"you and I will drive together to the Russian Embassy" [GOLD]
In 2006, I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere reported on the plans to create astatue of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson (who are perennially popular in Russia) in the Russian capital of Moscow.
Having recently returned from a trip to Moscow, much of
which was filled with visits to various literary monuments—of which Moscow is
full—I thought it would not be out of place to report on the aforementioned
Holmes and Watson statue, which now graces the embankment in front of the
British Embassy. I visited the statue on my first trip to Moscow, two years
ago, trekking through the 80-degree Moscow heat to a secluded embankment in an
otherwise unremarkable district to find the statue in question, and I must say
that the experience is slightly magical.
Back when the statue was only planned, many different
locations were considered for it, with the Smolenskaya embankment (where the
embassy is located) finally chosen. Yet the figures of Holmes and Watson were
not based on Sidney Paget’s illustrations or Jeremy Brett’s depiction; rather,
they were in the form of Vitaly Solomin and Vasily Livanov, who incarnated
Holmes and Watson in an excellent and still-popular Soviet adaptation of the
Canon.
This is part of what makes the statue magical: this
cross-cultural connection. The Sherlock Holmes stories remain incredibly popular in Russian-speaking countries, while Livanov was
acknowledged to be the best incarnation of Sherlock Holmes by Queen Elizabeth
herself, and became an honorary Member of the Order of the British Empire. At
the unveiling of the statue in 2007, the actor himself noted this
cross-cultural connection:
“Anyone can destroy a monument,” he said, drawing on a
cigarette. “But to unite two cultures, two nations, with one idea – that is not
something anyone can do.”
As the Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda reported,
Livanov seated himself on the bench between his bronze self and Doctor Watson
and warned those present:
“If you touch Doctor Watson’s notebook, all problems and mysteries will be explained. As for whoever touches my pipe…. That person will become embroiled in a criminal conspiracy.”
Not having heard Livanov’s warning prior to my visit, it appears I have managed to both embroil myself in a criminal undertaking and solve any unexplained mystery, as I took a whiff of Holmes’ pipe and looked over Watson’s shoulder at his notebook:
Some information in this post was taken from the article about the unveiling of the statue; all translations into English were done by me. All photos by me.
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