Citizens of Dnipro restored a sculptural composition in the local ATO museum, which was previously vandalized – a Ukrainian fighter with a girl. This sculpture constitutes the central part of the exhibition “Ways of Donbas,” which opened in late May this year. The composition is made of brass.
According to the museum staff, the monument was inspired by a true story of a Ukrainian soldier: Ivan Pohorielyi, 35, despite being seriously wounded saved a small child from shelling in the ATO zone. The author of the sculpture is Volodymyr Raichenko from Kharkiv. The sculptural composition “Gratitude” depicts a soldier and a girl he saved, who gives him an apple.
However an unfortunate incident happened three weeks ago – the brass apple, which the girl was giving to the soldier, was stolen. The police of Dnipro have initiated criminal proceedings, and the Dmytro Yavornytsky Historical Museum, which has the ATO museum as a branch, was going to produce new apple from clay. It was even arranged that a local children’s art studio would do the job.
Meanwhile, Dnipro volunteers and museum visitors have found an original answer to vandalism. Every day they put a fresh apple into the girl’s hand. The locals see it as a very original solution to “revive” a metal sculpture. Now museum workers themselves say that bringing apples to the sculpture at the ATO museum might become an interesting patriotic tradition.
