On Tuesday RIA Novosti learnt from the press service of the council of ministers of the Autonomous Republic of the Crimea that the monument by Zurab Tsereteli will be unveiled during the official events marking the 60th anniversary of the Yalta conference.
"One of the three proposed drafts of the monument has been selected. It is based on the well-known photo of the leaders of the USSR, Great Britain and the United States taken in the Italian patio of the Livadia Palace", the press service says. The monument will be erected amidst greenery in front of the palace, though a final decision has not yet been taken.
According to Vladimir Kazarin, vice-premier of the Crimean council of ministers, it will be the first monument picturing Stalin since debunking his personality cult. The unveiling ceremony is expected to be attended by the presidents of Ukraine and Russia.
Within the framework of festivities on the 60th anniversary of the Yalta conference, book and museum exhibitions will be held in the Crimea, as well as an ethnographic conference and one with the involvement of the leading scientists of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the United States and United Kingdom, titled Yalta Conference: Destinies of the World in the New Centenary, slated for February 4 through 7, 2005.
Zurab Tsereteli (born in 1934) is a well-known monumental artist. He was born in Georgia and has for many years been working in Moscow. In 1997 was elected president of the Russian Academy of Arts. Has been in the post to this day.
