Kyiv has a fair share of strange and peculiar monuments, and the nose of Nikolai Gogol is one of them. This writer, who is claimed by both Russia and Ukraine, apart from literary talent humor had a prominent nose, hence the monument. This is a good time to visit this perky monument because legend has it that touching it helps to cure minor colds and runny noses.
WHAT
The bronze nose of Gogol adorned with a long optimistic curled-up moustache hangs proudly on building 34 on Andriyivsky Uzviz, Kyiv’s historic tourist street, where art gallery “Triptych” is located. The nose has been there since 2006, and was authored by Lviv sculptor Oleh Derhatchov (who also authored the monument to a smile in his home town), who worked at the gallery at the time.
“Landscape paintings, Russian dolls and bast shoes are the things tourists are used to seeing at Andriyivsky Uzviz. Touching Gogol’s nose is something different, and very few people know about it,” said Mykhaylo Kalnytsky, a Kyiv historian.
This wonderful nose is only spotted by few tourists. Some start to wipe it proudly, others attempt to measure their own humble schnozzles against the immortalized one of a famous writer, and documenting the results with their cameras.
Although modeled on the writer’s own nose, Gogol’s literary legacy gave an additional reason to choose this body part for displaying in bronze: One of his satirical stories is also called “The Nose”. This story connects Gogol and Andriyivsky Uzviv, where the sculpture is located. According to legend, the writer once walked along the Uzviz, and was caught out in the rain when passing by St. Andrew’s Church, which caused him a bad cold. This was why Gogol wrote “The Nose.”
“The truth is close to the legend, in fact,” Kalnytsky said. “In 1848 Nikolai Gogol while visiting Kyiv was walking along today’s Sahaidachnogo Street when it suddenly started raining. Gogol found shelter in the library, but he was thrown out of there because of his soaked clothes.”
WHO
Gogol (1809-1852) is considered to be the father of modern Russian realism. He was in fact born in Ukraine, and much of his work was based around or in Ukraine, then part of the Russian empire. He wrote in Russian, however. His most famous novels, including “Evenings at a Hamlet by Dikanka” and “The Dead Souls” are considered to be among the greatest literary works of the 19th century in Russia.
“The Nose”, his satirical short story, was written in 1835-1836. It takes place in St. Petersburg, Russia, rather than Kyiv. It tells a story of a collegiate assessor Kovalyov, called “major Kovalyov”, whose nose one day drops off his face and starts its own life.
Kovalyov’s personal barber finds it in his bread during breakfast and tries to get rid of it as soon as possible by throwing it into the Neva River. Since then, the Nose has its own life and acquires a higher rank in the civil service than Kovalyov, which justifies its refusal to return to his owner’s face. However, the Nose was caught on its way abroad and returned to Kovalyov.
Literary critics of the time said the story was making fun of Russian society and its ego-driven values at the time: losing the nose threatened both Kovalyov’s chances of acquiring a higher social position and having success with women.
There are three known monuments to Gogol’s noses in the world, and the other two are located in St. Petersburg, Russia. There are several films based on “The Nose”: A short film by Alexandre Alexeieff and Claire Parker in 1963 and a feature film by a Russian actor and film director Rolan Bykov in 1977.
There is also an opera by Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich in 1930 and a play by Tom Swift in 2008 which you can watch at http://theperformancecorporation.com/video/theatre/the-nose.
You can find more about Gogol’s “The Nose” story and read it in English.
Kyiv Post staff writer Iryna Prymachyk can be reached at [email protected].
