Bazhov Monument on Plotinka

The monument to P. P. Bazhov is a bronze bust of the Ural writer on Plotinka, the dam of the City Pond in the very centre of Yekaterinburg, by Lenin Avenue. Unveiled in 1958, it was the first monument to Pavel Petrovich Bazhov and is one of the city's familiar landmarks linked to his tales.

History

The bust was unveiled on 11 March 1958. It was made by the sculptor M. G. Manizer with the architects B. E. Rozhin and A. P. Velikanov. The work follows the realist tradition of mid-twentieth-century Soviet monumental sculpture: no allegory, just a portrait of the man who collected and retold the mining legends of the Urals.

The site was well chosen. Plotinka is the oldest part of Yekaterinburg, where the factory town began, and Bazhov's tales are about the craftsmen, prospectors and stone carvers of those factory days. Put up in Soviet times, the monument still holds a central place in the city.

What to see

The writer is shown with his head slightly bowed, as if lost in thought; this is usually read as the sculptor's way of showing him absorbed in his work. The bust is cast in bronze and stands on a red granite pedestal carved with the years of his life and with a stone flower, a nod to his famous tales collected in The Malachite Box.

The theme continues nearby: about a hundred metres from the bust on Plotinka is the Stone Flower fountain, so the two are easy to see on one walk.

Other Bazhov monuments in Yekaterinburg

The bust on Plotinka is not the only Bazhov monument in the city. In 1961 a full-length statue was placed on the writer's grave in Ivanovskoye Cemetery. Together they remain part of the city's cultural heritage and a reminder of Bazhov's place in Ural literature.

Getting there

The monument stands on Plotinka, on Lenin Avenue in the very centre of Yekaterinburg, so it is easy to reach on foot during a walk around the centre. The bust is in an open public space and can be seen at any time.