We brought the bronze monument of Alexander Pushkin to Washington on our flight from Moscow. The three-meter-high statue of the poet was kept in a different section, tied with belts to a wooden platform. It was traveling without packaging, like an ordinary passenger… We flew at great height, over the ocean, with its vastness clearly visible. The weather was nice, and we were approaching America.
How did this come about?
A competition was announced in the United States for a monument to the Russian poet Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin.
On April 6, 1999, the Academy of Arts received a letter from Washington, on behalf of James Symington, informing them that the jury of the competition for the Alexander Pushkin monument had chosen the “Golden Pegasus” project by Alexander Burganov.
The American-Russian Cultural Cooperation
Foundation proposed a location for the monument that was just perfect. It was in
the heart of Washington, near the White House, in front of the new library
building of the George Washington University. The monument was unveiled by
Mayor Anthony A. Williams of the District of Columbia, and the anthems of both
Russia and the United States were performed at the ceremony. Students laid
flowers. I was amazed to see Russian emigrants of the first wave, such as
Prince A. Lvov and Count N. Tolstoy. Messages from President Bill Clinton of
the United States and his wife Hillary Clinton were delivered, as well as that from
Russian President Vladimir Putin. American students recited Pushkin’s poems in
the original Russian with a slight accent. The same day, I accompanied Count
Tolstoy and his beautiful Italian wife, who did not speak a word of Russian, to
the Russian Orthodox church. We lit candles in front of an icon to St. Nicholas
the Wonderworker and received a blessing…
