Monument to Karl Marx (Ulyanovsk)

[miriamflournoy]

<br><br>Monument to Karl Marx – a in Ulyanovsk. Installed in 1920, on Cathedral Square.<br>The history of the creation of the monument<br>On April 12, 1918, the Council of People’s Commissars of the RSFSR adopted a decree „On the of the republic.” The decree provided for the removal of monuments to the kings and, in turn, the installation of new monuments. On July 30, 1918, a list of persons to whom it was supposed to erect monuments was approved. The list included 66 names, including the founder of the communist movement Karl Marx.<br><br>Along with other cities, Simbirsk was included in the plan of monumental propaganda. First, the monument to Karl Marx was erected on November 12, 1918 on the pedestal of an unopened monument to Alexander II on Goncharovskaya Street, which had by then been renamed Karl Marx Street. It was made of plaster, painted in bronze and was considered as a temporary option.<br><br>In the fall of 1918, the chairman of the Simbirsk provincial committee of the RCP (b) I. M. Vareikis initiated several important cultural undertakings in the city; one of them is the organization of the construction of a full-fledged monument to K. Marx in Simbirsk. Vareikis got acquainted with the project of the monument to K. Marx, made by the then famous sculptor S. D. Merkurov, and suggested that the Simbirsk provincial executive committee conclude an agreement with the sculptor for the production of the monument.<br><br>Academician of architecture V.A. Shchuko was invited to work on the architectural design of the monument. At first it was supposed to erect the monument by the end of 1920, but the figure for the pedestal was delivered to Simbirsk only in May 1921.<br><br>The opening of the monument took place on November 7, 1921. There is a black column on a tetrahedral pedestal made of gray granite, from which the figure of Karl Marx protrudes. It is believed that the sculptor used the myth of the mighty Atlanta supporting the vault of the universe. The author assigned the same role to K. Marx, who carries on his shoulders the burden of the world’s problems of mankind.<br><br>On the front side of the monument there is an inscription: „To Karl Marx 1920″. On the back side of the are the words of Karl Marx: „Ideas, having taken possession of the masses, become the greatest driving victorious force.” The height of the monument with the sculpture is 8.5 meters. The figure of the thinker is made of black granite. A whole piece of stone was not found for the sculpture, and it had to be made from separate blocks.<br><br>The monument to K. Marx was originally installed on the territory of the former Nikolaevsky garden, which received its name from the Nikolaevsky cathedral. The formed square also received the name of K. Marx. In connection with the beginning of the construction of the Lenin Memorial in Ulyanovsk, it was planned to move the monument, which was on the projected esplanade connecting two squares – Lenin (now Cathedral Square), and the 100th anniversary of Lenin’s birth. However, they decided to leave the monument in place, only expanding it so that it would not stand sideways to those walking along the esplanade. In April 1969, the monument was turned 90 degrees, facing east. When it was decided to continue the esplanade to the Memorial Center, in the summer of 1985 the monument was moved to the center of the esplanade, destroying the park that surrounded it. But the location turned out to be very unfortunate, and the monument was moved again. In April 1986, it was moved to the gymnasium building, where it remains to this day.<br>In honor of the monumentIn 1990, the Ministry of Communications of the USSR published an artistic marked envelope – “Ulyanovsk. MONUMENT TO CARL MARX „.

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