Under public pressure
Authorities in Dnipropetrovsk promise to restore monument to Taras Shevchenko, the largest of its kind in UkraineThe monument stood on Monastyrsky Island by the Dnipro for half a century before being dismantled and sent for major repairs in 2011. The repairs have dragged on far too long, prompting the public to sound the alarm.
After all, Dnipropetrovsk witnessed a similar case before, and it did not end well. Local municipal services demolished concrete sculpture of the Ukrainian Bard in the village of Shevchenko in the fall of 2007, disguising their savage bulldozing of the monument as a reconstruction effort. The ugly scene was captured by schoolchildren on a mobile phone camera. The record was aired on the television, causing a scandal. To hush it up, the city officials vowed to rebuild the monument in bronze, but their assurances have come to nothing so far. The Monastyrsky Island monument was slated to be restored to its place before the Independence Day celebrations on August 24, 2012, but the dismantlement crew has not only taken away the 50-ton sculpture, but dismantled its granite pedestal, too.
The situation began to look outrageous, so the authorities decided to clarify it. “The repairs of the monument are going on schedule,” Deputy Chairman of Zhovtnevy District Council Viktor Khyzhniak assured at a news conference. “As early as 2010, the city’s budget provided 1.5 million hryvnias for major repairs of the monument. The tender for the repairs has been won by Dnipropetrovsk Repair and Engineering Works. However, when the work began, it became clear that the lack of documentation for the monument called for increased expenses.” According to Khyzhniak, they had originally planned to repair the monument without dismantling the sculpture itself, but it turned out that its pedestal had crumbled from within of old age. The work they had started now involved more research and increased funding, and was behind schedule. They produced a new draft and submitted it for expert examination in 2012. “We will begin building the new pedestal on the island shortly,” Khyzhniak said. According to him, this stage will be followed by restoration of the cast iron sculpture which will then be reassembled from parts. The entire project of the 25-meter high monument reconstruction and improvement will cost nearly four million hryvnias, a hefty sum for the local budget. The monument to the Ukrainian Bard will not be completed in its entirety and unveiled before next fall, more precisely, September 2013.