The Academy press service said the memorial to Ulanova, created in 1936 by sculptress Elena Yanson-Manizer, was mounted in the Central park of culture and recreation on Yelagin Island. Some twenty years ago the state of the memorial deteriorated; it was dismantled and placed in reserve funds of the Yelagin Island palace-museum.
On the threshold of the tercentenary of St Petersburg (it was marked in late May 2003), workers of the Russian Ballet Academy discovered the sculpture in the museum storerooms. On its own initiative and at its own expense, the Academy restored the memorial and started its preservation.
Galina Ulanova (1909-1989) entered the Leningrad Theater of Opera and Ballet (Mariinsky) after she had graduated from the Leningrad Choreographic School. From 1944 to 1960 she was a soloist of a ballet troupe of Moscow's Bolshoi Theater. Tours with the troupe brought her world renown. Having abandoned the stage, Galina Ulanova started teaching.
