Kolbasa monument dismantled in Novosibirsk

A monument to kolbasa, a popular Russian variety of sausage, has been dismantled in the city of Novosibirsk after government criticism.

The three metre-high statue was constructed in the 1990s and dismantled on the evening of Monday 16 May. Behind the monument was the inscription, “Is life hard for you? And who has it easy now? Hey, don’t be dismayed, eat more kolbasa!”, which, according to witness Stanislav Zaharkin, still remained after the statue’s dismantling.

In spring 2015, an expert committee of of the Ministry of Culture of the Novosibirsk region undertook an examination of the region’s urban monuments, rating their architectural, artistic and historical value. The committee deemed three monuments in Novosibirsk to be lacking in these areas: the kolbasa statue, the business woman monument and the Siberian expanses monument, which features sculptures of sables, a woodland animal native to Siberia. In addition, the experts criticised the increasing number of sculptures and rebuked the officials in charge for their lack of taste.

Source: Sib.fm (in Russian)