The monument to Abai Kunanbayev was erected on Abai Square in Alma-Ata in 1960 . Authors: sculptor H.I. Nauryzbaev , architect I.I. Belotserkovsky .
| Monument | |
| Monument to Abai | |
|---|---|
 Monument to Abai. | |
| A country |  Kazakhstan |
| City | Alma-ata |
Description
The total height of the monument is 13 m. The sculpture is cast in bronze . The shape of the pedestal is trapezoidal , made of red granite . The figure of Abai is in motion. In his left bent arm he holds a book, and with his right he holds the floors of a chapan thrown over his shoulders. The head of the thinker is voluminous. The face is given an expression of thoughtfulness, a look fixed on the future. The philosophical mood of the poet, the extraordinary personality, emphasizes the monumentality of the figure, the integrity of the plastic solution of the monument [1] .
Creation
In the early 1950s, a competition was announced for the monument to Abai in Alma-Ata. His sculptor Khakimzhan Nauryzbaev told:
The monument was planned to be opened by 1954 , when the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Abai was celebrated. Then, a competition was announced for the best image of Abay. I took part in it and liked my work. One of them was staged at the opera house. Now she has disappeared somewhere. I can’t even say where she is. [2] |
However, the monument was decided to be erected only in 1960 - on the 115th anniversary of the birth of Abay. There were many applicants, but Nauryzbaev was charged with creating the monument. Since the monument to Abay was supposed to be the first monument of the city, the question arose of where to find workshops in which it was possible to make a monument with a total height of 13.7 m [2] .
I looked after the mechanical workshops at the Agricultural Institute . There they allocated me something like a vestibule . The tambour was narrow, but with a high ceiling. Workshop workers called this space a "barrel." When the monument was ready, they told me that they were proud of the fact that Abay was created in their “barrel”. [2] |
Before starting work, the sculptor traveled to the homeland of Abay, talked with local elders, and upon returning to Alma-Ata, he turned to the Academy of Sciences with a request to recommend a consultant to him. He was recommended a relative of Abai, writer Mukhtar Auezov , who agreed to advise Nauryzbaev. Every morning, on the way to work, the sculptor went to Auezov’s house, where Auezov’s house-museum is now located [2] .
The writer came almost every day to mechanical workshops along with other writers, artists, and guests from other republics. Due to the cramped space of all Abay, it was impossible to make out; Auezov nodded approvingly and said that everything was fine. When work on the monument was completed, he was transported to the courtyard of the workshops. Specialists arrived from the Leningrad plant "Monument-sculpture", where they had to cast a monument from bronze , and were preparing to pick it up. The sculptor called Auezov, and he came, as usual, with his guests. This time the writer sharply criticized the whole work, seeing it in its entirety. Nauryzbaev was very upset, after about ten days he completed the work and again invited Auezov. “This is Abay,” the writer said. [2]
Notes
- ↑ Alma-Ata. Encyclopedia / Ch. ed. M.K. Kozybaev . - Alma-Ata: Ch. ed. Kazakh Soviet Encyclopedia, 1983. - S. 75. - 608 p. - 60,000 copies.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 Georgy Khinich. Nauryzbaev is the first and forgotten. In memory of the sculptor and our unconsciousness // Freedom of Speech. - No. 46 (292) . - S. 22 .