Surprisingly, only in 2015 did the great Siberian river Lena find its own monument. The snow-white beauty adorned the embankment of the city of Olekminsk in Yakutia and immediately became the main tourist attraction. Connoisseurs of beauty will be interested to know why the monument to the Lena River appeared here and now, how the idea of creation was born and who is the author of a wonderful project.
The story of the creation of the beautiful Lena: why Olekminsk?
The city of Olekminsk was founded in 1635 by the Russian explorer of Siberia, Peter Ivanovich Beketov. At first it was a small fortress in the swampy mouth of the Olekma River, and a little later the prison was moved 12 km higher to the left bank of the Lena River.
In 2015, the city was preparing to celebrate its 380th anniversary and the culture department decided how to ennoble the embankment for the anniversary. The proposals were not original, for example, a stele with the inscription: "Olekminsk is 380 years old" and other battered stamps.
During the discussion, someone remembered the contest of children's drawings "My Yakutia" and the work of fifth-grader Vali Fedorova. It was a pencil portrait of a beautiful young girl with curly hair, which was offered to the sculptor as a sketch for the future monument. So the idea was born of creating a monument to the Lena River in Yakutia and an unusual image for its embodiment.
Why a girl, not a grandmother?
As old-timers say, traditionally in Yakut folklore the image of the Lena River is associated with an elderly woman. By the way, they did not forget to mention this after the opening of the monument during the discussion on the Internet.
The project organizers in no way tried to offend the feelings of admirers of traditions, but explained everything simply. The source of Lena is a brook flowing out of a small swamp 10 km west of Lake Baikal. Metaphorically, he can be seen as a little girl. In the lower reaches, on the contrary, the width of the Lena reaches 30 km, the places there are severe and deaf, which is quite suitable for the definition of a woman of age. And Olekminsk is located just in the middle, that is, the monument to the Lena River should be a girl in the prime of life. However, it is not enough to see the beautiful; one must be able to realize it.
The author of the beautiful Lena
A wonderful idea was implemented by a young talented sculptor Nikolai Nikitich Chochchasov, grandson of Anisim Prokopiev, a famous master of applied arts, a participant in the Second World War, paramedic and warrior, a member of the Union of Artists of the USSR.
Nikolai was born in 1978, studied in Yakutsk. He grew up among creative people, early began to draw, graduated from art school, and then the Repin Institute.
Unlike many modern sculptors who preferred conceptual art, Nikolai Chochchasov remained faithful to realism. One of his remarkable works is the sculpture “Girl with a Dog”, installed on the square of Yakutsk Airport in 2014. The creation of the monument was preceded by a tragic story with an incredible end, when a 4-year-old girl was lost in the Yakut taiga. On the 10th day, her barely alive puppy returned home, a day later, the rescuers miraculously found Karina Chikitova, a severely exhausted survivor. The work of a talented sculptor symbolizes the dedication of the dog and the true vitality of the little girl.
In 2015, Nikolai Chochchasov was to implement the project of a monument to the Lena River. The master began to work in July, and on September 15, residents of Olekminsk and visitors to the city saw a striking sculpture of a young woman with her hair loose in clothes flowing like water from a river.
Meet Beauty Lena
The author’s creation is a wonderful combination of a classical school and northern culture.
The snow-white sculpture is made of high-strength concrete, which withstands t from - 60 to +60 ° . The height of the monument is 2.7 m, the width is 3.5 m, the weight of the monument is 2.5 tons.
The Lena River Monument immediately sparked heated discussions on the Internet. People, admired by the incredible beauty of the monument and the realism of artistic performance, sent thanks to the organizers of the project. Someone even saw in the image of a young woman a rare harmony of power and tenderness, personifying not only Lena, but all of Russia.
There were some Puritan remarks: the girl’s nudity allegedly visible through her clothes seems excessive. In any case, the expertly embodied idea is doomed to success, because it did not leave anyone indifferent.
After a while, messages appeared on the Web about the desecration of the Lena River monument in Yakutia, photos of acts of vandalism were attached. The first fact turned out to be the black PR of one blogger who painted the monument with the help of Photoshop. The second case, unfortunately, took place: on the night of November 3–4, 2015, unknown persons broke off the statue’s arm. The incident was taken under the control of the investigating authorities, and Nikolay Chochchasov was engaged in the restoration of the monument.