If you love to travel, at least in Ukraine, you probably take pictures near architectural monuments, sculptures and other decorations, which are somehow related to the location which you are visiting. This is not surprising, because these things more or less reflect the history of the land, tell about its past and do not allow to forget it in the future. But sometimes even the residents of our Uzhgorod are unaware of figures or sculptures that adorn the central parks and streets. So we decided to collect the monuments, memorials and sculptures together and arrange a tour. This guide will be useful for tourists.
Let’s start with the bronze monument to Taras Shevchenko, which was set on Narodna Square in the regional center in March 1999.
Its sculptor is M. Mykhailyuk. There was a time, when they wanted to move the monument on Franko street, and instead build a National Bank office there. Fortunately, it did not happen.
A little further there is the fountain "A Girl with a Dove", which is set in front of the Main Department of Statistics in the Transcarpathian region, in the former Czechoslovak administrative center (Hoida St., 11). This sculpture was made by already mentioned M.Mykhailyuk. His model, by the way, was an Uzhgorod student and later an artist Mariana Fantych. Few people notice that the dove, which once was in the girl’s hand, is gone. It was stolen. The fountain is over 20 years old, and a year or two ago it was restored for the patrons’ money, but the bird never returned.
We are heading towards the city center, Nezalezhnist embankment, through the recently renovated park to the bust of Tomas Masaryk, the President of the Czechoslovak Republic, which the Subcarpathian Rus (present Transcarpathia) was a part of in 1920-1939. His bust in bronze was set in 2002. But this monument has its own background, because it had been in Uzhgorod even before that. In 1938, the Hungarians dismantled it and moved to the Slovak town of Michalovce and then to Bratislava. In 1945, the Germans took the bronze Masaryk to the city of Pasau. After the war, the monument returned to the Czech Republic. But Communists did not like it, so the bust was again dismantled. Citizens kept it and returned to the podium only in 1968. As "a participant of the anticommunistic rebellion", the monument was punished by melting. It was only in 2002, when they set a new bust of the president in the park near the large vehicle bridge in Uzhgorod.
On the other side, inside the park, where an arch with the words "Rotary Park" appeared this year, there is the monument to Transcarpathians – liquidators of the Chernobyl disaster, which depicts the figure of a naked man. Its author is V. Olashyn.
We are heading along Nezalezhnist embankment towards Teatralna Square. It is hard not to notice the bronze statue of the president of Carpatho-Ukraine Augustin Voloshin, which appeared there in 2003. It was created by sculptor M.Mykhailyuk, but some say it was V.Olashyn. The inscription on the monument refutes it.
In Uzhgorod, they have found a place for the bust of Russian poet Alexander Pushkin. It was installed in 1979 on the square named after him, near A. Voloshin. The authors of the marble bust are M.Popovich and K.Lozovy. This year, in the social network "Facebook" they published a frightening news that the bust will be demolished, but fortunately, it is still there, and the information about its demolition was just a joke.
Opposite Pushkin, there is the architectural monument of 1934-1936, where the Transcarpathian office of the National Bank of Ukraine is located. There are 4 sculptures on the building.
And if you turn to Dovzhenko street, you will see two more sculptures above the entrance to the Office of the Security Service of Ukraine in Transcarpathian region.
Equally attractive sculptures can be seen on the building of Narodna square (near the RSA building).
Returning to Nezalezhnist embankment, a little down the road, near the "call office", in the high grass there is the monument "Earth" by sculptor M.Mykhailyuk and architect V.Lezu. It has been standing there since 1987. It’s a pity that it is hidden, because it is a nice work of monumental art…
In 2012, the monument to famous Hungarian artist of Transcarpathian origin Ignatius Roshkovych appeared on Teatralna Square. The sculptor is M.Kolodko.
The family of Roshkovych was one of the most famous in Uzhgorod in late nineteenth – early twentieth centuries. In the 20s of the last century, they even named the most popular Uzhgorod embankment after him – now it’s called Nezalezhnist
The next monument, you can be see if you cross Teatralna square, is the marble bust of Transcarpathian writer, church leader Yevhen Fentsyk. It was installed in 1926, near the Regional Philharmonics, in the park named after him. The sculptor is O.Mondych-Shynali.
Few people know that it is the second oldest park monument in our city. It once escaped the tragic fate that befell many other monuments during the time of the Soviet totalitarian system.
But this summer, it has already suffered at the hands of today’s vandals: someone stained it with black paint. Now it has been brought into order.
If you go further towards Korzo street, at the intersection with Voloshin street you will see the Lamplighter on the wall, which was established in 2010 by M.Kolodko. The monument is dedicated to a real person, Uncle Kolya, who for 40 years was lighting old Uzhgorod electric lamps. This monument is a tourist attraction. Uncle Kolya at work. He is well remembered as an intelligent and well-read man. That is why, next to the ladder sculptor M.Kolodko put a briefcase of books that the lamplighter was always carrying with him.
Let’s also visit a popular with young people rock garden near Zhupanatska square in the city center. There, you will see bronze founders of Transcarpathian school of painting Yosyp Bokshay and Adalbert Erdelyi.
The monument to the painters was established in 1992 by sculptor M.Oliynyk. Last year, someone damaged Erdelyi’s neck with a saw and painted Bokshay’s back with a marker. Therefore, in December last year, the monument was restored by Transcarpathian sculptors Bogdan Korzh and Vasyl Roman.
From here we go to once the central building of UzhDU and now the chemistry department of UzhNU on Fedynets street. October 3, 1909, the monument to Doiko Gabor (1769-1796) – famous Hungarian poet, who taught in Uzhgorod school – was opened in its backyard. The sculpture was made by Uzhgorod artist Edmund Samovolsky. In 1945, when the school building was transferred to UzhDU, the bust of the poet was removed and the bust of Lenin was installed in its place. The sculpture was delivered to the Transcarpathian Museum. It was only in 1994, when the monument was restored and returned to its place.
Near the regional prosecutor’s office on Kotsiubynsky street, we can see two memorials – the memorial cross in honor of 2000 years of Christmas,
and the monument to prosecutors by sculptor M.Belen.
At the opening of the latter in 2011, the sculptor said: "This sculpture contains Slavic world, and its symbol is a lime leaf. Here you can find symbolic signs – the first image of a bird man, and the first image of the Trident."
On Pravoslavna embankment you can see the monument "The Grieving Mother". It is set in memory of Transcarpathians soldiers who died serving as peacekeepers. The sculptor is V.Olashyn.
A little further, there is the monument to fallen police officers of Transcarpathian region.The author is M.Belen.
Be sure to go to the Regional Music and Drama Theater. The bronze monument to Oleksandr Dukhnovich stands there.
Its author is also M.Belen. The monument to the Greek Catholic priest, writer and teacher was set in 1998 on Kyiv embankment in front of the Drama Theatre.
Nearby, on S.Petofi Sq., in the eponymous park, there is the bronze statue of the Hungarian poet, publicist and public figure Sandor Petofi. It was set in 1990. The author is F.Beni.
This sculpture has repeatedly suffered from vandals. For example, in 2011, they poured white paint on it, later broke the fence.
If you go towards Svoboda Avenue, after a 15 minutes walk you will come to the sports center "Yunist", where there is a neglected sculpture of a girl as tall as a man.
They say the sculpture used to stand in front of the sports complex. We tried to find out the year of its manufacture and the author, but because of bushes and grass around it we were unable to.
Across the street, at the hotel "Intourist Zakarpattya", there are two sculptures. The first one is the monument to Transcarpathian volunteers who died in the Second World War. The author is I.Brovdiy, it was set in 2001
The second one is a popular among tourists sculpture, located in front of the hotel entrance – a bear with wings, which holds the Earth with its paw.
This sculpture was created in 2007 by sculptors M.Kolodko, I.Tsubyna and O.Yelezarov, but the last two are rarely mentioned.
Walking down Mynaiska street, where tourists rarely go, near the bus stop (opposite the supermarket) you can see a "hidden" sculpture, created back in Soviet times. If you come closer, you can read the inscription: "This monument has been set to commemorate the friendship of the Soviet and Czechoslovak builders united by common creative work." It appeared back in 1987, its sculptor is V.Olashyn.
These are not all monuments and sculptures in the regional center. Only in the yard of the Transcarpathian museum (Uzhgorod Castle), there are three of them – Hercules (by V.Kinne)
Hermes and
Turul.
There is also a "hidden" one at the main building of UzhNU (next to the newly established library).
On the Ukrainian-Slovak border, there is a monument "Ukraine – to liberators", which symbolizes the final expulsion of the German invaders from our country.
Another sculpture for decades has been standing in the "Uzhgorod" gallery, it was made by already mentioned sculptor M.Mykhailyuk.
Another statue by M. Masnyuk recently has "settled" in the modernist "Ilko Gallery".
Also, in Uzhgorod there are about a dozen of mini-sculptures by Mykhailo Kolodko. But that’s another story …
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