[ Monumental Sculpture ]
Monument to Anastasia Slutskaya in Slutsk
Sculpture by Sergei Oganov, 2016, for the 900th anniversary of the city.
Facts about the monument
- Location
- Slutsk, Belarus
- Materials
- Bronze, stone
- Height
- 14.4 ft
- Pedestal weight
- 6.6 US tons
- Stone part weight
- 5.5 US tons
- Bronze sculpture weight
- 1322.8 lb
- Sculptor
- Sergei Oganov
- Architect
- Sergei Boglasov
- Lettering
- Vladimir Dovgyalo
- Stonemason
- Vladimir Shpakov
Description and history of creation
The monument is dedicated to Princess Anastasia Slutskaya, one of the city’s best-known historical figures, often referred to as the Belarusian Joan of Arc. She holds a large sword in front of her, about 2.3 meters long and weighing about 80 kg.
Bronze and stone
A distinctive feature of the monument is the combination of bronze, used for the upper part of the figure, and massive stone, used for the lower part, the “skirt.”
The original granite block weighed about 10 tons. After processing, the stone part weighed about 5 tons. The bronze figure weighs about 600 kg.
Fitting the bronze and stone parts took about a week and a half and was carried out using reference points with a full-scale plaster model.
How the image of Anastasia Slutskaya was created
“No historical record of what Anastasia Slutskaya looked like has survived. I studied many portraits of people from that time, including facial types characteristic of the Olelkovich and Radziwill families. The result was a composite image of the princess.”
Developing the gaze
Since the height of the monument is 4.4 meters, the facial features had to be clearly visible both up close and from a distance. Just working on the eyes took three days of repeated adjustments: repeatedly climbing up to the figure and back down to assess it from the viewer’s eye level.