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The monument to good conquers evil tsereteli. Sculptures by Zurab Tsereteli

Zurab Konstantinovich Tsereteli (Georgian ზურაბ წერეთელი). Born on January 4, 1934 in Tbilisi. Soviet and Russian painter, sculptor, designer, teacher, professor. President of the Russian Academy of Arts since 1997. Academician of the Academy of Arts of the USSR (1988; corresponding member 1979). Hero of Socialist Labor (1990). People's Artist of the USSR (1980). Laureate of the Lenin Prize (1976), two State Prizes of the USSR (1970, 1982) and the State Prize of Russia (1996). Full Cavalier of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland.

Father - Konstantin Georgievich (1903-2002), known in Georgia as a civil engineer, comes from an old Georgian princely family of Tsereteli.

Mother - Tamara Semyonovna Nizharadze (1910-1991), also a representative of the princely family. A noticeable influence on the young Zurab was his mother's brother, the painter Georgy Nizharadze. Georgian artists - David Kakabadze, Sergo Kobuladze, Ucha Japaridze and many others - constantly visited his house, where the boy spent a significant part of his time. They became the first teachers of a young man who was fond of fine arts.

He graduated from the painting department of the Tbilisi Academy of Arts, worked at the Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography of the Georgian Academy of Sciences.

In 1964 he studied in France, where he communicated with outstanding artists and.

Since the late 1960s, he began to work actively in the field of monumental art. In addition to Russia, his sculptural works are in Brazil, Great Britain, Spain, USA, France, Japan, Georgia and Lithuania.

In 1988 he was elected a full member (academician) of the Academy of Arts of the USSR.

Since 1997 he has been President of the Russian Academy of Arts.

In 2003, for the special services of Zurab Tsereteli to the Russian Federation, Russian President Vladimir Putin granted him Russian citizenship.

Author of more than 5000 works of painting, graphics, sculpture, monumental and decorative art (frescoes, mosaics, panels), etc. the Riviera Park in Sochi, the Palace of Trade Unions in Tbilisi, the New Stage of the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, etc.; as a sculptor, he created many monuments, among them "Friendship forever" in Moscow, "Good conquers Evil" in front of the UN building in New York, "The Birth of a New Man" in Seville, "Destroy the Wall of Distrust" in London, the Monument to Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya in Ruza and others

Famous works of Zurab Tsereteli

Monument to Peter I in Moscow was erected in 1997 by order of the Moscow Government on an artificial island, poured at the fork of the Moscow River and the Vodootvodny Canal. The total height of the monument is 98 meters. According to the gallery owner and member of the Public Chamber M. Gelman, Tsereteli "cheated" during the installation of the monument, forging the documents of the town planning council, limiting the height of the monument to 17 meters. There is a version that this monument is a reworked and modified statue of Columbus, which Tsereteli unsuccessfully offered to buy the United States, Spain and Latin American countries in 1991-1992, on the 500th anniversary of the discovery of the American continent by Europeans.

Cathedral of Christ the Savior built under the direction of Tsereteli. Instead of the original white stone cladding, the building received marble, and the gilded roof was replaced with a coating based on titanium nitride. Large sculptural medallions on the facade of the temple were made of polymer material. An underground parking was placed under the temple.

Among the most famous monumental works of Tsereteli, it is worth highlighting: the monument "Friendship Forever" in honor of the bicentenary (1783-1983) of the annexation of Georgia to Russia, immediately after installation received an ironic nickname among Muscovites - "Shashlik" (Tishinskaya Square in Moscow, the author of the architectural part is a famous poet Andrei Voznesensky); the Good Defeats Evil monument in front of the UN building in New York; monument "Destroy the wall of distrust" (London, UK); 6-meter Monument to Peter the Great in St. Petersburg; bronze sculpture "The Birth of a New Man" (Paris, France); sculptural composition "The Birth of a New Man" (Seville, Spain); Birth of a New World, Columbus Monument in Puerto Rico (2016); Monument to John Paul II (France).

The author of monumental and decorative works (panels, mosaics, stained-glass windows, decorative and play sculptures) in the resort complex in Pitsunda (1967), in the resort town of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions in Adler (Sochi) (1973; Lenin Prize in 1976), in the hotel complex "Yalta- Intourist" in Yalta (1978), in the hotel complex "Izmailovo" in Moscow (1980).

Tsereteli participated in the construction of the memorial complex on Poklonnaya Hill in Moscow (opened in 1995), as well as in a number of other architectural and monumental projects in Moscow at the end of the 20th century, including the design of Manezhnaya Square. Zurab Tsereteli created a number of monuments to figures of the past and lifetime sculptural portraits of his contemporaries, many of which were donated by Tsereteli to various cities in the Russian Federation and abroad. Not all are really raised.

September 11, 2006 in the United States was opened Monument "Tear of Sorrow" works by Zurab Tsereteli - a gift to the American people in memory of the victims of the September 11 attacks. The monument is a 30-meter bronze slab with a narrow elongated through hole, resembling a rift, inside which hangs a giant mirror drop, cast from fragments of steel beams of the twin towers melted during the terrorist attack. Initially, the author was going to give it to New York. But the city authorities did not want to see him at home. Then Tsereteli attempted to erect a monument on the other side of the Hudson - opposite the site of the tragedy - in Jersey City. But even here, the municipality refused the gift, saying that most residents do not want to see this tear, and in the local press the future masterpiece was completely dubbed “vulva”. Nevertheless, Tsereteli managed to find Bayonne for his monument - a place at the mouth of the Hudson River, on an abandoned pier of a former military base, where signs still flaunt: “Beware of an infected place!”. A 175-ton bronze slab rises on the banks of the Hudson opposite the national symbol of America - the Statue of Liberty and the site where the twin towers of the World Trade Center used to stand.

In 2009, Tsereteli planned to install a 100-meter statue of Jesus Christ on Solovki, which caused well-reasoned objections from the leadership of the Solovetsky Museum-Reserve.

In 2009, a copper hare over three meters tall was installed in Baden-Baden - a copy of Faberge's silver hare enlarged 30 times.

In 2012, in the French resort town of Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie, Tsereteli opened a sculptural composition dedicated to. The monument is part of a diptych - the other part of which is the monument. This monument was erected in Muchkap - the district center of the Tambov region.

In 2013, a monument to Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya by Tsereteli was erected in Ruza.

In 2015, a monument to Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill was opened in Yalta, based on the Yalta Conference.

Sculptural composition "Warrior-skier". Installed in Patriot Park in 2017.

In 2017, in Moscow, in Petroverigsky Lane, Tsereteli made the Alley of Rulers, consisting of busts of all the rulers of Russia.

In 2017, in the city of Apatity, a Monument to Pushkin was erected in the Pushkin Square.

Tsereteli is also director of the Moscow Museum of Modern Art and director of the Tsereteli Art Gallery.

In mid-February 2010, Zurab Tsereteli was awarded the title of Chevalier of the Order of the Legion of Honor. In early June of the same year, the US National Society of Arts awarded him the Gold Medal of Honor. Z. Tsereteli became the first Georgian and Russian artist to receive such an award.

On March 11, 2014, the signature of Zurab Tsereteli appeared under the appeal of cultural figures of the Russian Federation in support of the policy of Russian President V.V. Putin in Ukraine and Crimea. The next day, however, Tsereteli's aide told Georgian television that Tsereteli did not actually sign the letters.

Personal life of Zurab Tsereteli:

Married. Wife - Princess Inessa Alexandrovna Andronikashvili.

Daughter - Elena (Lika) (born 1959), art critic.

Grandchildren: Vasily (born 1978), Zurab (born 1987), Victoria (born 2000). Great-grandchildren: Alexander (born 2003), Nikolai (born 2005), Philip (born 2008), Maria Isabella (born 2009).

TV channel "360" remembered the most controversial works of the sculptor.

Zhirinovsky was cast in bronze - the lifetime monument to the politician was presented by friends, and it was made by Zurab Tsereteli. The sculptor has long been the unspoken title of the main "Kremlin sculptor". At the same time, Tsereteli's fame in the country and abroad is very ambiguous. The 360 TV channel recalled the controversial monuments to Tsereteli, which the customers refused.

Peter in a skirt

Photo: Evgenia Novozhenina / RIA Novosti

Even before the installation in 1997, the long-suffering monument caused a lot of controversy. According to rumors, the boat originally flaunted a statue of Columbus, and Tsereteli unsuccessfully tried to sell the sculpture to the United States, Spain and Latin America.

In the future, after the installation, they tried to re-gift the monument to Peter to St. Petersburg, but the cultural capital refused the present. They even tried to blow up the sculpture, but the attack was prevented by an anonymous call, and since then access to Peter has been closed.
In addition, ordinary Muscovites really did not like the monument. Residents of the capital staged pickets, rallies, protests, put up ads with the words "You were not standing here" and with requests to dismantle the 98-meter sculpture of the first Russian emperor from the Moskva River embankment.
And in 2008, the monument was included in the list of the ugliest buildings in the world. The rating was compiled based on the results of voting on the site "Virtual Tourist".
"Louis", or "monument to the gendarme"
Near the Cosmos Hotel in Moscow there is another refusenik - a 10-meter monument to the leader of the French Resistance. The monument was conceived as a gift, but Paris politely refused it. But on the other hand, President Jacques Chirac, who subsequently sympathized with many French media, came to the opening of the monument to Charles de Gaulle at Cosmos in 2005.
For example, "Le Figaro" published the following note: "... lowering his arms and hunching over, a clumsy general rises, more like a scarecrow. Or a robot. The entire Russian press has already mocked the monument to its heart's content. From afar, its silhouette is comical. One of the journalists, Dmitry Kafanov, says that the monument reminds him of Louis de Funes in the film about the gendarmes.But close up, the general's face is frightening, all the torments of hell immediately flash before his eyes... Some compassionate souls, passing by the monument, sympathize with Chirac.Will he be able to restrain himself from laughter?Will he be offended "What if such a completely unflattering portrayal of the hero who called on the French to fight the Nazis on June 18, 1940, will cause a scandal? Or a diplomatic incident? Russians love to dramatize everything."
"Tear of Sorrow"

"Size matters" - Zurab is often guided by such a rule when performing work. The artist sent a bronze sculpture with a titanium drop in the middle to New York in solidarity with the September 11 tragedy. According to the author's intention, the monument, symbolizing the twin towers, should stand on the site of the tragedy. However, the Americans saw in this creation a completely different symbol.
Here is what the Hudson Reporter writes: "... the monument looks like a giant vulva and will be offensive to women", "something between a scar and a female genital organ", "... the sculpture uses a banal symbol of sadness, and its banality is exacerbated by its large size" .
A group of activists wrote a petition to the authorities of New York with a request not to install a structure at the site of the attack. The authorities went to meet the residents, then Tsereteli proposed to erect a monument to the city of Jersey City, located on the other side of the Hudson. But even there they refused the gift. In the end, the creation managed to attach in the state of New Jersey, next to New York, and now it flaunts on an abandoned pier of a former military base at the mouth of the Hudson River.
"Tragedy of the peoples", a monument to the victims of Beslan or a procession of coffins
A colony of 8-meter victims of the fascist genocide emerges from the graves and heads towards Kutuzovsky Prospekt. Tombstones on Poklonnaya Gora caused horror among Muscovites and requests to "move the zombies somewhere behind the museum." Therefore, it was even decided to move the monument inside the park, away from the eyes of passers-by. However, critics called this sculptural composition "Tsereteli's best work."
Zurab Konstantinovich later used the coffins again, when creating a monument to the victims of Beslan. According to the plan, the angels from the coffins take the children to heaven. Children's toys are scattered on the pedestal of the sculpture. This monument would not have caused criticism from anyone, but Internet users heartily walked through Pinocchio sitting on the pedestal.
Riddles from Tsereteli
And finally, we invite you to think about the questions that many people have, looking at some of the works of Zurab Tsereteli
Riddle from Tsereteli No. 1: how did George the Victorious chopped a snake on honor with a thin spear?
Riddle from Tsereteli No. 2: What are the people in the photo doing
Riddle from Tsereteli No. 3: how many kittens will there be?
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(born in 1934) Russian sculptor, designer

All his life, Zurab Tsereteli has been busy filling the cities with his sculptural compositions. There are about a dozen of them in Moscow alone. This includes a column with letters of the Armenian, Georgian and Slavic alphabets on Tishinskaya Square, the sculptural composition "The Tragedy of Nations" on Poklonnaya Hill, figures of animals in the Alexander Garden near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, sculptural fragments of crosses and doors, as well as the interior decoration of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior , reconstruction of Manezhnaya Square according to the project of Tsereteli, his monument to Peter I.

Obviously, contemporaries should be grateful to the sculptor for his desire to please people with his art. However, the work of Zurab Konstantinovich Tsereteli causes an ambiguous attitude towards him. Some speak of him as a man of great talent, others believe that the sculptor achieved fame thanks to his organizational skills. "There are too many Tseretels everywhere," his critics say. And there really is a lot of it. The sculptural compositions of Zurab Tsereteli are installed not only in Moscow, St. Petersburg, in the homeland of the sculptor in Georgia, but also in other countries of the world. Tsereteli made three sculptures for the USA. His composition "Good triumphs over evil", made from the remains of Soviet and American nuclear missiles SS-20 and Zersching, is installed in front of the UN headquarters in New York. Tsereteli's sculptures are in London, Paris, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, in the capitals and cities of eleven countries of the world.

However, Zurab Konstantinovich Tsereteli knows how to defend his point of view on art. He has no doubt that time will put everything in its place and the descendants will be grateful to him for his functional art, which is directed to the good of man.

It seems that Zurab Tsereteli had to defend his position all his life, and he fully mastered the art of compromise. “I was often criticized, but I always did my job. I did not allow myself to be distracted by showdowns and conflicts. I have such a character: I wake up and do not remember yesterday's grievances. A creative person cannot be vindictive,” says the sculptor.

Problems with self-affirmation began in his student years. Zurab Tsereteli studied at the Tbilisi Academy of Arts and prepared a painting called “Song of Tbilisi” for release. However, the commission saw elements of convention in it, and Tsereteli was not allowed to defend. Another would be confused in his place or would continue to defend his point of view. But he chose a different path. Tsereteli persuaded a friend to pose for him and in two weeks painted another picture called "The New Man", depicting a strong athlete with a tennis racket in his hands. This time the picture fully complied with the principles of socialist realism and was made in the spirit of the then recognized poster art. This work fully satisfied the exacting commission. Zurab Tsereteli defended his diploma with honors, and thus the conflict was resolved.

After the academy, he had to go to work at the Institute of Ethnography and Archeology in order to support his family. Then he was already married, and his wife was expecting a child. However, this time was not wasted for the sculptor. Together with scientific expeditions, he traveled far and wide across Georgia, got to know its history, way of life, people's customs, without which a real artist cannot take place.

Finally, Zurab Tsereteli managed to get an order for the decoration of the city of Pitsunda. This was his first major professional work. He based his project on an ancient theme about the Argonauts who sailed to Colchis for the Golden Fleece. His next work - a project for a children's town in Adler - was awarded the Lenin Prize.

Since then, Tsereteli has been rapidly going uphill and there has been no shortage of orders. He designs the Yalta Hotel in the Crimea, works in Miskhor, and becomes the chief designer for the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow. By this time, Zurab Tsereteli was already settling in Moscow himself. In 1967, he received a workshop on Tverskoy Boulevard, in which, according to the sculptor, Vladimir Vysotsky celebrated his wedding with Marina Vlady.

However, Tsereteli does not break his ties with his homeland and alternately lives either in Moscow or in Tbilisi. This continued until he had disagreements with the then President of Georgia, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, who demanded that the sculptor not host US President George W. Bush in his Moscow workshop. By refusing to comply with this demand, Zurab Tsereteli became an "enemy of the Georgian people." In Tbilisi, his statue of the “Ring of Friendship” was blown up, the house was set on fire, in which 100 paintings burned down and many other valuable things died. After this incident, Tsereteli finally moved to Moscow. Here, the sculptor received a luxurious mansion and a piece of land in the very center of Moscow, on Bolshaya Gruzinskaya Street, which used to belong to the German embassy, as a gift from the Russian government. This also caused disapproval in artistic circles, but Tsereteli believes that in this case justice has triumphed, since this land was once owned by his ancestors, and now it has rightfully returned to him.

Tsereteli, in turn, donated his mansion in Tbilisi, which once housed Russia's first representative office in Georgia, to the Russian government, and now the Russian embassy in Georgia is located there.

Zurab Konstantinovich Tsereteli likes to say that all his wealth is his work and his friends. He really works a lot. However, the sculptor has not only obvious and secret ill-wishers, but also good friends. Among them are people of art, scientists, politicians. He also considers his friends the great contemporary artists M. Saryan, Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, D. Siqueiros, who have died. Tsereteli says that Siqueiros specially came to Tbilisi to look at his mosaic panel, he also went to Adler, where the sculptor designed a children's town at that time, and seemed to say: “My teacher Rivera once worked like that, but he had plastic evil, but you have it good.

His family is small. His only daughter is married to the son of the former chief architect of Moscow, M. Posokhin, and his grandson graduated from high school at the UN.

Zurab Tsereteli is not offended by the authorities. He is a laureate of the Lenin and State Prizes of the USSR. Currently, he is a People's Artist of the Russian Federation and President of the Academy of Arts.

Zurab Konstantinovich Tsereteli is still tireless, continues to work hard and thinks about many new projects, not forgetting to repeat his favorite saying: "Dogs bark, but the caravan moves on."

For a lump of money

How Zurab Tsereteli became a rich artist

Zurabka money, Moscow casinos, wagons with copper and an amusement park in which only one person thoroughly amused himself. The magazine "Money" figured out how the sculptor Zurab Tsereteli manages to give monuments to cities, in which there are only bronzes worth several hundred million rubles.

Residents of St. Petersburg collect signatures for a petition against the installation of a monument to Christ in the city Tsereteli. The statue was cast by the sculptor in 2013, has a height of 33 meters - according to the number of years lived by Christ - and was originally intended as a gift to the city of Sochi, but there was no place for it. Now Tsereteli claims that he sculpted the statue specifically to give it to St. Petersburg, and not just one, but as part of a composition of 17 works, of which 14 are eight-meter monuments to members of the Romanov royal family.

Against Christ, even larger than the monument in Rio de Janeiro (it is without a pedestal - only 30 meters), spoke out not only the secular community, but also representatives of the Romanov dynasty and even the Russian Orthodox Church. The latter reported that there is no practice of worshiping monuments in Christianity.

Dengi magazine, for its part, does not undertake to discuss ethical or artistic aspects, but is impressed by the value of the gift. The sculptors we interviewed calculated that, according to the most conservative estimates, without logistics, installation and pedestals, the cost of 17 sculptures is 320 million rubles. Generously, given that just a month earlier, another gift from Tsereteli to the people was installed - a 92-meter monument to Columbus in Puerto Rico. Also, probably millions 150 spent. However, the biography of the most successful Russian sculptor proves that it is impossible to get poorer by handing out such gifts.

The prospect of being a poor artist never attracted Zurab Tsereteli

Like Titian

Many years ago, answering a journalist's question, Zurab Tsereteli said that he never wanted to be a poor artist, but wanted to be, for example, like Titian, who "adored the entire Venetian Senate, all Venice, all foreign emperors."

As you know, Titian was indecently rich, arranged luxurious balls in his palazzo, and the spiteful critics who did not get to these balls wrote about him as "the most greedy of people ever created by nature."

Zurab Tsereteli, whose newspaper The Georgian Times in 2007 included in the top ten richest Georgians in the world with condition assessment $2 billion., in fact, succeeded more than Titian: he practically does not even have ill-wishers. Thanks to his charm and ability to negotiate, he survived several generations of power as a "court" sculptor and did not lose his.

Zurab Tsereteli received the title of “Georgian millionaire” already in the 70s, and there is a lovely legend that at that time in Georgia the 50-ruble note was called "Zurabka", because the young sculptor did not recognize smaller amounts of money. The fortune came to him simply: having early headed the monumental section of the Union of Artists of Georgia, Zurab Konstantinovich got access to orders for the design of the main party health resorts. His sculptures, as well as mosaic and decorative panels, adorned Gagra, Sukhumi, Borjomi, Adler, Sochi, Miskhor and Pitsunda.

In Pitsunda, the first scandal in his biography happened. There were rumors that the OBKhSS of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Georgian SSR had claims against the sculptor: the estimate of the work was allegedly unreasonably high. And the bamboo curtains let Tsereteli down: according to the documents, they were designed as unique works of art.

But everything worked out: Tsereteli had high patrons quite early, among whom were the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Georgian SSR Eduard Shevardnadze, and Michael Posokhin, chief architect of Moscow.

Friendship with the latter, by the way, grew into a relationship: Tsereteli's daughter married Posokhin's son, also not the last person in the architectural environment of Moscow. Since 1993, he has been the head of Mosproekt-2, which, with the light hand of architectural critic Grigory Revzin, was nicknamed in the late 90s "court workshop" Mayor of Moscow Yuri Luzhkov. In the "era of Luzhkov", of course, the transformation of a millionaire into a billionaire began.

The fact that Tsereteli in the early 90s was related to two Moscow casinos became known quite recently

Casino and copper

In mid-July this year, a thief in law was arrested in Moscow Shakro Molodoy(Zakharia Kalashova), and as a result, many stories came to light. One of them concerns Tsereteli. As it turned out, already in the mid-90s, he, along with an American of Georgian origin Alex Crane and a former employee of the USSR Ministry of Defense Karlen Azizbekyan, was a co-owner of two Moscow casinos - Crystal and Golden Palace. It is assumed that in 2000 the Shakro gang took away both casinos from entrepreneurs, and the lawyer Tsereteli Vladimir Duhnov and Alex Crane were killed.

Another “dashing” episode attributed to Tsereteli belongs to the beginning of the 90s. We are talking about a sculpture of Columbus - most likely, about the same Columbus, who just happily took root in Puerto Rico. In 1992, he was just beginning his difficult journey: Russia wanted to give him to the United States. In this regard, Luzhkov asked Boris Yeltsin to exempt materials for the composition from customs duties. Columbus was supposed to be sculpted from bronze.

But customs officials who opened the wagons coming from the Uralelectromed plant near Yekaterinburg found there 85 thousand tons of copper, which accounted for 10% of Russia's annual copper exports. A criminal case was initiated on the fact of smuggling, but the investigation did not find Tsereteli's selfish interest.

In two years "The Case of the Russian Statue" already discussed in Spain: the figure of Goliath by Tsereteli was presented by the Moscow City Hall as a gift to the Spanish city of Marbella. Some time later, a member of the opposition Spanish Socialist Workers' Party Isabel Garcia Marquez stated that in fact it was not a gift at all. The mayor of Marbella, Jesús Gil, was accused of paying for the statue from a budget of about $1 million., but not directly. Luzhkov and Tsereteli allegedly received payment in land plots, which the sculptor later exchanged for apartments in the Los Granados cottage village.

However, the Spanish newspaper El Mundo again claimed that the statue was only tip of the iceberg, but in fact it was a screen, under the cover of which copper and bronze were smuggled out of Russia. Spanish law enforcement agencies opened a criminal case on these charges, it was not the only one against the mayor of Marbella - in total he was accused of 70 criminal cases. A few years later, the “case of the Russian statue” was dropped: the materials on the Gil cases were stolen, and the Spanish employee, who was accused of stealing the materials, died under mysterious circumstances.

To get into the "court sculptors" of Luzhkov, undoubtedly, was Tsereteli's great creative success. With Yuri Mikhailovich, the sculptor had not just friendship, but also (like with the Soviet patron Posokhin) practically a relationship: Tsereteli is the godfather of his daughter Olga, who was born in 1994. The sculptor personally sculpted Luzhkov twice: once as a janitor (according to Tsereteli, this is very symbolic, since the work of a janitor is similar to that of a mayor), the second time as an athlete playing football and tennis at the same time. Both sculptures are in the Tsereteli Gallery on Prechistenka.

Victory Monument on Poklonnaya Hill in Moscow. Installed in 1995. Height 141.8 meters (1 decimeter for each day of the war)

Orders in Moscow- one larger than the other - rained down on the sculptor as if from a cornucopia. Tsereteli supervised the creation of the memorial complex on Poklonnaya Hill, participated in the reconstruction of the Moscow Zoo, but most of all, of course, Muscovites will remember three things - the reconstruction of Manezhnaya Square, the erection of a monument to Peter I and the project to recreate the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.

Unlike its predecessors (Columbus in America and Goliath in Marbella), the monument to Peter I was not presented to Moscow, it was made by order of the Moscow government. It doesn't matter that the townspeople shoved aside the gift with all their might. Paid from the budget 100 billion. non-denominated rubles ( $16.5 million.) for the creation and installation of the monument.

Regarding the fees requested by Tsereteli for the work of the masters in finishing the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, the first cat ran between him and the mayor. Hearing the amount requested for the work (for a start, Tsereteli demanded $1.2 billion.), Luzhkov expressed his readiness to quit for that kind of money and personally climb the scaffolding with a brush.

The story of how, through the efforts of Tsereteli, they tried to decorate the temple with synthetic materials is also noteworthy. Luzhkov assured that money would not be spared for marble for sculptures, but Tsereteli began to promote the idea of using decorative material, which other experts stubbornly called plastic.

Monument to PeterI on an artificial island on the Moscow River. Installed in 1997 to celebrate the 850th anniversary of the city. Height - 98 meters

In the case of XXC, they managed to fight off plastic: mainly bronze was used in the design, but this idea was successfully implemented on a large scale on the next project - a shopping mall "Okhotny Ryad". In fact, initially the competition for the reconstruction of Manezhnaya Square was won by an architect Boris Ulkin, who proposed to create an entire underground city on the square with a museum, a theater, a cinema and a children's play center. But then Ulkin somehow disappeared from the project, and Mosproekt-2, headed by his son-in-law, took over Tsereteli.

As a result, the cultural institutions from the project also disappeared, leaving only one shopping complex. In terms of construction costs, it has become one of the most expensive in the world - a square meter cost $5 thousand., which cannot be said about its decoration: the historical decor of Okhotny Ryad was made of plastic.

After the ball

Relations between Luzhkov and Tsereteli began to deteriorate even before the resignation of the mayor. In 2007, the Moscow government seized 330 hectares of land in Nizhniye Mnevniki from the Children's Park of Wonders Foundation, established by Tsereteli. The site was allocated to the fund in 1994 for perpetual use for the construction of a "Russian Disneyland", but for 13 years neither the park nor investors appeared in the project. But, as Oleg Mitvol, deputy head of Rosprirodnadzor, said in 2007, a gas station, a Yermak restaurant, and a bike club were built on the site. sexton, cement plant and market. At the same time, the fund, by leasing plots to third-party companies, enjoyed land tax benefits. The tax authorities demanded additional payments from him. 800 million rubles tax, but the fund managed to challenge this in court.

Monument "The Birth of a New Man" in Seville. Installed in 1995. Height 45 meters

As the Kommersant newspaper wrote, Tsereteli was going to build a shopping complex in Nizhniye Mnevniki. The sculptor intended to involve in the project the largest Moscow developers - God Nisanov and Zarakh Iliev, who own, in particular, the European shopping center and the Ukraine Hotel. Tsereteli was associated with businessmen even in the construction of Evropeisky: the sculptor acted as a co-founder of Kyiv Ploshchad CJSC (12% share), which was the customer and investor in the construction of the shopping complex.

For the development of Mnevniki in 2005, City of Wonders LLC was created: according to SPARK, the Children's Park of Wonders Foundation was its co-owner, and God Nisanov was the general director.

The partners did not have time to implement the plans, and soon the Moscow era of Tsereteli ended altogether: in 2010, Luzhkov was removed with the wording "due to loss of confidence." Tsereteli, unlike his patron, has not lost his trust or fortune.

He remains the owner of several buildings in Moscow. So, the sculptor occupies several buildings on Bolshaya Gruzinskaya. The house at number 15 was given to him for housing and a workshop back in the 90s. The neighboring buildings (numbered 1 and 3), which are listed as the Museum of Modern Art, created "under Tsereteli" under Luzhkov, are also owned by the sculptor. He also owns three other museum buildings - on Petrovka, in Ermolaevsky Lane and on Tverskoy Boulevard.

Monument "Tear of Sorrow" in the city of Bayonne in the USA. Established in 2006 in memory of the victims of 9/11. Height 30 meters

Social movement "Archnadzor" A few years ago, a mansion was found near Tsereteli in Volkov Lane - restoration was illegally carried out in a historic building. However, according to Archnadzor, today it is almost completed.

The sculptor also found buildings in Tovarishchesky Lane and on Bryanskaya Street - the city authorities were suing Tsereteli because in the first case he illegally reconstructed, and in the second he illegally built a jewelry store, a pharmacy and a cafe, although the site was provided only for rent.

City authorities sued Zurab Tsereteli

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The biography of Zurab Tsereteli is monumental just like his work. The list of works of this outstanding artist includes hundreds of sculptures, monuments, panels, mosaics, canvases around the world, more than 40 personal exhibitions of the muralist took place. The list of honorary titles, awards, prizes and other merits of the master is long. Today Zurab Tsereteli lives in Moscow, heads the Russian Academy of Arts and the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, and continues to work fruitfully.

Childhood and youth

The most famous muralist of our time was born on January 4, 1934 in Tbilisi. The formation of young Zurab on the path of creativity was determined by the atmosphere in which the boy's childhood passed. Parents did not belong to the world of art: mother Tamara Nizharadze devoted her life to home and children, father Konstantin Tsereteli worked as a mining engineer, taught at a technical university.

But his mother's brother George Nizharadze was a painter. Visiting his house, little Zurab not only learned to draw, but also was imbued with the aura of talk about art, because progressive people of that time came to visit his uncle. At the age of 8, Zurab entered the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts, from which he graduated "with excellent marks" in 1958.

Creation

It seemed that time itself dictated to the artist the development in the style of the monumental genre. The era of the 60s, industrialization, the development of virgin lands, the solution of global problems, mass construction and resettlement - all this was reflected in Tsereteli's desire to introduce novelty into what he does. And the first position - an artist-architect - gave me such an opportunity.

Among the works performed at that time are the decorations of the resort complexes of Georgia (Gagra, Sukhumi, Borjomi, Pitsunda). A feature of the master's work is mosaic painting. Bus stops in Abkhazia, created at the stage of early creativity in the early 60s and representing amazing art objects in the form of fantastic marine life, are a vivid example of it.

Along with artistic and decorative work, Tsereteli participates in exhibitions. The first success was brought by the painting “On Guard for Peace” at the exposition of the same name in Moscow. In 1967, a personal exhibition of the master took place in Tbilisi. Then he was awarded the title of Honored Artist of the Georgian SSR.

Monument to St. George the Victorious in Tbilisi

At the same time, Tsereteli is actively expanding the geography of its activities. One by one, orders are received for the design of a variety of buildings and structures: the Cinema House in Moscow (1967-1968), the Palace of Trade Unions in Tbilisi, the Sea Bottom swimming pool in Ulyanovsk (1969), the resort complex in Adler (1973), the hotel " Yalta-Intourist" in the Crimea (1978) and much more.

In the period of 70-80s, the master worked a lot and fruitfully. Since 1970, being the chief artist of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, he has been engaged in the decoration of the embassies of the Soviet Union abroad, travels a lot, gets acquainted with famous foreign artists. There is also a lot of work at home, especially after being appointed the chief artist of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. All this brings the master the honorary title People's Artist of the USSR in 1980.

Monument "Friendship forever" in Moscow

The artist began work on monumental sculptures in the late 70s. The sculptural composition "Happiness for the children of the whole world" became a bright completion of the work. In 1983, the Friendship Forever monument was opened in Moscow, marking the 200th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Georgievsk between Russia and Georgia.

In the same year, in honor of this date, in his native Georgia, the artist built and opened the Arch of Friendship - a mosaic panel, which to this day pleases tourists on the Cross Pass near the Georgian Military Highway.

Monument to Marina Tsvetaeva in Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vi, France

The master dedicated a number of sculptures to prominent figures of history and modernity. Among the bright creations of this direction: a monument to the poetess in Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie (France) and Moscow, a monument in Apatity, a monument to John Paul II (France), in Moscow.

In 2017, the Alley of Rulers was opened in the Russian capital - a gallery of bronze busts by Zurab Tsereteli depicting the leaders of the Russian state from the era of Rurik to the 1917 revolution.

Monument to Peter the Great in Moscow

But the monument involved the name of Tsereteli in a scandal. The public of the capital reacted extremely negatively both to the sculpture and to the idea of its erection, calling the first, as Izvestia wrote, "disfiguring the city." The king is depicted in full growth, standing on the deck of a giant sailing ship.

Even the question of the demolition of the monument was raised, but today the passions have subsided, and the monument continues to stand on an artificial island on the Moscow River, remaining one of the largest in the capital (height - 98 m, weight - over 2000 tons).

Monument "Adam's Apple"

Tsereteli is no stranger to being under the gun of criticism: the master’s works are sometimes accused of gigantomania and bad taste, as was the case, for example, with the Adam’s Apple located in the Art Gallery he opened, or with the Fairy Tale Tree in the Moscow Zoo. The author himself takes this calmly.

Personal life

While still studying at the Tbilisi Academy of Arts, Zurab Tsereteli met his future wife, Inessa Andronikashvili, who comes from a princely family. The couple have been married for over 45 years. In 1998, after the death of Inessa Alexandrovna, the artist organized the first solo exhibition in Moscow, named after his wife.

The daughter of Zurab Konstantinovich and Inessa Alexandrovna, Elena, and her children Vasily, Victoria and Zurab live in Moscow. Today, the Tsereteli family already has four great-grandchildren: Alexander, Nikolai, Philip, Maria Isabella.

Charity

The life of Zurab Tsereteli is closely connected with charity. Some of the works were created by the master free of charge, as a gift to this or that city, institution, fund.

The artist participates in charity exhibitions and auctions, directing funds from the sold works to fight childhood diseases.

By the way, in 2007 The Georgian Times included Zurab Tsereteli in the top ten richest people of Georgian nationality in the world, denoting the artist's fortune of $ 2 billion.

Zurab Tsereteli today

In 2018, Zurab Konstantinovich turned 84 years old. But the rhythm of creative life does not subside. The master creates, organizes exhibitions, gives master classes for children, takes part in interviews and poses for photos with pleasure, but most importantly, he is full of new ideas and projects. In 2016, the Tsereteli House Museum was opened in the village of Peredelkino near Moscow.

Zurab Tsereteli at a meeting with fans in 2018

In 2014, the muralist became a full cavalier of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, receiving an award of the IV degree. The main secret of health and longevity, the sculptor calls constant work "without any vacations and vacation breaks."