Earthly and heavenly

Events that are now taking place in the city of metallurgists may soon enter the history of the Dnipro region. Spiritual and Cultural Center, which will include St. Nicholas Cathedral, premises of Sunday school and units of the Eparchy, Cathedral Square with architectural and sculptural composition “Calvary” and art painting “Life of Christ,” will be created in the historic part of the city (former Upper Colony) for the creative design of Dniprodzerzhynsk artists. The construction of urban ensemble started and is carried out under supervision of the local and regional authorities.

Recently a sculpture of crucified Christ has been installed. It will remain covered until the opening of the Cathedral Square. The author of the composition is Honored Artist of Ukraine Harnik Khachatrian. The sculptor has lived in Dniprodzerzhynsk for over 30 years and is the author of several major art pieces, but the most significant one is his monument to Taras Shevchenko. This monument was installed near Lesia Ukrainka Music and Drama Theater in Dniprodzerzhynsk in the early 2000s and now it will become a part of the cultural complex (since Cathedral Square will take up the territory between St. Nicholas Cathedral and the Theater in order to create a recreation zone).

“The sculpture was cast in bronze. It is warm light material that is a part of the image of the Savior. The metal cross is over nine meters high and the figure of Jesus is half this size,” said Harnik KHACHATRIAN.

The story of the earthly life of Jesus Christ is revealed by the artists Oleksandr Chehorka and Serhii Laushkin (members of the Ukraine’s National Union of Artists, old friends and associates in their views on art). They paint a wall of the theater that faces the Cathedral. Frontal wall of the theater – 3.5 meters high and 42 meters long, became an orientation point in forming the size of the Cathedral Square, when it was designed.

“The idea of creating this architectural ensemble was suggested by chief architect of the city Yurii Beloborodov,” said one of the authors of the artistic painting Oleksandr CHEHORKA. “An important aspect of the basic idea of the project was providing free access to the main entrance to the Cathedral, which will face the new square. Reverend Father Volodymyr suggested to install an architectural and sculptural composition ‘Calvary’ on the square. By the way, Reverend Father has received art education and carefully considered our painting. Together we reviewed several sketches before we began to work with his blessing. We regularly consulted with Serhii Laushkin, selected scenes from the life of Jesus Christ that bring light and those, where he was still a young boy and only began to fully experience this miracle – life. That’s why we decided to begin with the scenes of Annunciation and Christmas. We were allowed to work not in a strict canonical form, but with creative approach, adding, when needed, symbols that reveal the main theme of the Savior’s earthly life. Five scenes selected for the composition are united by the theme of ‘Trinity,’ which symbolizes human love and that the sacrifice for all mankind is love and the essence of life. This is the main moral and spiritual theme that we wanted to convey.”