Cinema

Reading students Shurik and Lidochka monument

21.11.201609.04.2020 by Elena

Reading students Shurik and Lidochka monument

The bronze figure of the most famous students of 1960s Shurik and Lidochka appeared May 26, 2012 in the center of Krasnodar, Russia. Shurik and Lidochka are the main characters of the iconic comedy film of the time “Shurik’s adventures”, by director Leonid Gaidai. In the role of Shurik (short for Alexander) Soviet actor Alexandr Demyanenko, and in the role of Lidochka (Lida, Lidiya) – beautiful Soviet actress Natalya Selezneva. The reading couple stands in front of the Kuban University of Technology on Krasnaya (red) street. The place for the new monument is not accidental – this is a symbol of the excellent training of students. Still the composition can be also called an ode to reading. About a dozen sculptors, architects and founders have worked on the sculptural composition for six months. Although the figures that the weigh more than 300 kg, their height hardly exceeds human growth. So, what the monument reveals?

Reading students. sculptor Valery Pchelin

The students, in fact, read not a book, but notes with recordings of lectures, because the next day they will have to pass an exam in college. They are so deeply involved in the reading, that the world as if not exists around them. At first, it was one girl who read in the bus. Standing next to her a student Shurik became interested in reading too. And in such a state the couple got off the tram at the stop, continuing to read. They read on the way home, passing by the evil dog in the yard, went into the apartment, lying on the couch, ate, and went back to college, not looking up from reading. Strangers to each other, students did not even notice and did not understand that the whole day had been together.

Leonid Gaidai is the unsurpassed director and genius of comedy, and, in common opinion, he is the best comedy film director ever.

In the gallery – stills from the film “Operation Y and Other Adventures of Shurik”, in the sequence, which explains the events in the film and the story of the monument.