How Moscow said goodbye to Zuraz Tsereteli

The President of the Russian Academy of Arts Zurab Tsereteli bequeathed to bury himself in his native Tbilisi – next to his wife. But the family decided to catch the Zurab ceremete in Moscow, in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, the restoration of which the sculptor was engaged in. Correspondent « Kommersant » Polina Yachmennikova She visited goodbye and listened to the memories of the era of Cerethels. A special place in these stories was occupied by a monument to Peter the Great, with whom, it seems, everyone was able to reconcile – and even love.

Zurab Tsereteli loved the riot of colors – and he probably would have liked the Square flooded by the sun in front of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. Groups of schoolchildren in reflective vests were photographed among Easter installations, older tourists made a selfie against the background of a large flower arch. And between them, people with bouquets made their way to the cathedral. Officials and businessmen in strict mourning costumes, artists and people of free professions – in bright and unusual robes. Both of them united the flowers: yellow and orange gerbers, lush chrysanthemums – and very, very many sunflowers.

“Why all with flowers? Do you need this temple with flowers?  » – the Chinese tourist asked with a strong accent. “No, no, come in without flowers,” the elderly woman answered in black. “They just bury Zurab ceres.”

She immediately began to educate a foreigner: “Did you see his work? If now you go directly to the left, there is Peter the Great, you will notice right away. ”

Easter jewelry has not yet been removed in the temple, the inscription “Christ is risen” burned by the altar. A coffin towered above the mountain of flowers, next to the daughter of Zurab Cereteli Elena, the grandson of Vasily and the civil wife Tatyana Kochamasova stood nearby. “He was a member of a holiday-and died in the festive week of Easter,” whispered in the crowd. At exactly noon, the funeral began, it was carried out by Metropolitan Grigory, Grigory. The ceremony took at least 40 minutes, and all this time people entered the temple. The farewell was visited by the Ombudsman Tatyana Moskalkova, artist Nikas Safronov, TV presenter Andrei Malakhov, LDPR Chairman Leonid Slutsky, Presidential Assistant Vladimir Medinsky, General Director of Channel Channel Konstantin Ernst, head of Sberbank German Gref. After the funeral service, everyone was invited to lay flowers – and the tables near the coffin were immediately filled with multi -colored bouquets.

“Those who really knew Zurab Konstantinovich easily recognize by bouquets,” the man who introduced himself to Vladimir said with some jealousy to the correspondent. “Those who came with sunflowers, are their own. They know that these are his favorite flowers. ” Vladimir, of course, had sunflowers in his hands. “We worked with him for 40 years. I was engaged in the engineering embodiment of his work – we cast bas -reliefs, made blanks. He was an incredibly efficient person – he could not live a day without visiting the workshop, ”Vladimir recalled.“ Zurab Konstantinovich was a great organizer – people, and space, and work. All these 40 years under his beginning it was very comfortable. ”

After a pause, he continued: “Many say that the era has gone. This may be too loud a statement. But the beauty was exactly gone. The beauty that he created himself taught to create others and, most importantly, just saw: in space, details and, of course, people. ”

“Today, there are mainly people from his world-colleagues, subordinates, artists and sculptors,” said the artist Marina, a tall woman in a bright orange sweater with green waxes. “We worked a lot with him. And although there was always a whole bunch of bosses between me, an apprentice, and he still talked with us and remembered us. And then he helped – to get to exhibitions, and in general. ”

“A man was a wide soul – and loved to live,” added the artist Natalya.

At the beginning of the two thousandth, she was a student of an art university, and their group was sent for an internship in Paris. “Of course, we did not have enough money. And then he gave our leader a whole thousand dollars – he said to give us a hundred. I bought this money and barefoots, and I could spend time very comfortably, ”Natalya recalled smiling.“ Then I met him a few years later, talked about it, thanked. And he answered me that he himself was a student in Paris, so he really understood us and wanted to make life easier. ”

A little to the side of the main crowd stood several elderly women. “For our generation, this is a very significant figure,” one of them said. “We all went to his exhibitions, discussed his work, although they personally did not know him.” Hearing the question, what works by Zurab Tsereteli they especially remember, the women smiled: « Well, Peter, of course. » “And I love him. Despite all the disputes, this sculpture falls into my vision, ”the first noted. “And I really did not like it first, but now I got used to it. It seems that already the embankment without it will not be the same – the monument has become part of the history of our city, ”the second agreed.

“It seems to me that if Peter will be demolished, the scandal will rise again, as when they put it. Because he is already a business card of Moscow!  » – added their friend.

A group of men in Black Voorly discussed something in Georgian. “We are now thinking about how to plan the road to Georgia – we will definitely go goodbye there,” one of them explained. “He is our pride, the Georgian people. And your pride, too, the Russian people. And in the world they love him from all sides. ” “He has the funeral as wide and large -scale as all his undertakings,” his comrade nodded. “We will go right now in Tbilisi. Yes. Still, he worked here, and there is a homeland. ”