Monument to Beketov (Kharkov)

The architect A.N. Beketov largely shaped the architectural appearance of the city of Kharkov (more than 40 buildings), especially the Nagorny district , Pushkinskaya , Sadovo-Kulikovskaya and Mironositsky lane .

The idea of ​​creating a monument to Beketov was born within the walls of the Kharkov State Technical University of Construction and Architecture in 2004 . The university staff unanimously decided by the Academic Council (protocol No. 7 dated September 3, 2004 ) to the then Kharkiv city mayor V. Shumilkin with a request for a decision by the city council on the construction of a monument to architect A. N. Beketov. In accordance with the decisions of the city planning council, the executive committee of the Kharkiv city council on April 4, 2007 adopted a resolution on the construction of such a monument ^[1] . The monument was decided to be installed near the University of Construction and Architecture ^[2] .

In August 2007, a monument to A. N. Beketov was erected at the main entrance to the main building of Kharkov State Technical University of Construction and Architecture , located at 40 Sumy Street . The head of the design work for the monument was Professor Yu. M. , head of the Department of Urban Studies at KSTU . Shkodovsky , and the author of the monument is the sculptor Seyfaddin Gurbanov .

August 22, 2007 the monument was unveiled. The mayor of Kharkov, Mikhail Dobkin ^[3] , the then head of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration Arsen Avakov , his deputies - Vladimir Babaev and Lyudmila Belova , the chief architect of the region Yuri Shkodovsky, rectors of Kharkov universities, heads of enterprises and organizations, the monument's author, and sculptor took part in the opening ceremony. Seyfaddin Gurbanov, as well as the grandson of the architect Fedor Rofe-Beketov ^[4] .

The monument to the architect Beketov was created with donations from Kharkovites, which were collected by the Mechnikov Charity Fund ^[3] .

According to the sculptor, the monument is built on a massive granite pedestal, descending in its lower part with two steps on the sidewalk. The very composition of the monument is made up of a figure of a architect in a thoughtful pose, who sits cross-legged in an old armchair and holds an unfinished drawing with his left hand, and with his right hand, as if props his head, and at the same time mentally rests on the column. On the head of the architect is an academic cap. To the right behind the master is an unprocessed stone block, from which you can see a hewn architectural element in the form of the top of an antique column.

Arsen Avakov, Governor of the Kharkiv region in 2005-2010. ^[4] :

A long time ago this monument was supposed to be opened in Kharkov - a sign of gratitude, a sign of recognition of merits in front of the native city, a sign of memory. And yet - the promise to keep the unique graceful Beketovsky style of Kharkov. Do not destroy it for the sake of today's petty interests and benefits. To pass on to our children and grandchildren - as the great architect and great humanist Aleksey Beketov conveyed to us!

Seifaddin Gurbanov, architect of the monument ^[3] :

This monument has passed a lot of tests. He was rejected several times at city council meetings and demanded to be redone, but I knew that my idea could not be half-hearted, so I kept to the original plan. As a result, today the monument has finally opened, and thank God.

• Photos of the monument from other angles