Source: Interfax-Religion
Moscow, January 18, 2016
Russian sculptors have frozen the project of a Christ statue in Syria.
"We were planning [it], and there were talks to create a Christ statue of a relatively large size. As of now, it has been frozen at the stage of a working 8-meter model which was planned to be enlarged afterwards. Perhaps, it's pointless talking about this story, as nobody knows where the current events will eventually lead," Russian People's Artist sculptor Salavat Shcherbakov said in a live broadcast of the Russkaya Sluzhba Novostey (Russian News Service) radio.
Shcherbakov also revealed that another statue of Christ, which was designed by himself and Andrey Kovalchuk, was realized by Armenian sculptors in Syria's Angels Monastery. The statue was shelled [though] with grenade launchers during hostilities and its eventual fate remains unknown.
A sculpture by Alexander Rukavishnikov portraying Paul the Apostle was also installed in Syria, Shcherbakov said. There is no information either about whether the statue still exists. Also, one of the Syrian churches had a dome presented by Russian Tsar Nicholas II.