“Did children make this, or drug addicts?” — a monument to Shakespeare appeared in Poltava and immediately sparked a strong reaction on social media

In Poltava, Ukraine’s first monument to the renowned English playwright William Shakespeare was unveiled. The monument immediately sparked heated discussion on social media, UNN reports.

Today, a monument to the English playwright William Shakespeare was unveiled in the Botanical Garden of the V. H. Korolenko Poltava National Pedagogical University. A sundial was also installed and unveiled in the garden. According to the organizers, this is the first monument to William Shakespeare in Ukraine 

As the monument’s author, sculptor Yaroslav Shkarupa, explained, it is not known for certain what the English writer looked like, so he created the monument based on five sketches. 

I made one so that it would look similar; it is rather difficult to work from pictures, but in principle I made it in seven days. In general, I really enjoy it—I love working on people. At the moment, I have orders for cartoon characters, lizards, gnomes, and elephants—it has already become tiresome, whereas working on people is a real pleasure. It is not that I am proud, but I am simply pleased that I will be the first; I wanted to make him life-size 

We should add

The monument’s appearance immediately prompted reactions on social media. After the report was published, users actively discussed the sculpture, and some of the comments were mocking:

• Did elementary school children make this, or drug addicts?
• Excuse me, is that Shakespeare? Seriously? Or am I a robot?
• And where are the arms? Was the sculptor afraid to mold them so he wouldn’t get punched in the face?
• Poltava never ceases to amaze: one thing is better than the next—first they wrapped film around the gazebo, then cobbled together a torso belonging to no one in particular.
• It looks as though they remade Lenin into Shakespeare.

Member of Parliament Maksym Buzhansky wrote: "I don’t know about you, but I really liked this Poltava "Sheksir." It reminds me of the famous episode from "The Twelve Chairs" when Ostap Bender was supposed to cut out of cardboard the figure of a sower scattering government-loan bonds. There is something in common in the style, isn’t there? I look forward to the results of "Tysyachovesni"; I think there will be many similar gems there, but this time in cinema". 

Writer Volodymyr Aryenyеv wrote: "When you are Jack Nicholson and have dreamed all your life of a small bust in Poltava, but they tell you that the only monument planned is one to Shakespeare". 

Let us remind you

After the sandbags were removed from around the monument to the Duke de Richelieu, specialists conducted a detailed inspection of the landmark of cultural heritage. The specialists’ preliminary conclusion was that no significant damage to the monument had been recorded.