Giant statue of Orthodox prince stirs controversy in Moscow

Scaffolding surrounds the vast clay sculpture-in-progress inside a warehouse on Moscow’s outskirts. But the statue of Vladimir the Great has already caused an outcry as big as the monument itself. The 24-metre-high likeness of the man who brought Christianity to Kievan Rus — the forerunner of modern Russia and Ukraine — is set to tower over the capital, the latest potent symbol in a surge of patriotism taking hold in Russia. Prince Vladimir is revered as a saint by the Russian Orthodox Church and a hero by others, including the noted sculptor of the work, Salavat Shcherbakov. But not all Moscow agrees.

Vladimir is our founding father. He’s a figure whom the people, the country, can rely on. And he is important right now.

Sculptor Salavat Shcherbakov

In a flurry of public anger, more than 59,000 people joined an online petition against the planned location, one of the city’s best-loved viewpoints high above Moscow’s centre. Several thousand students and staff at the nearby Moscow State University also signed an open letter to President Vladimir Putin opposing the statue. Opponents say Vladimir the Great has no historic links to Moscow, which did not exist at the time.

It outrages all sorts of different people. In recent years in Moscow, I can’t remember another example of so many people signing a petition and writing letters.

Local councillor and anti-statue campaigner Yelena Rusakova

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