Monument to Ostap Bender

On Italianskaya Street, by the Zhako House in the historic heart of Saint Petersburg, stands a bronze figure of Ostap Bender — the hero of Ilya Ilf and Yevgeny Petrov's novels "The Twelve Chairs" and "The Little Golden Calf." It is one of the city's few monuments dedicated not to a historical figure but to a literary character, and arguably the most informal of them all: the sculpture is designed not for quiet contemplation but for passers-by to interact with directly.

The monument was unveiled on July 25, 2000, next to the building that once housed the "Zolotoy Ostap" ("Golden Ostap") restaurant. The date was no accident: according to the novels' internal chronology, the great schemer was born on July 25, 1900, and the ceremony was timed to mark his notional hundredth birthday. The unveiling was attended by actor Archil Gomiashvili, who played Bender in Leonid Gaidai's 1971 film adaptation, as well as Alexander Shirvindt, who had once been among the many actors considered by the director for the role and later appeared in another screen adaptation of the novel.

The monument was created by sculptor Albert Charkin and architect Vyacheslav Bukhaev. Standing about 190 centimeters tall, the bronze figure captures not so much the character as written in the novels, but rather actor Sergei Yursky, who played Bender in the 1968 film "The Little Golden Calf": a recognizable scarf, cap, and jacket complete the resemblance. The hero stands with his head held proudly high, leaning with his left hand on a chair — the very object of the hunt in "The Twelve Chairs" — while clutching a folder in his right hand, said to hold incriminating evidence against the underground millionaire Koreiko, whom the schemer pursues throughout "The Little Golden Calf." A space has deliberately been left free on the chair, so that anyone can sit down beside the figure and take a photograph.

The sculpture's appearance provoked mixed reactions: some residents felt that a humorous monument sat awkwardly next to the area's austere historic architecture. Nevertheless, the spot quickly became one of the most visited in this part of the city, and at the height of the tourist season a line often forms of people wanting to take a photo with the bronze Bender. Among tourists a belief has taken hold: to bring luck to a risky venture, one should rub the hero's nose, and to ensure success in one's affairs, one should ask him for help while sitting on the chair beside him. No one has ever verified whether these superstitions actually work, but the nose and other protruding details of the figure have long since been polished to a shine by countless touches.

Today the monument remains part of a walking route through the quarter between Nevsky Prospect and the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, standing alongside more solemn landmarks of Italianskaya Street. The restaurant on whose account this spot was chosen closed long ago, but the figure of Bender has remained standing by the Zhako House.

The Monument to Ostap Bender shows that Saint Petersburg's public sculpture is not limited to monuments honoring statesmen and writers — there is room in it for the hero of a satirical novel as well. The monument's interactive nature, inviting every passer-by to become part of the scene, makes it a rare example, within the historic city center, of a sculpture free of solemnity and deliberate grandeur.