The year of 2014 is the year of 175th anniversary of Nikolai Mikhailovich Przewalski’s birth. He was a great scientist, one of the most respected world travelers and Honorary member of the Russian Geographical Society.
A number of events will be organized to celebrate the anniversary – scientific conferences, photo exhibitions, and even the release of a collection postage stamp, the solemn cancellation of which took place at the meeting of the Russian Geographical Society’s Board of Trustees on April 15, 2014. And in the homeland of the researcher – in Smolensk - a monument is planned to be fixed up.
This initiative was supported by President of the Russian Geographical Society Sergei Shoigu. On May 7 on the website of the Russian Geographical Society a fund raise campaign to spend on the monument was launched.
After that an open competition to design a monument started. Application period ended December 1, 2014.
On December 17, the Competition committee held a meeting to select the best monument.
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The jury selected two projects (of 21 submitted).The first one was created by a group sculptors: A.V. Alubaev, S.A. Shcherbakov V.A. Danilov. The author of the second one is M.M. Malashenko.
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However, the Competition Committee had some comments on the layouts so the experts decided to give the participants two months to complete their projects.
The experts will make the final choice in March 2015.
The best projects will be realized and fixed up in Smolensk.