The masters of the OMI studio created a monument to the Volunteer Soldier

For more than two months, the masters of the OMI studio worked on the order received from residents of Troyeshchyna and people's deputies. As a result, in July 2016, a monument to the Volunteer Soldier appeared in one of the park areas of Kyiv on Mayakovsky Avenue. The opening ceremony was attended by the mayor of Kyiv Vitaliy Klitschko, people's deputies of Ukraine, representatives of various branches of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, ATO participants, clergy and Kiev residents.

According to the sculptors of the OMI studio, it took half a ton of bronze to create the full-length image of a soldier (1.85 meters), and 3.5 tons of granite to create the pedestal.

“This is a collective image of a volunteer soldier. To create the monument, we reviewed hundreds of photographs, talked with the guys who volunteered in the ATO zone, we studied the features of modern uniforms and weapons. In the end, in order to combine all the information received, it was decided to “dress” the soldier in a uniform without chevrons, but to find opportunities to convey the features of this war in something else,” said art director of the OMI studio Bogdan Kazachenko.

Bogdan said that at the time of creating the sketch of the monument, the masters of the OMI studio were touched by the story that due to the shortage of knee pads on the front line (when shooting, they often have to stand on knee to aim), the soldiers shared the second knee pad from the existing pair with their brother-in-arms.

Therefore, the soldiers in the ATO zone only had a knee pad on their right leg. The specialists of the OMI studio decided to convey this feature in the image of the volunteer soldier they created. Also, the masters, wanting to convey the soldier’s love for Ukraine in bronze, “put” a volume of Kobzar into his hands.

“We tried to do everything possible so that the image we created was clear to everyone, including this is reflected in the emotions on his face: he is tired, experienced, has seen war, but calm and focused. He survived all these hardships, but he returned to remind us every day how important it is to take care of the world,” emphasized Bogdan Kazachenko.