Moscow, Russia – As you travel south of the Kremlin on the Moscow River, you cannot miss a huge statue on the side of the river. It is a giant sailor standing on a tiny sailing ship looking over the bow and pointing with a rolled up bronze map. To say that it seems out of place could be considered an understatement. In fact, in 2008 the web site “Virtual Tourist” proclaimed it to be the tenth ugliest statue in the world!
The Georgian born artist Zurab Tsereteli created this statue of Peter the Great. It weighs about 660 tons and stands some 315 feet high! It is said to be the eight tallest statue in the world. But it was not always a statue of Peter the Great.
This giant of a statue began life as a statue of none other than Christopher Columbus! Tsereteli had Columbus standing on one of his ships and pointing out to see over the bow with his bronze map. Tsereteli has sold statues all over the world, and he attempted to sell Columbus to the United States. However, try as he might, he never managed to locate a buyer for his work. The work was roundly rejected.
Not one to give up, Tsereteli began to look elsewhere to a buyer. In time he found a willing buyer in the Mayor of Moscow. The interest was not in Columbus, however. Tserelei turned Christopher Columbus into Peter the Great for his Russian buyer.
He removed Columbus’ head and replaced it with Peter the Great’s head! So there stands in Moscow the head of Peter the Great on Christopher Columbus’ body on top of one of Columbus’ ships! He remains dressed in Columbus’ clothes even though the two men lived in different eras with different ways of dressing.
Tour guides love to point out the statue and tell the story. It is almost always sure to get a laugh out of the tourists. It may or may not be one of the ten ugliest statues in the world, but it is a contender.