Oleniy Bridge Restored With IPA CIS Assistance Opened in Pavlovsk State Museum-Reserve

Pavlovsk State Museum-Reserve near St. Petersburg opened the Oleniy Bridge for which four deer sculptures were recreated with the IPA CIS assistance.

The original sculptures were cast in the 19^th century after the model of the famous German sculptor Christian Daniel Rauch. Similar sculptural images also adorned the museum-reserves of Oranienbaum, Strelna and Znamenka.

In the late 1920s, the deer sculptures disappeared from the bridge. There is no accurate information about the time and reasons for their disappearance, but it is most likely that the sculptures were simply sent to be melted down. It turned out later that four same deer sculptures from Strelna ended up in Uzbekistan, where they were taken by the Grand Duke Nicholas Konstantinovich of Russia before the revolution. There, the sculptures adorn the former duke’s palace, which now houses the Reception House of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

The CIS Interparliamentary Assembly, with personal contribution from Chairperson of the IPA CIS Council, Speaker of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Valentina Matvienko and then Speaker of the Senate of the Oliy Majilis of the Republic of Uzbekistan Nigmatilla Yuldashev, aided in the implementation of an international project to recreate the sculptures.

Copies of young deer made of bronze by Uzbek sculptor Jasvant Annazarov were donated by the Republic to the Pavlovsk State Museum-Reserve. A pair of mature deer with branched antlers was recreated in one of the foundries of St. Petersburg after the model of sculptor Vladislav Manachinskiy.

Photo: http://www.pavlovskmuseum.ru/