Cast bronze Monument to William Saroyan unveiled in Yerevan
17-12-2008 23:00:00 | Armenia | Culture
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 17, NOYAN TAPAN. A 3 m 24 cm high
Monument to the 20th century world-famous writer William Saroyan
was unveiled at the crossroads of Mashtots Avenue and Moskovian
Street in Yerevan on December 12. W. Saroyan considered kindness
as the greatest human virtue. He said on various occasions that
he is an Armenian by blood and an American by his environment.
The author of the monument is Paris-based sculptor David
Yerevantsi. He personally knew Saroyan and presented the writer
at the age of 54 and full of "Saroyan" temperament. Dadid
Yerevantsi declined to accept a payment for the sculpture,
saying this monument is his gift to his favorite city of Yerevan
and its residents.
In his words, after approval of the monument's preliminary
model, he worked at it for a year, after which the gypsum statue
was moved to the studio of the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague
where the bronze monument was cast. The sculptor insisted on the
casting work being done in the Czech Republic as many famous
European monuments have been cast there. Later in Yerevan,
architects Levon Igitian and Ruben Hasratian completed the
monument composition by finding some interesting architectural
solutions.