The Georgian-Russian artist Zurab Tselli dies at the age of 91

The Georgian-Russian artist Zurab Tsetelli, known for his gigantic and often contradictory monuments, died at the age of 91.

The Tbilisi -born sculptor, artist and architect divided his opinion with a series of large -scale projects in Moscow, including a massive 98m (321 -foot) monument by Tsar Peter the Great, who known the city.

Ascending to glory through the Soviet era, Tselli led the team of designers for the Moscow Olympics in 1980, and later built large sculptures in cities around the world.

He was also known for his proximity to the Russian political elite, once saying that Vladimir Putin's “healthy soul” had inspired him to do a bronze study by the Russian president.

The cereals were a close friend of Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, and his position as part of the upper crust of the Soviet Union allowed him to travel outside the country where he met with Pablo Picasso in Paris.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova said that the cerebellies were “an artist of world fame, a public figure who did not know the boundaries or obstacles to strengthening peace and support of creativity” in a post on social media after his death.

“He will live not only in our hearts but also in his works,” she added.

During a dispute over the future of Peter the Great Monument in 2010, several residents of Moscow told the BBC that they hate sculpturewhich is a little higher than the statue of freedom at 98 meters.

Despite the sometimes frost intake that his works received, cerebellies were widely respected throughout the world of art and was president of the Russian Academy of Arts.

Its huge structures can be found in cities around the world, including a monument to Christopher Columbus in Seville, Spain and the Georgia Chronicle in his hometown of Tbilisi.

These also include the ten -tite tears of the Grief Monument, which marks the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks on New Jersey. It was introduced to the United States by the Russian government.

Another sculpture, good defeats evil, sits at the UN headquarters in New York. He depicts St. George, who kills a dragon, which is among the broken fragments of us and Soviet missiles.

Work is “the victory of the nuclear war through the historical treaty between the Soviet Union and the United States,” according to the UN website.

In 2006, Tsetelli sparked disputes in a small French city that erected its huge 8.75 m (29 feet) bronze statue of Pope John Paul II. Opponents said the statue had violated France's worldly laws.

At 110 m (360 feet), the colossal ceremony monument of Christopher Columbus' first sail, the birth of the new world is one of the highest sculptures on Earth. It was eventually built in Puerto Rico after several cities in the United States rejected it.

He also made the smaller bronze studies of major figures, including Princess Diana and Putin.

The cereals were also an artist – more special in flowers – and an architect who took on a key role in the reconstruction of the Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Savior.