Monument to Mazhit Gafuri

The monument to Mazhit Gafuri was erected in 1978 in front of the Bashkir Academic Drama Theatre named after Mazhit Gafuri in Ufa. Its authors were sculptor Lev Kerbel and architect Lev Khikhlukha.

Mazhit Gafuri (1880-1934) was a Bashkir and Tatar writer and poet, People's Poet of the Bashkir ASSR and a classic of Soviet Bashkir and Tatar literature (according to Wikipedia).

The unveiling of the monument was a notable event in the republic's cultural life. Lev Kerbel, who had created many well-known monuments, including those to Karl Marx and Lenin, gave Bashkortostan another notable work. According to the republic's Honoured Artist Z. Basyrov, the monument "became one who rose from the people, a singer of the people's soul."

The monument was praised both as a work of art and for how it fits into its surroundings: it brought harmony to the square in front of the theatre and became a point of pride for Ufa. The work was nominated for the Salavat Yulaev Republican Prize.