Vul. Franka – former monument to Nikolai Kuznietsov
The monument to the Soviet intelligence agent and diversionist was installed in 1962; in 1993 it was transported to Talitsa (Russia). This is the only Soviet monument moved away from Lviv.
History
On 23 September 1962, a monument to Nikolai Kuznetsov (1911-1944) was opened in the public garden at the intersection of Ivana Franka, Instytutska (now Svientsitskoho) and Parkhomenka (now Samchuka) streets. This was a well-known Soviet diversionist, who worked in occupied West Ukraine under the pseudonym Paul Siebert. He had committed a number of assassinations and attempted murders of senior German officers and officials.
The monument was installed near the place where Kuznetsov assassinated Otto Bauer, the Deputy Governor-General of the District Galicia. On the granite pedestal's façade there was an inscription reading: "N. I. Kuznetsov, the Hero of the Soviet Union." On the left side of the pedestal, words from a letter of Kuznetsov to his relatives were engraved; on the right side, there was an excerpt from "The Song of the Falcon" by Maxim Gorki. The monument was designed by sculptors Vasyl Vlasov, S. Rukavishnikov, Valentyn Podolskyi and architect Volodymyr Doroshenko.
Immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union, protests against the monument to the Soviet diversionist began in the city. The story ended in 1993, when the monument was transported to the city of Talitsa (Russia), the homeland of Kuznetsov. This is the only Soviet monument moved away from Lviv.
In 2000 the stone of the future monument to Volodymyr Kubiyovych was laid in this place.
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Architecture
The monument was located on the southern edge of a triangular island formed by Franka, Instytutska, and Parkhomenka (now Franka, Svientsitskoho, Samchuka respectively). The island is lined with chestnuts on the sides and with fir trees from the south, on both sides of the monument. Today a row of thujas is planted in the place of the monument. Kuznetsov was depicted in a statue of an athletic man with naked torso and with a cloak on his shoulders and arms. The statue was installed on a high obelisk pedestal, covered with granite.
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