Bronze Monument
In the late 1970s, a competition was held in the republic to create a monument to K. I. Skryabin, Hero of Socialist Labor, member of three all-Union academies (Academy of Sciences of the USSR, VASKHNIIL, Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR), honorary member of the Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz and Uzbek SSR, and a full and honorary member of the academies of Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, the GDR, Yugoslavia, France, and scientific societies in the USA, the UK, Belgium, the FRG, and India. K. I. Skryabin led the activities of the Kyrgyz branch of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR from 1943 to 1953 and is rightly considered the founder of systematic science in Kyrgyzstan.
The winners of the competition were sculptor V. Shestopal and architect A. Shkaev. The monument they created was cast in bronze and unveiled in 1982 in a small square near the building of the Kyrgyz Agricultural Institute, which bears the name of K. I. Skryabin.
Simply and modestly interpreted in a strictly realistic manner, the monument creates a classic image of a scholar-intellectual, organizer, and mentor of youth. The clear, calm silhouette of the elderly scholar on a relatively small pedestal is proportionate to the intimate square, surrounded by the buildings of educational departments and dormitories. K. I. Skryabin is depicted as if before an audience, with natural hand gestures and a lively expression on his face. Details such as the cut of his suit and a fountain pen in the breast pocket of his jacket help to convey the time of the scholar's life and work in Kyrgyzstan. The sculptor paid great attention to capturing the portrait likeness, based on photographic documents and the memories of K. I. Skryabin's relatives and students.
In the created image, the benevolence of the educator is emphasized—the scholar seems to be addressing the students, engaging the youth in the orbit of scientific interests. The sculptor also conveyed signs of the physical fatigue of a person who has traveled the life path from a veterinary doctor to a world-renowned scholar. Through this compositional solution and the plastic interpretation of the monument, the sculptor reveals the vivid and integral character of the scholar.