Bulgakov monument to be moved to a closed private territory
20 December 15:29
EXCLUSIVE
On Thursday, December 18, the Kyiv City Council decided to remove more than a dozen objects associated with Russian and Soviet symbols from public space.
The dismantling will affect 15 objects and individual elements, including a monument to writer Mikhail Bulgakov on Andriyivskyy Descent.
Lyudmyla Hubianuri, director of the Bulgakov Literary and Memorial Museum in Kyiv, told [Komersant ] that the Bulgakov Museum is now dealing with the history of Kyiv not only in the context of one writer, and confirmed that the museum was aware of the monument’s dismantling and said that it was not the museum’s property.
“The monument legally has nothing to do with the museum. It was never on the balance sheet. It is a private initiative of Denys Bass. The monument bears his name as a patron of the arts,” said Liudmyla Hubianuri.
The museum director also praised the work of the sculpture’s authors from an artistic point of view.
The authors of Bulgakov’s monument are the famous Ukrainian sculptor Mykola Rapai and architect Viacheslav Dormidontov. Their names, along with the name of Denys Bass, the first deputy head of the Kyiv City State Administration, who personally paid for the monument’s construction, are inscribed on the pedestal.
“We were not the customers (of the sculpture – Ed.), but the monument is good. The museum has no plans to do anything with the dismantled monument. All I know is that the daughter of sculptor Mykola Rapai, Kateryna Rapai, is concerned about it. I don’t know any other details,” says Liudmyla Hubiani.
Public figure Oleh Slabospytsky, who constantly monitors the topic of decommunization in the capital, also confirmed that the scandalous monument will be moved to a private territory after being dismantled from Andriyivskyy Descent.
“Kyiv will finally be without Bulgakov…the monument to the Ukrainophobe and chauvinist will be moved to a private closed area at the request of the sculptor’s daughter,” commented Oleh Slabospytsky.
Earlier, the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory (UINM) recognized writer Mikhail Bulgakov as a symbol of Russian imperial policy.
In April 2024, a petition by citizens to remove the writer’s monument from public space received more than 6,000 votes.
According to the Kyiv City Council’s decision of July 13, 2023, more than 250 monuments and memorials were added to the list of objects to be removed. As of today, more than 170 of them have already been dismantled.
In addition to the Bulgakov monument, the list for removal includes monuments to famous personalities such as composer Mikhail Glinka (in Muzychnyi Lane), poet Anna Akhmatova (in Mariinsky Park), and Soviet activist Dmitry Manuelsky (at the corner of Instytutska and Lipska streets).
The Kyiv City Council’s initiative also includes the removal of the names of Russian cities from the Zero Kilometer memorial sign on Maidan Nezalezhnosti during major repairs.
