History of Russia abroad: Yuri Gagarin’s statue unveiled in London

A statue of the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, was unveiled on July 14, 2011 in the center of London in the Mall and was timed to celebration of 50th anniversary of the first manned space flight. The statue, a gift from the Russian Space Agency (Roskosmos) to the British Council (BC), has been installed to face the statue of Captain Cook outside the British Council’s headquarters, not far away from Trafalgar Square.

The honor of presenting the new statue to residents and guests of London had the Director of the Kremlin Museums Elena Gagarina, the cosmonaut’s daughter. The unveiling ceremony was attended by the cousin of the Queen of Great Britain Prince Michael of Kent, Vladimir Popovkin - Head of Russian Federal Space Agency, Martin Davidson - Chief Executive of the British Council, Sergei Krikalev – Head of the Cosmonaut Training Center, holder of the world record in the total duration of stay in space, Helen Sharman – Britain’s first astronaut, Alexander Yakovenko – Russian Ambassador to the UK, and Natalia Koroleva - daughter of Sergei Korolev, Soviet Chief Designer.

The date for the solemn event was no sheer coincidence – exactly fifty years ago on July 14, 1961 Yuri Gagarin met with the Queen Elizabeth II as part of his visit to the UK. The British Council reminded that during Gagarin’s visit to London and Manchester he was hailed as a hero. This week Britons, who had a chance to talk to the space conqueror from the Soviet Union in July 1961, spoke about their impressions and confessed that he “managed to change their perception of the USSR".

Fifty years after the visit of the legendary cosmonaut to the British capital here was opened the statue’s counterpart. The monument – is an exact copy of work by Anatoliy Novikov, which was installed in the town of Lyubertsy, Moscow. Smiling Gagarin in his spacesuit without helmet is walking along a symbolic orbit in the shape of Möbius band around the globe. The original monument was created by sculptor Novikov to mark the birthday anniversary of the Soviet cosmonaut in 1984.

The monument to Yuri Gagarin will stand in the Mall for a period of 12 months after that it will be passed to one of British institutions which will be announced later.