Colossal statue coming to island outside Murmansk

It will rule the landscape, the statue planned built on the small island of Salny.  It was presented this week by Northern Fleet Head Commander Nikolay Yevmenov and Murmansk Governor Marina Kovtun.

In a meeting with Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, the two top leaders from the Kola Peninsula displayed pictures and a model of what probably will become a new monumental landmark for the Arctic region. The statue of Saint Nikolay looks to be at least twenty meter high. It will be erected on the highest point of the small island, just few kilometers from Severomorsk, the headquarter city of the powerful Northern Fleet.

On the other side of the bay is Belokamenka, the site for Novatek’s new plant for construction of LNG-production units. Another few kilometers down the fjord is the City of Murmansk, the world’s biggest city north of the Arctic Circle, and a major hub for Arctic shipping.

From this site, the statue will be visible for all ships sailing to Severomorsk and Murmansk, Yevmenov told Patriarch Kirill.

«Both in the Polar days and in the half-dark of the Polar nights will the monument show the way to sea and to the home ports,» the admiral told the patriarch.

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It is Yevmenov and his Northern Fleet that is behind the initiative. The model and pictures were approved by Patriarch Kirill, the Russian Orthodox Church informs.

Saint Nicolas, also called Nicolas the Wondermaker, is patron for sailors and a much-used symbol for the Russian Navy. On the model displayed to the Patriarch, he holds a sward in his right hand and a miniature church house in his left.

The initiative comes only few months after the Northern Fleet opened its new church in Severomorsk. Not surprisingly, the place of worship is named after Saint Nicolas.

It is located in the ground floor of the Northern Fleet headquarter premises.

As it opened the new church in February this year, the Northern Fleet underlined its importance for Navy leaders.

«It helps strengthen the spirituality and moral foundation of the whole collective of the joint strategic command of the Northern Fleet,» military leaders said at the opening ceremony.