A monument by controversial Russian sculptor Zurab Tsereteli to commemorate the those killed in the 2004 Beslan school siege was unveiled in downtown Moscow on Tuesday, a spokeswoman for the Russian Academy of Arts told RIA Novosti.
Terrorists attacked Belsan's school No. 1 on September 1, 2004, when parents, teachers and pupils were gathered for the first day of term. The school was held in a three-day siege in which at least 334 people, including 186 children, were killed.
"The tragedy in Beslan affected everyone; it was felt not just in Russia, but all over the world," Vesti.ru news site quoted Tsereteli as saying. "I tried to put all may pain, affection and sympathy into this sculpture, which is devoted not only to the children and parents who perished, but also to the soldiers, who died shielding children from bullets."
The sculpture was commissioned on an initiative from the authorities of North Ossetia region, where Beslan is situated. Its unveiling was planned to coincide with International Children's Day.
The monument was erected in front of a 16th century Moscow church, which was donated to Moscow's Ossetian community in 1996.
Tsereteli's 12 grandiose sculptures in Moscow are often mocked by the Russian public for being out of place and proportion.
His most controversial work, a colossal 94-meter-tall statue of Peter the Great on the banks of the Moscow River, has faced major criticism since its unveiling in 1997.
The $20-million bronze statue of the Russian tsar, dressed as a Roman soldier, was described by the then president Boris Yeltsin as "really ugly." It features in Virtual Tourist's Top 10 Ugliest Buildings.
Tsereteli's works can also be found in Ukraine, Uruguay, the United States and France.
MOSCOW, June 1 (RIA Novosti)
