Solovki might get 100 meter high statue of Christ
The famous Russian architect and sculpturer Zurab Tseritelli says he is working with a 100 meter high statue of Christ, which he hopes to see erected in the islands of Solovki in the White Sea.
Mr. Tsereteli, the man behind a number of monumental architectural works in Russia, says in an interview with RIA Novosti that the statue will commemorate the victims of the Stalin-era work camps in Russia. Solovki, a vital Russian Orthodox church centre in the Russian North, was in the 1930s was the site for a cruel work camp. The Solovki statue is to be 33 meter high and built on a 60 meter high fundament. Drafts of the statue are to be made available to the public in the near future, RIA Novosti reports. Architect Tseriteli says he himself has a personal relation with the Stalin repression of the 1930s as his grandfather was killed by Stalins feared NKVD. It remains a question however, how the Russian Orthodox Church will react on the statue plans. Over the last years. the church has strengthened its grip over the islands and might not be all that happy about Mr. Tsereteli’s Christ art next to its centuries old monastery cupolas.
