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Kavaleridze, Balavensky, Snitkin and Rynkov have set a monument to Queen Olga, the Saint.
On the pedestal of red granite, in the centre a sculpture of the queen could be found. To the left, on a podium, one could find “pointing at the saint Kiev hills” Saint Andrew; to the right, on another podium, “educators of all Slavic nations” Kyrylo and Methody sculptures were. Under the queen was a notice which said: “This is the first Russian man/woman who went to heavens, thus she is regarded as the head of all Russians Present of the Emperor to Kiev. Summer 1911 AD”. Indeed, part of the costs was given to charity personally by Emperor Nykolay II. The monument was opened on 4th September 1911. The celebration was fairly poor, because at the same time in one of Kiev hospitals the most popular and adorable politician ever in the history of the Russian Empire – Stolypin – was under threat of death. Among the most important events during the visit to Kiev of the Emperor and the cabinet of Ministers in summer 1911, there also was Alexander II monument on Tsar square opening ceremony. But little, who know that yet in May 1905 the City Council were discussing the future Alexander II monument location, and Mykhailivska (Saint Michael) square was chosen. In October 1905 the sentence was overlooked, and the monument was moved to Tsar square, where it was opened in summer 1911 personally by Nicolay II and it stood there until the early Soviet rule. In May 1909, contemporary Saint Olga monument place was given to “Shevchenko Committee” in order to install there Shevchenko monument. Yet in 1909 Ministry of Inner Affairs permitted collection of money needed for the monument. As soon as possible 177 thousand rubles were collected. Nevertheless, four international competitions didn’t decide on the winner-project. Governor of Kiev Trepov was offered to build on that spot a monument “to Russian activist” – to Saint Olga. City mayor Diakov insisted on the fact that “a man must give up the place to a lady”. On 9th March 1911 Military Historical Society transferred the costs from Saint-Petersburg account to Kiev account in order to erect the monument there. Even though Shevchenko monument gathered much money, it was moved to Karavaivska (nowadays – Tolstoy) square. In August 1909 the start of the building process was blessed. A competition was announced. First winner project, made by Balavensky, was given up, however, Balavensky became a coauthor of Kavaleridze final winner-project. Fantastic monument lived a short life. Due to revenge of the local community for that the monument took the place of Shevchenko, the monument became so infamous that in 1919 the sculpture of the queen was pulled off among the first just after the setting of the Soviet rule. In March 1923 saints were also destroyed. In 1926 the monument was completely demolished, and there became a small garden on that spot. The monument was then rebuilt in 1996, after digging out the statue of the Queen from under the road roundabout, where it was crashed and buried in 1919. |