Sculpture "Motherland is calling!" — composition center monument-ensemble "To the Heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad" on Mamaev Kurgan in Volgograd. One of the tallest statues in the world.
A huge hill rises above the Square of Sorrow, which is crowned by the main monument - the Motherland. This is a mound about 14 meters high, in which the remains of 34,505 soldiers - the defenders of Stalingrad - are buried. A serpentine path leads to the top of the hill to the Motherland, along which there are 35 granite tombstones of the Heroes of the Soviet Union, participants in the Battle of Stalingrad. From the foot of the mound to its top, the serpentine consists of exactly 200 granite steps 15 cm high and 35 cm wide - according to the number of days of the Battle of Stalingrad.
Mamaev Kurgan in the winter of 1945. On the foreground- broken German cannon RaK 40.
The end point of the path is a monument "Motherland is calling!", the compositional center of the ensemble, highest point barrow. Its dimensions are huge - the height of the figure is 52 meters, and the total height of the Motherland - 85 meters(along with the sword). For comparison, the height famous statue Liberty without a pedestal is only 45 meters. At the time of construction, Motherland was the tallest statue in the country and in the world. Later, the Kyiv Motherland, 102 meters high, appeared. Today, the tallest statue in the world is the 120-meter Buddha statue, built in 1995 and located in Japan, in the city of Chuchura. Total weight Motherland - 8 thousand tons. AT right hand she holds a steel sword, which is 33 meters long and weighs 14 tons. Compared to the height of a person, the sculpture is enlarged 30 times. The thickness of the reinforced concrete walls of the Motherland is only 25-30 centimeters. It was cast layer by layer using a special formwork made of gypsum materials. Inside, the rigidity of the frame is maintained by a system of more than a hundred cables. The monument is not fastened to the foundation, it is held by gravity. Motherland stands on a slab only 2 meters high, which rests on the main foundation 16 meters high, but it is almost invisible - most of it is hidden underground. To enhance the effect of the location of the monument at the highest point of the mound, an artificial embankment 14 meters high was made.
Stalingrad, Mamaev Kurgan. In the foreground, the Renault UE Chenillette is a light French armored personnel carrier that was in service with the Wehrmacht.
As soon as the cannonade ceased in Stalingrad, the grateful country began to think about what the monument to the creators of this great victory. Drawings and sketches were sent not only by professionals, but also by people of completely different professions. Some sent them to the Academy of Arts, others to the State Defense Committee, someone personally to Comrade Stalin. Moreover, everyone saw the future monument as grandiose, unprecedented in size, to match the significance of the victory itself.
The All-Union competition was announced immediately after the war. All prominent Soviet architects and architects participated. The results were summed up ten years later. Although few doubted that the Stalin Prize winner Yevgeny Vuchetich would win. By that time, he had already created a memorial in Treptow Park in Berlin and enjoyed the trust of the first persons of the state. On January 23, 1958, the Council of Ministers of the USSR decided to start the construction of a monument-ensemble on Mamaev Kurgan. In May 1959, construction began to boil.
In his work, Vuchetich turned to the theme of the sword three times - the Motherland-Mother raises the sword on Mamaev Kurgan, calling for the expulsion of the conquerors; cuts with a sword fascist swastika Warrior-winner in Berlin's Treptow Park; the sword is forged into a plow by a worker in the composition “Let's Forge Swords into Plowshares”, expressing the desire of people of good will to fight for disarmament in the name of the triumph of peace on the planet. This sculpture was donated by Vuchetech to the United Nations and was installed in front of the headquarters in New York, and a copy of it - to the Volgograd gas equipment plant, in the shops of which the Motherland was born). This sword was born in Magnitogorsk (during the war years, every third shell and every second tank was made of Magnitogorsk metal), where the monument to the Rear Front was erected.
During the construction of the monument motherland in already finished project many changes have been made. Few people know what was originally at the top Mamaev Kurgan on the pedestal was to be a sculpture of the Motherland with a red banner and a kneeling fighter (according to some versions, the author of this project was Ernst Neizvestny). According to the original plan, two monumental staircases led to the monument. But later Vuchetich changed the main idea of the monument. After the Battle of Stalingrad, the country had more than 2 years of bloody battles ahead of it, and the Victory was still far away. Vuchetich left the Motherland alone, now she called her sons to begin the victorious expulsion of the enemy.
He also removed the pompous pedestal of the Motherland, which practically repeated the one on which his victorious Soldier stands in Treptow Park. Instead of monumental stairs (which, by the way, had already been built), a serpentine path appeared near the Motherland. The Motherland itself "grew up" relative to its original size - its height reached 36 meters. But this option did not become final. Soon after the completion of work on the foundation of the main monument, Vuchetich (on the instructions of Khrushchev) increases the size of the Motherland to 52 meters. Because of this, the builders had to urgently “load” the foundation, for which 150 thousand tons of earth were laid in the embankment.
In the Timiryazevsky district of Moscow, at the dacha of Vuchetich, where his workshop was located and today - the house-museum of the architect - you can see working sketches: a reduced model of the Motherland, as well as a full-size model of the head of the statue.
In a sharp, impetuous impulse, a woman stood up on the barrow. With a sword in her hands, she calls on her sons to stand up for the Fatherland. Her right leg is slightly laid back, her torso and head are vigorously turned to the left. The face is stern and strong-willed. Drawn eyebrows, wide open, screaming mouth, short hair blown by gusts of wind, strong hands, a long dress fitting the shape of the body, the ends of the scarf inflated by gusts of wind - all this creates a feeling of strength, expression and an irresistible desire to move forward. Against the background of the sky, it is like a bird soaring in the sky.
The sculpture of the Motherland looks great from all sides at any time of the year: in summer time when the mound is covered with a solid grass carpet, and winter evening- bright, illuminated by beams of searchlights. The majestic statue, speaking against the background of a dark blue sky, seems to grow out of the mound, merging with its snow cover.
The work of the sculptor E. V. Vuchetich and the engineer N. V. Nikitin is a multi-meter figure of a woman stepping forward with a raised sword. The statue is an allegorical image of the Motherland, calling its sons to fight the enemy. AT artistic sense the statue is a modern interpretation of the image of the ancient goddess of victory, Nike, who calls on her sons and daughters to repel the enemy, to continue the further offensive.
The construction of the monument began in May 1959 and was completed on October 15, 1967. The sculpture at the time of creation was the tallest sculpture in the world. Restoration work on the Main Monument of the monument-ensemble was carried out twice: in 1972 and 1986, in particular, in 1972 the sword was replaced.
The prototype of the sculpture was Valentina Izotova (according to other sources, Peshkova Anastasia Antonovna, a graduate of the Barnaul Pedagogical School in 1953).
Valentina Izotova, 68, was the model for the famous Russian Motherland memorial. For almost 40 years, she did not say that she participated in its creation.
Could I refuse when the sculptors asked me to pose for a statue in memory of the huge losses suffered by the Red Army in Stalingrad? But I was horrified when they said that I should pose naked.
It was the early 1960s, and decent women would not undress in front of anyone but their husbands. Artists, even such respected and famous ones as Lev Maistrenko, who worked on the memorial, meant nothing to a 26-year-old woman.
It was Leo who contacted me. I worked as a waitress in the city's main restaurant "Volgograd" - it is still there - and usually served the hall reserved for high-ranking party functionaries and delegations. Leo said that I am beautiful and embody all the physical and moral qualities of an ideal Soviet woman. Of course, I was flattered, how else?
Curiosity got the better of me and I agreed to pose. None of us had any idea how famous Motherland would become. Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad) is as famous for this sculpture as it is for the battle that took place here.
My husband did not like that I would pose for a group of artists sent from Moscow. He was terribly jealous and took me to every session at the studio they set up in the old gas apparatus factory.
After a while, it became the same job as any other, I hardly thought about standing in a bathing suit, and I was glad that I was paid three rubles a day, because then it was a decent amount. But only six months later, I finally succumbed to the persuasion of the sculptors to take off my bra and expose my chest. But that was it. I was unshakable in my determination to keep my modesty and not to pose completely naked. It was unthinkable.
No one except relatives and closest friends knew about it. Shortly after the sessions ended, I went to get my first higher education: I have two diplomas - an economist and an engineer. Then I left Volgograd and began to live and work in Norilsk.
After the opening of the memorial in 1967, I thought little about it and lived my life.
In October 2010, work began to secure the statue.
The sculpture is made from blocks of prestressed reinforced concrete - 5,500 tons of concrete and 2,400 tons of metal structures (without the base on which it stands).
The total height of the monument is 85-87 meters. It is installed on a concrete foundation 16 meters deep. The height of the female figure is 52 meters (weight - over 8 thousand tons).
The statue stands on a slab only 2 meters high, which rests on the main foundation. This foundation is 16 meters high, but it is almost invisible - most of it is hidden underground. The statue stands freely on the slab, as chess piece On the desk.
The thickness of the reinforced concrete walls of the sculpture is only 25-30 centimeters. Inside, the entire statue is made up of individual cell cells, like rooms in a building. The rigidity of the frame is supported by ninety-nine metal cables that are constantly in tension.
The sword, 33 meters long and weighing 14 tons, was originally made of stainless steel sheathed with titanium sheets. The huge mass and high windage of the sword, due to its colossal size, caused a strong swaying of the sword when exposed to wind loads, which led to excessive mechanical stress at the point of attachment of the hand holding the sword to the body of the sculpture. Deformations in the sword's structure also caused the sheets of titanium plating to move, creating an unpleasant sound of rattling metal. Therefore, in 1972, the blade was replaced with another one - entirely consisting of fluorinated steel - and holes were provided in the upper part of the sword, which made it possible to reduce its windage. The reinforced concrete structure of the sculpture was strengthened in 1986 on the recommendation of the NIIZhB expert group led by R.L. Serykh.
There are very few similar sculptures in the world, for example, the statue of Jesus Christ in Rio de Janeiro, the "Motherland" in Kyiv, the monument to Peter I in Moscow. For comparison, the height of the Statue of Liberty from the pedestal is 46 meters.
The most complex calculations of the stability of this structure were made by N. V. Nikitin, Doctor of Technical Sciences, the author of the calculation of the stability of the Ostankino television tower. At night, the statue is illuminated by spotlights.
“The horizontal displacement of the upper part of the 85-meter monument is currently 211 millimeters, or 75% of the allowable calculations. Deviations have been going on since 1966. If from 1966 to 1970 the deviation was 102 millimeters, then from 1970 to 1986 - 60 millimeters, until 1999 - 33 millimeters, from 2000-2008 - 16 millimeters, "said the director of the State Historical and Memorial Museum-Reserve" Battle of Stalingrad "" Alexander Velichkin.
Interesting Facts
- The sculpture "Motherland" is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest sculpture-statue in the world at that time. Its height is 52 meters, the length of the arm is 20 and the sword is 33 meters. The total height of the sculpture is 85 meters. The weight of the sculpture is 8 thousand tons, and the sword is 14 tons (for comparison: the Statue of Liberty in New York is 46 meters high; the Statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro is 38 meters). On the this moment the statue takes 11th place in the list of the tallest statues in the world.
- Vuchetich told Andrei Sakharov: “The authorities ask me why her mouth is open, because it’s ugly. I answer: And she screams - for the Motherland ... your mother! - shut up.
- There is a legend according to which, shortly after creation, a man was lost in the sculpture; no one saw him after that. But that's just a legend
- The silhouette of the sculpture "Motherland" was taken as the basis for the development of the emblem and flag of the Volgograd region
In the course of construction, Vuchetich made changes to the project more than once. little known fact: at first, the main monument of the ensemble had to look completely different. At the top of the mound, the author wanted to put a sculpture of the "Motherland" with a red banner and a kneeling fighter. According to the original plan, two monumental staircases led to it. They were built when Vuchetich went to Khrushchev, the then leader of the country, and convinced him that it would be better if people began to climb the serpentine path to the top.
But these are far from all the changes that the master made to the already finished project. Valentina Klyushina, who for many years was the deputy director of the memorial, told me how it all happened. During the years of the creation of the complex, she worked in the Volgograd City Executive Committee and oversaw the construction.
- "Motherland" Vuchetich decided to leave one. He also removed the pompous pedestal, practically repeating the one on which stands his Victorious Soldier in Treptow Park. The main figure has become taller - 36 meters. But this option did not last long. As soon as the builders had time to make the foundation, the author increased the size of the sculpture. Up to 52 meters! In the competition of superpowers, it was necessary that the main monument of the USSR was higher than the American Statue of Liberty. I had to urgently “load” the foundation so that it could withstand an 85-meter (together with a sword) sculpture weighing 8,000 tons. 150 thousand tons of earth were then laid in the embankment. And since the deadlines were running out, a military battalion was allocated to help the brigades.
The discrepancy came out with the current Hall of Military Glory. It was supposed to install a panorama canvas there. As soon as the "box" of the building was built, Vuchetich decides that the panorama should be placed separately. Which they then did. And in the finished building along the perimeter of the walls there are mosaic banners with the names of the fallen defenders of the city. The author also quickly passed this question through the Central Committee of the CPSU.
With these same banners, too, there was embarrassment. Here is what Klyushina said:
Masters from Leningrad worked with mosaics. BUT art glass delivered from the Ukrainian city of Lisichansk. Mosaic workers laid out the interior as material arrived. When everything was ready and the scaffolding was removed, everyone gasped. The tones on the wall were so different that it looked like a chessboard. The deadline for the project was approaching. And Vuchetich had no choice but to call "upstairs." This time to Brezhnev. He immediately dialed the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine, Shelest, and explained the task to him. In a word, a few days later the cars delivered new glass to Volgograd.
Now imagine: it's June, four months are left before the opening of the memorial. And we need to restore the scaffolding again, prepare and lay more than a thousand square meters of multi-colored glass pieces. The legendary commander of the 62nd Army, Vasily Chuikov, was very helpful here. By the way, he was Vuchetich's chief consultant for the project. 500 soldiers were seconded to the construction headquarters. The fighters worked in Stakhanov style. Three weeks later, the interior of the hall took on its intended form.
But these are not all the difficulties faced by the creators of the complex. On one of the spring days of the same 1967, a critical situation arose with a 33-meter sword.
... As usual, the chief engineer of Volgogradgidrostroy, Yuri Abramov, went to work at the headquarters in the morning. On the way, he came across a flock of boys arguing ... why is the sword swinging so strongly in the hand of the “Motherland”? Abramov raised his head and was horrified. They immediately carried out an operational operation, and the very next day a special commission arrived from Moscow. It soon became clear that the designers did not take into account the data of long-term observations of the wind rose. So it turned out that the sword was turned flat in relation to the wind. I urgently had to make several holes in it so that it could be blown freely. In addition, the commission generally recommended replacing the heavy titanium sword with a lighter steel one.
At the very end of the construction, 50 powerful spotlights were required to illuminate the sculpture. They couldn't get them anywhere. The country at that time was preparing to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution - and everything that was produced went to Moscow and Leningrad according to the orders. Klyushina was sent to the capital to the chairman of the Moscow City Executive Committee Promyslov. He said that Moscow could not help. And advised to go to the manufacturer. And Klyushina rushed to the city of Gusev, in the Kaliningrad region. The director of Elektromash also only shrugged at the request. Then he thought about it and suggested that Valentina speak on the factory radio to the workers and ask them to work in excess of the norm. They organized two additional shifts and the Saira searchlights went to Volgograd. On October 15, 1967, the monument-ensemble was inaugurated.
Construction continued for eight years and five months. The memorial stands for another forty years. He always looked decent. Even when everything in the country collapsed and fell into disrepair, the grass was neatly cut on the mound. But only the people working here know what this order is worth. And how you have to beat out money from the authorities of all ranks in order to patch and repair a huge unique economy.
Someone inadvertently said that, they say, the "Motherland" was tilted so much that it could soon fall. This is nonsense. “Any structure of this type,” says the director of the memorial, retired general Vladimir Berlov, “can lean. This is even provided by the designers. Say, the design of our monument is designed for a deviation of 272 millimeters. The figure, - continues Berlov, - is constantly examined for the formation of cracks, roughness, its position is analyzed. And the analysis of concrete chips, carried out in a German laboratory, showed the excellent condition of the structure and the presence of the necessary safety margin. From the inside, it is supported by 99 tension ropes. Believe me, says the director, this system will never allow the monument to tilt to a critical level.
You can take a walk with Sergei Doli inside the monument
And here is a walk with Artemy Lebedev
At the end of June 1941, perhaps the most important graphic work Great Patriotic War, later included in all history textbooks - Irakli Toidze's poster "The Motherland Calls". By the artist's own admission, the idea of creating collective image mother, calling for the help of her sons, came to his mind quite by accident. Hearing the first message from the Soviet Information Bureau about the attack of fascist Germany on the USSR, Toidze's wife ran into his studio shouting "War!" Struck by the expression on her face, the artist ordered his wife to freeze and immediately began to sketch the future masterpiece. In the future, the very concept of "Motherland" became almost the cornerstone of all Soviet propaganda, embodied in countless imitations and migrated to adjacent areas. visual arts, including the monumental one.
] sourceshttp://www.volgastars.ru
http://www.glavagosudarstva.ru
http://waralbum.ru
The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy is made -
When Valentina Ivanovna IZOTOVA passes by the main height of Russia - Mamaev Kurgan - she does not cast an indifferent glance at a female stone figure with a sword in her hand, towering over the hero city, as local residents accustomed to such a neighborhood do; does not admire the scope of the memorial and the size of the monument to the Motherland crowning this sacred hill, as guests of Volgograd; she simply greets this huge stone statue, as with an old friend.
Hello, Valya, - Valentina Ivanovna says to the sculpture.
It's been that way for over 40 years...
My heart is not a stone
When Valentina was 26 years old, she worked as a waitress in the Volgograd restaurant, sometimes her clients were eminent foreign guests who came to the hero city.
Fidel Castro, Emperor of Ethiopia, Swiss high-ranking persons dined with us, - recalls Valentina Ivanovna. - Khrushchev often stayed at the mansion. All the first persons of the states carried their waiters, food and wardrobes with them. They were generous with expensive gifts. The Ethiopian head, I remember, gave me a precious stone. Mom then sold it in the famine years.
Motherland Once Vali's friend, a young Volgograd sculptor Lev Maistrenko, came to dine at Volgograd with two colleagues. He called Valentina and introduced him to his friends. At that time, three Stalinist scholarship holders on assignment famous sculptor Yevgeny Vuchetich sculpted a small figurine of the Motherland, which was to become the prototype of the future grandiose monument.
We chatted a bit, - says Valentina Izotova, - then I went to other tables. The guys who came with Leva followed me appraisingly. And suddenly Leva called me again.
Maistrenko told Valya about the sculpture on which he and his friends worked and invited the girl to pose for them. At that time, a model from the Moscow Art Fund collaborated with the sculptors, but for some reason she did not suit them.
Probably, then I was better suited to the standard of a Soviet woman, - Valentina Ivanovna laughs.
Valya had never had to be a model before, and therefore, embarrassed, she promised Leva to think about his proposal.
I was married, - explains Valentina Ivanovna, - and my husband, Vasily Efremovich, of course, at first forbade me to work with sculptors. Yes, and the time was different then: posing was, to put it mildly, not honorable.
And yet, after much deliberation, Valentina decided to accept the proposal of Lev Maistrenko and her husband agreed with the choice of his wife. True, he did not stop being jealous of the young Stalinist scholarship holders.
"So I Became a Mother"
Work on the creation of a reduced Motherland lasted two years...
The workshop was located in the basement of the Minsk store, recalls Valentina Izotova. - I came there from time to time when I was free, because I did not quit my job in Volgograd. In short, they found compromises with the Left...
Valentina Ivanovna remembers well the meeting with Vuchetich himself, although she saw the famous sculptor only once. Having refused a professional model, young people convinced Yevgeny Viktorovich that the appearance of the waitress Valya was more suitable for the image of the Motherland. Then, for the only time in the entire time of working on the model of the sculpture, the eminent sculptor visited the workshop near "Minsk".
When Vuchetich came to the workshop, the guys invited me too. He looked at me carefully and nodded his head in the affirmative. From that very day they began to sculpt a monument from me, known
now as Motherland.
It was very difficult for an unprofessional model to work: Valya posed for several hours a day. After every hour spent without movement, the girl was allowed to rest. However, these 10-15 minutes were clearly not enough for Valentina. Standing with outstretched arms and forward left foot was uncomfortable and tiring.
In my hand, where, according to the authors, there should be a sword, I held a long thin rail, - says Valentina Ivanovna. - The guys showed me the position in which I had to stand and set up all the time: "Valya, you should call people after you!" You are the Motherland!" And I called, for which I was paid 3 rubles per hour of work as a model. Imagine what it's like to stand with your mouth open for hours!
At first, the sculptors insisted that the girl pose without clothes:
You are not a woman for us, you are an image, they said.
However, Valentina flatly refused to undress in front of men and "called for her" in a separate swimsuit. Then, however, she had to give up and remove his upper part. There was no tunic on the model - a developing attire, in which Vuchetich later dressed the Motherland - his artistic refinement.
monumental woman
Work on the creation of a monument to the Motherland continued at the Volgograd plant "Gazoapparat". There, according to a half-meter model molded in the workshop, the designers sculpted a five-meter sculpture. And Valya stood with outstretched arms almost without clothes on the factory scaffolding: the features of her face and the lines of her body were scrupulously transferred to the stone.
It's hard for me to say what happened next, - says Valentina Ivanovna. - I have not taken part in this. I saw the finished monument together with everyone, after the official opening of the entire memorial complex. They say that Vuchetich made the Motherland from his wife or from someone else, I don’t know. Maybe there are foreign features in the monument, because the Motherland is a collective image. But there is a lot in it from me. In the face. Her arms and legs and thighs are mine.
Oddly enough, no one invited Valentina Izotova to the festive opening. A few days after the end of the magnificent celebrations dedicated to the opening of Mamayev Kurgan, the woman herself went there to look at herself, embodied in stone. On the same day I bought a souvenir figurine of the Motherland...
For 10 years, Valentina Izotova, having once fallen for the bait of financial pyramids, heads the Volgograd regional fund "Protection of Depositors". Despite her rather respectable age (she will soon be 70 years old), she leads an active public and political life. The Motherland lives alone, in the Voroshilovsky district of Volgograd, but she does not get bored. Valentina has many friends, they often visit her. Often colleagues at work also run in for seagulls.
For me, at that time, working with sculptors was an episode, - Valentina Izotova admitted, - I even hid from everyone that I worked as a model. It was embarrassing. So at that time, almost no one knew that I was the prototype of the main monument of the country. Honestly, I never thought that the Motherland would become a symbol of Russia. If I had known, I would have been proud 40 years ago.
The battle for Mamaev Kurgan, which before the war none of the Stalingraders called anything other than a "hill", lasted 135 days. For more than four months, thousands of soldiers fell asleep and woke up with the only thought: to defend the coveted height. Up to 1,250 bullets and shrapnel fell for every square meter of hill. And when in February 1943 the city began to be rebuilt, it was bypassed. The memories were too terrible. And what will you build on the earth, which has turned into iron mixed with blood?
Only stars above
In May 1959 Muscovites appeared on the banks of the Volga. These were, of course, not businessmen, but, as it is fashionable to say now, representatives of the creative class: creative Group under the guidance of sculptor Evgeny Vuchetich. And they were going to build not a business center, but a memorial complex.
A year before, a monument to a Soviet soldier was opened in Berlin, and Vuchetich was at the zenith of his glory. Presenting the project of the memorial, he said: the central composition should "amaze the eye." The condition was met, if not by 100, then by 85% - for sure. The Motherland rose 85 meters above the earth. 40 meters higher than the Statue of Liberty!
After the opening, the monument entered the Guinness Book of Records as the tallest man-made at that time.
Cherche la femme
“Although she is the Motherland, she is still a woman,” apparently the artists thought, realizing that such a grandiose image could not be invented “from the head”. You need nature. They looked for her and found her. Although not the first time: the chosen model from the Moscow Art Fund did not suit the sculptors and was rejected.
The creation of a mini-prototype of the monument was carried out by Lev Maistrenko with two colleagues - Stalinist scholarship holders. In 1961, Stalingrad was renamed Volgograd, and a prestigious restaurant was opened in the city center. It was there that the twenty-six-year-old waitress Valentina Izotova caught the eye of the artists.
When Lev Maistrenko invited Valechka to pose, she hesitated: she had never had to do anything like this before, and the work of a model was not held in high esteem in those days. To top it all off, she was married! Curiosity, however, defeated prejudice, and work on the monument began to boil.
Three rubles per hour
A couple of times a week, Valentina came to the basement of the Minsk central grocery store, where the workshop was located. For several hours in a row, she stood with her foot outstretched and her arms outstretched, clutching a long staff instead of a sword. From the clothes she was wearing only the lower part of the bathing suit: gradually the masters persuaded the model to throw off her bra.
Vuchetich covered the chest of the sculpture with a fluttering tunic, but the contours of her body under the concrete fabric are guessed in detail. “The guys showed me the position in which I had to stand, and all the time they set up: “Valya, you should call people after you!” Izotova recalled. - And I called. For this I was paid three rubles an hour.
Regarding this "eternal call" in Volgograd, a tale has been preserved that reproduces the conversation between Vuchetich and the famous physicist Andrei Sakharov. “The authorities ask me: why does the statue have its mouth open? - the sculptor allegedly said. - It's not pretty. I answer: “And she shouts: for the Motherland! .. your mother!” Shut up."
However, Valentina Izotova met the master himself only once - the head of the project went into the workshop to make sure that the appearance of the Volgograd waitress corresponded to his grandiose plan.
Nerves of steel"
The most complex calculations that ensured the stability of the structure were performed by Nikolai Nikitin, the legendary Soviet architect who participated in the design of the Palace of Soviets, the buildings of Moscow State University on the Lenin Hills and the Ostankino TV Tower.
The eight-ton Motherland is not attached to the foundation by anything - it stands freely on a sixteen-meter concrete foundation, the main part of which is hidden underground. And the monument itself is completely free to balance on a two-meter "stand".
The thickness of the reinforced concrete walls of the statue is only thirty centimeters. The rigidity of the frame is provided by almost a hundred metal cables fixed inside. "Almost" - because there are 99 of them. And they are constantly tense.
The sword of the Motherland weighs 14 tons, its height exceeds the height of a ten-story building - 33 meters! At first, the blade was made of stainless steel sheathed with sheets of titanium, but it turned out that the steppe winds were swinging it, creating a threat of collapse and causing a terrible roar. Therefore, in 1972, the sword was replaced with another one cast from fluorinated steel.
The fate of names
The grand opening of the memorial took place on October 15, 1967. Soon after, it turned out that the name of the sculptor on the signature plate was indicated with an error: "Vuchetichev" instead of "Vuchetich". Why is unknown conventional version: the people who made the tablet wanted to indicate the surname and initials - Vuchetich E.V.
Valentina Izotova was not invited to the celebrations - either they simply forgot, or they did not consider it necessary. However, the woman herself said that she was embarrassed even to tell her friends that she was working as a model. It was embarrassing. Later, however, curiosity again took over modesty, and Valya went to look at the "new self." I even bought a souvenir figurine as a keepsake.
Forty years later, Valentina Izotova admitted that at the sight of a concrete lady with a sword, she does not experience either sacred awe, or pride, or nostalgia. For it's like meeting a friend on the street, whom I've known for a hundred years. Out of habit, you nod your head and say without any reverence: "Hello, Valya."
Part one. Valya.
Good evening to you, my children!
He brought us great joy: our beloved "ROTOR" came out on 1st place in standings http://news.sport-express.ru/2011-10-30/472410/ I saw today how many fans came to support our players. What good fellows, were not afraid of a cold!
I look at the night city and admire it. Everything is beautiful, in colorful lights. I am also illuminated from all sides by very strong spotlights so that they do not forget about me.
And how beautifully the German specialists made high-quality illumination of all the heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad, captured in stone! Thank you, dear friends!
For the coming dream, I asked myself such a difficult question, my beloved.
What is my name?
Here, my children, is a small digression into the history of my birth.
Perhaps you know the answer?
One of the versions of the origin of my image is considered to be a resident of Volgograd, Valentina Ivanovna Izotova.
At that time, Valentina was 26 years old, she worked as a waitress in the Volgograd restaurant. One day, Vali's acquaintance, a young Volgograd sculptor Lev Maistrenko, came to dine at Volgograd with two colleagues. He called Valentina and introduced him to his friends.
At that time, three Stalinist scholarship holders, on the instructions of the famous sculptor Yevgeny Vuchetich, sculpted a small statuette of the Motherland, which was to become the prototype of a future grandiose monument.
Maistrenko told Valya about the sculpture on which he and his friends worked and invited the girl to pose for them. At that time, a model from the Moscow Art Fund collaborated with the sculptors, but for some reason she did not suit them.
Valentina suggests that she at the time was better suited to the standard of a Soviet woman. At the same time, it is worth noting that Valya had never had to be a model before, and therefore, embarrassed, she promised Leva to think about his proposal.
At the age of 60, being a model was, to put it mildly, not an honor, and at first Valentina's husband forbade her to work with sculptors. But some time later, after much deliberation, Valentina decided to accept the proposal of Lev Maistrenko and her husband agreed with the choice of his wife.
Rejecting a professional model, young people convinced my creator, the famous sculptor Vuchetich, that the appearance of the waitress Valya is more suitable for the image of the Motherland. Then, for the only time in the entire time of working on the model of the sculpture, the eminent sculptor visited the workshop near "Minsk" and agreed with the arguments of his colleagues.
Work on the creation of my reduced copy lasted two years. The workshop was located in the basement of the former Minsk store, and Valya came there from time to time when she was free, because she did not leave her job at the Volgograd restaurant.
The sculptors made concessions.
It was very difficult for an unprofessional model to work: Valya posed for several hours a day. After every hour spent without movement, the girl was allowed to rest. However, these 10-15 minutes were clearly not enough for Valentina. Standing with outstretched arms and forward left foot was uncomfortable and tiring. At the same time, the masters constantly
set up: "Valya, you must call people after you!" You are the Motherland!" And she called.
By the way, there was no tunic on the model - the developing attire, which Vuchetich later dressed me in - his artistic refinement.
Work on my creation continued at the Volgograd plant "Gazoapparat". There, according to a half-meter model molded in the workshop, the designers sculpted a five-meter sculpture. And Valya stood with outstretched arms almost without clothes on the factory scaffolding: the features of her face and the lines of her body were scrupulously transferred to the stone.
After that, Valya saw me only after the official opening of the entire memorial complex. Strange, but no one invited Valentina Izotova to my festive opening.
A few days after the end of the magnificent celebrations dedicated to the opening of Mamaev Kurgan, she herself went there to look at herself, embodied in stone.
And when she drives past me, she always greets me: "Hello, Valya ..."
A 70-year-old pensioner Valentina Ivanovna Izotova lives in Volgograd, with whom they sculpted a sculpture of the Motherland 40 years ago.
Valentina Ivanovna is a modest person. For more than 40 years, she was silent about the fact that, as a model, she posed for sculptors who sculpted almost the most famous sculpture in Russia - Motherland. She was silent because Soviet times to talk about the profession of a model was, to put it mildly, indecent, especially for a married woman raising two daughters. Now Valya Izotova is already a grandmother and willingly talks about that distant episode in her youth, which has now become perhaps the most significant event in her whole life.
In those distant 60s, Valentina was 26 years old. She worked as a waitress in a prestigious, by Soviet standards, Volgograd restaurant. This institution was visited by all the eminent guests of the city on the Volga, and our heroine saw with her own eyes Fidel Castro, the Emperor of Ethiopia, Swiss ministers. Naturally, only a girl with a real Soviet appearance could serve such persons during lunch. What that means, you probably already guessed. Strict face, purposeful look, athletic figure. It is no coincidence that one day a frequent guest of Volgograd, a young sculptor Lev Maistrenko, approached Valentina with a conversation. He conspiratorially told the young interlocutor about the sculpture that they, together with their comrades, should make for the sculptor Yevgeny Vuchetich, already eminent in those days. Maistrenko walked around for a long time, scattering compliments in front of the waitress, and then invited her to pose. The fact is that the Moscow model, who arrived in the province directly from the capital, did not like the local sculptors. She was too arrogant and pretentious. Yes, and the face of the "Mother" was not like.
I thought for a long time, - recalls Izotova, - the times were strict then, and my husband forbade it. But then the husband relented, and I gave the guys my consent. Who in his youth did not embark on various adventures?
The adventure turned into serious work that lasted two years. Vuchetich himself claimed Valentina's candidacy for the role of the Motherland. He, having listened to the arguments of his colleagues in favor of a simple Volgograd waitress, nodded his head in the affirmative, and it began. Posing turned out to be a very difficult task. Standing for several hours a day with outstretched arms and forward left foot was tiring. According to the plan of the sculptors, a sword was supposed to be in the right hand, but in order not to tire Valentina too much, they put a long stick in her palm. At the same time, she had to give her face an inspired expression calling for feats.
The guys insisted: "Valya, you must call people after you. You are the Motherland!" And I called, for which I was paid 3 rubles per hour. Imagine what it's like to stand with your mouth open for hours.
Was during work and one juicy moment. The sculptors insisted that Valentina, as befits a model, pose naked, but Izotova resisted. Suddenly the husband comes. At first they agreed on a separate swimsuit. True, then the upper part of the swimsuit had to be removed. Breasts should come out as natural. By the way, there was no tunic on the model. It was only later that Vuchetich himself threw a fluttering robe over Rodina. Our heroine saw the finished monument a few days after its official opening. It was interesting to look at myself from the outside: the face, hands, legs - everything is native, only made of stone and 52 meters tall.