Those who fought near Prokhorovka

A monument was erected on the site of the famous battle

A monument was erected on the site of the famous battle

On May 16, the sculptural composition “Tank Landing” was opened at the Prokhorovskoye Pole Museum-Reserve, at the site of the battle near Prokhorovka, by the People’s Artist of Russia, Lenin Prize laureate Friedrich Sogoyan, Honored Artists of Russia and Armenia Vahe Sogoyan and Mikael Sogoyan, Honored Architect of Russia Vitaly Pertsev.

On the territory of the complex there is already a tank composition by Sogoyanov - "Battering Ram": this is an illustration of the feat of Alexander Nikolaev, one of the first tankers who committed a tank ram, but this is a monument without people. By the 70th anniversary of the Victory, the administration of the region opened a tankodrome in the museum, where a new monumental sculpture "Tank landing" was installed. Its task is to show the feat of a soldier in the Battle of Prokhorov. The landing force was placed on the hull of the tank, and during the attack, when the tank came close to the enemy trenches, the soldiers jumped off it and went hand-to-hand.

“Sculpting a person with technique is very difficult,” says sculptor Friedrich Sogoyan. - In order for the tank not to have visual "privileges", you need to look for the right compositional solution. Some of the soldiers are sitting, some are running, some are jumping - and this takes the viewer's attention, leading the tank itself into the shadows.

“We managed to create a work,” adds co-author Mikael Sogoyan, “that flies into battle, to convey this feeling of elemental heroism, to show how in battle people and equipment became one and rushed to a common goal. And there, on Prokhorovskaya land, standing next to this work, you feel that there was an enemy somewhere nearby, you see how the soldiers are running towards him, and you know that they will definitely win.

This is a monument to the entire army, and there are no specific people here. There is a Ukrainian, a Russian, a Caucasian… This monument is dedicated to the soldiers, my grandfather, who also fought in the Belgorod-Kharkov offensive operation. He died near Warsaw. While working, we thought about him.