Deer sculpture (Smolensk)

In 1909, in the vicinity of his hunting lodge in Romintenskaya Forest, Kaiser Wilhelm II shot down a deer with surprisingly ornate horns ^[1] . The emperor liked the hunting trophy so much that he decided to immortalize it in bronze. For this, the then-famous sculptor-animalist Richard Frieze was invited ^[2] . In 1910, at the chapel of St. Hubert, a sculpture was installed on a low pedestal ^[1] . The resulting bronze deer was about one and a half times larger than the original ^[1] .

In 1944, the sculpture mysteriously disappeared and a year later it was discovered by the Red Army soldiers at Goering's cottage ^[3] . After the war, the deer was transported to Smolensk. In 1945, on the side of the trophy, one could still read the inscription in white paint: “ A gift from East Prussia to the children of Smolensk from the guards of the N-corps! » ^{[1] A} bronze deer was installed on a playground in Blonie’s garden ^[4]

The universal favorite of Smolyan repeatedly suffered from "excessive love" of citizens. Over the years of his stay in Blonie Park, the sculpture was restored three times. Once by the sculptor A. N. Rusetskaya and twice by P. A. Fishman , who in 2010, by the centenary of the creation of the sculpture, carried out a thorough restoration of the deer in the art casting workshop in Katyn . In the same year, a granite stone with a brass plate was installed next to the sculpture, which shows the name of the sculptor, as well as the date of creation of the bronze deer ^[5] .

• Before the war, in the Rominstenskaya Forest, not far from the sculpture, there was a comfortable hotel “U deer” named after her ^[1] .
• One antler weighs 200 kg ^[6] .
• The Smolyans have a tradition: to attract good luck, rub the deer’s genitals ^[7] .

• Garden Blonie

• Shkolnikov A. Will a statue of a deer be protected from vandals in Smolensk? (unopened) (inaccessible link - history ) .
• Deer sculpture in Smolensk