to society – a rebel bird, a small urban revolutionary! Having escaped from the cage of authoritarianism, she fluttered free, – the sculptor explained the meaning of his creation. The inscription on the plaque attached to the pedestal of the monument reads: “The intelligentsia has dignity.”
Monument to the intelligentsia Raven
– The raven symbolizes the intelligentsia, which has power and knows how to manage it wisely. This raven is a special Kyiv intellectual who absorbed the wisdom of many generations and retained prudence and accuracy in assessing reality,” the sculptor said at the opening ceremony.
The sculpture, like all other works of the author in the park on Gonchar, is cast in bronze and stands on a concrete pedestal, on which is fixed a sign with the inscription: “The intelligentsia remembers the past.”
Monument to the intelligentsia Owl
The owl is a symbol of a Kyiv scientist and, of course, an intellectual. The owl has pince-nez on his chest (glasses without behind-the-ear temples, held on the nose by means of a spring clamping the bridge of the nose). On a concrete pedestal there is a sign with the inscription: “The intelligentsia educates the present.”
Where are the monuments of the Kyiv intelligentsia located?
Oles Gonchar street, 9 (Square of Kyiv intellectuals)
Piano in the bushes
Not only is this monument itself quite unusual, but in addition, the townspeople dubbed it a piano in the bushes. Although in fact, this white piano is a monument to the Polish composer Frederic Chopin and was installed in honor of the 200th anniversary of his birth. The monument is made in full size, and if you don’t know what it is, then you might think that someone threw a musical instrument just in the middle of the street. The snow-white piano is lined with small square tiles, and where the real instrument has strings, there is a flower bed with real flowers! The keys only seem real, but, unfortunately, this is only a very successful imitation.
The piano contains a secret that not everyone who passes by it or has heard of knows knows. It is designed in such a way that if you approach it and move your feet near the pedals, the motion sensors built into the monument will work and very, very quietly, the piano will start playing Chopin’s works.
Where is the Chopin monument located?
street Bogdan Khmelnitsky, 37
Hedgehog in the Fog or Horse
Many of us remember the old Soviet cartoon about a hedgehog who goes to his friend a bear to count the stars in the sky. He carries a jar of raspberry jam to their tea party. During his journey, he meets an owl, as well as a horse in the fog, to which he descends to find out if she will not drown in the fog if she goes to sleep, but gets into an unpleasant story, which, however, has a happy ending.
The sculptor decided to immortalize this character in the form of a wooden figurine. The hedgehog sits on a stump, and in its paws it holds a bundle of jam and waits for the appearance of its friend, a bear cub. You need to touch the hedgehog very carefully, because its needles are made of nails and screws that stick out with their sharp ends in different directions. The name of the monument “Hedgehog in the Fog” is folk, and its official name is “Horse”, in honor of the horse that the protagonist of the cartoon saw in the fog.
Where is the hedgehog in the fog located?
Taras Shevchenko park
Kyiv ballerina
The ceramic face of the ballerina is a little sad, thoughtful and beautiful. Hands are also made of ceramics. Hair – from red artificial threads, a skirt – from a net for construction. This sculpture has its own history. Initially, Skritutsky conceived a match sculpture at this place (the tree itself was perfect for this role – a regular, even trunk with almost no flaws), but one morning he found a note pinned to the trunk: “Please make a ballerina here. A well-deserved ballerina lives nearby, she will be very pleased. Thank you!”. The sculptor could not refuse such a request…
Where is the Kyiv ballerina located?
Streletskaya street, 10