After 30 Years in the Ground: The Story of a Buried Tennis Player Statue and Its Recent Restoration (3 pics)

The buried tennis player used to be something of a local legend: old-timers claimed that the statue was buried in the ground by local residents 30 years ago.





This is how the figure was saved during the demolition of the stadium of the military town, which was located here before. In the 1990s, a new house appeared on the site of the stadium, built back in the 1930s. Of the sculptures in the demolished stadium, there were four athletes: a relay runner (he still survives), a tennis player, a girl with a ball, and a spearman (the last two figures are lost).



Relayman

When residents and local Housing Office employees dug up the tennis player, she was broken into pieces.



The statue, made in 1936 by sculptor Armenak Stepanyants, was sent for restoration (its head and some body parts were missing). During the restoration work under the supervision of sculptor-restorer Andrey Paskhin, the missing elements were recast, and the face and hair were restored based on the memories of the old-timers of the yard. In May, the tennis player was brought to the yard; now the final stage of restoration is underway right on the spot, so the statue is still behind a fence. Thus, the couple of the athlete and the athlete, who were together since 1936, and then spent almost 30 years apart, are together again.

This is the story with a happy ending. Now everyone can see this monument to indifference and local self-organization.