The monument to Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson
May 1, 2007
The closed competition was carried out among the Moscow architects that determined the best sculptural personification of the popular literary heroes. The prototype for the sculpture of Andrey Orlov have become the characters of heroes of Arthur Conan Doyle made by the first illustrator of the book Sidney Paget. Besides, in sculptures the resemblance to great Russian actors Vasily Livanov and Vitaly Solomin, who played the detective and his friend on Russian screen can be clearly traced. More than 200 screen versions of adventures of the famous detective have been done in the world, but the Russian one turned out to be the best. People's artist of Russia Vasily Livanov for the best embodiment of the character of Sherlock Holmes was decorated by Queen Elizabeth II with the Order of the British Empire.
The Moscow sculptural composition – is the only one in the world where the popular heroes of Conan Doyle appear before the public together. They have been made in actual size (800 kg of bronze was used for the monument). Sherlock Holmes stands near the small bench, on which Doctor Watson has taken a seat. There is a space in between them allowing you to take picture in their company.
2007 celebrated the 120th anniversary since the story of Conan Doyle about adventures of Sherlock Holmes "A Study In Scarlet" saw the light. Unveiling of the monument was timed to that memorable date. Installation of the sculptural group on the Smolenskaya embankment has become another bridge between the cultures of Great Britain and Russia.
The monument to the heroes of Conan Doyle has been erected within the framework of project «Peoples' heroes in sculptural compositions» of the international charitable public fund «Dialogue of cultures – one world». The monument to Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson is the third monument to the heroes of world literature in the Russian capital. In 2004 within the framework of the project near the Metro station «Molodezhnaya» there appeared a monument to resilient baron Munchhausen, pulling himself out of the bog, and in 2006 on Yartsevskaya street – the monument to Hodja Nasreddin, legendary wise and witty man.
