Elk (sculpture, Sovetsk)

Even in ancient times, in the southeast of the Teutonic Order, hunting for wild boars, bison, tours and moose was a favorite game of knights.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Humbinne sculptor Richard Friese made two deer sculptures that were installed in the Romint Forest . He decided to perpetuate the nature of the region in the form of the most traditional animal of these places - the moose. Being familiar with the master Ludwig Vordermeier, a student of Eduard Manet , Frize inspired him to make a sculpture of an elk, and later ensured that the city authorities of Gumbinnen acquired this sculpture and installed it. The figure of the moose in the center of Gumbinnen impressed and was successful, and the author - Ludwig Vordermeier, noted with attention, planned to cast the second moose, however, he realized the idea much later, in 1928 . The then Prime Minister of Prussia, Otto Brown, wanted to give it to his hometown of Koenigsberg , but the city authorities refused. Then the sculpture of an elk was presented to Tilsit as a symbol of peace and greatness of the region.

Of course, like works of art, the Gumbin and Tilsit moose do not repeat each other. Each of them has its own characteristics, the elk from Tilsit is larger and its head is tilted lower.

The opening ceremony for the sculpture of an elk in Tilsit took place on June 29, 1928 on Anger Square (now Theater Square) between the courthouse and the theater. ^[1] . The sculpture became very popular with the inhabitants of Tilsit. Elk has become an urban symbol, its image appeared on envelopes, photographs, postcards, dishes ... After the war , since 1947, Elk stood in a city park at the stadium. And at its former place of stay they put a T-34 tank and equipped a memorial complex for the burial of soldiers of the Second World War. Then, in the early 1950s, the sculpture was transported to Kaliningrad and installed in a zoo. In 2007, the sculpture of Elk, after a long correspondence, was returned to Sovetsk, where he took a new place - in the square opposite the city administration building.

• Horns were repeatedly cut down by the elk (the first time back in German times). In 1932, Hitler appeared in Tilsit from the balcony. In protest against his policy, one of the townspeople sawed off a horn from a bronze beast (then welded). ^[2] . In Soviet times, someone sawed off one horn from a statue and turned it into scrap metal, they found the horn at the base of scrap materials and welded it back into place. After returning to Sovetsk, the bronze giant also repeatedly suffered from the actions of vandals, who, according to bad tradition, sawed off his horns.

• The moose sculpture stood on a low pedestal and many daredevils and strove to "ride" on it. And once, on a quiet moonlit night, after drinking alcohol, a group of young people decided to christen the moose, which, in fact, was done right there with the help of a half liter of good German beer, giving it the name "Gustav". The town was small and everyone soon found out about this case. So the name stuck. The tradition of giving to the husbands has been preserved, it is this name that exists today in Germany, for example, when recently one moose began to interfere with traffic on one of the country roads in Germany, the local press called it “Gustav”, despite the fact that it soon became clear that it was a moose cow. ^[3] .

• Elk in Sovetsk
• Sculpture "Elk"