The seaside town of Berdyansk continues to amaze with its witty, offbeat sculptures. A few years ago on the city embankment appeared bronze «Wishing Chair» and the monument «Feeding Bull» — the famous Azov fish that saved the local population from starvation in hard times. Last summer at the entrance to the park named after Pyotr Shmidt (the commander of the mutinous sailors of the cruiser «Ochakov» grew up in Berdyansk) was installed a monument to the «children of Lieutenant Shmidt» Ostap Bender and Shura Balaganov. This summer added two more zest to the list of original memorial signs of the resort town.
On Primorskaya Square appeared Monument to a plumber. The bronze «knight of the nut, adjustable wrench and gaskets» climbs out of the manhole right on Primorskaya Square, leaving no one indifferent. Tired, strained hands, some absent look, and the heavy cover of the sewer manhole half pressed on the figure of the man, emphasizes the severity of this profession.
The Monument to the Plumber in Berdyansk is much more realistic than its variations in other cities. Just such a knitted sweater and leather jacket issued not so long ago plumbers-mainline workers for protection from poisonous fumes of sewage. And on the manhole cover instead of the usual jubilee inscriptions there is an emblem of «Yuzhgidromash», Berdyansk factory-manufacturer of pumping equipment. The people have already dubbed the worker «Uncle Misha», and the number of people willing to be photographed next to the plumber can compete with the «bull-feeder». The idea of this super-original monument was brought from a trip to Scandinavia by Berdyansk mayor Valery Baranov. The idea was embodied in bronze by sculptor Nikolai Mironenko, the author of «Bull» and «Lieutenant Schmidt’s Children».