The Massive Trident Destined For Kyiv's Motherland Monument
- By RFE/RL
After a successful fund-raising campaign, work is under way to place a steel trident on Ukraine's most famous statue.
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This image, of workers welding a giant Ukrainian trident, was one of several photos published by Ukraine's Suspilne News outlet on July 19.
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The pictures show progress on a stainless-steel shield -- measuring 7.6 meters high and 4.5 meters wide -- that will replace the current shield of Kyiv’s Motherland Monument.
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The Motherland Monument is a 102-meter-high statue commemorating Soviet victory in World War II. The steel figure looks east from the right bank of the Dnieper River in Kyiv.
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The current steel shield of the monument features the Soviet coat of arms. Ukrainian activists have long called for the removal of the communist emblem. A survey held in 2022 reported some 85 percent of Ukrainians wanted the hammer and sickle replaced with a trident -- Ukraine's official coat of arms.
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Men posing in front of the Motherland Monument during its assembly in March 1981.
Construction of the steel-skinned statue began in 1979 and was completed in 1981.
Construction of the steel-skinned statue began in 1979 and was completed in 1981.
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The opening ceremony for the Motherland Monument on May 9, 1981. Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev can be seen (lower left) speaking during the event.
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Ukrainian workers handle a section of the trident shield that is currently being built at an undisclosed location.
Funding for the 28 million hryvna ($758,000) steel shield was raised with donations from various large Ukrainian businesses.
Funding for the 28 million hryvna ($758,000) steel shield was raised with donations from various large Ukrainian businesses.
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The shield is due to be installed on the Motherland Monument by late August. One critic called the technically difficult and expensive project "impossible" to achieve.
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In a Facebook post on July 19, Ukraine's Ministry of Culture and Information Policy declared that replacing the hammer and sickle with the trident "is about freeing our culture from Soviet stigma."
