The Deer Monument

The history of the appearance of deer sculpture in Smolensk is quite interesting. The beginning of this story dates back to 1909, when during a hunt, the German Kaiser Wilhelm II killed a noble deer. The animal made a very strong impression on the Kaiser, and he decided to install a statue of a deer in his castle. The execution of the order was taken up by the famous sculptor Friese, who made a bronze statue of a deer. For many years, a statue of a deer decorated the courtyard of a hunting castle in East Prussia.

In 1944, the statue mysteriously disappeared. The disappearance of the bronze monument seemed rather mysterious, especially when you take into account the enormous weight of the monument - a deer horn alone weighs about 200 kilograms! However, in 1945, the sculpture was discovered at Goering’s dacha by Soviet soldiers, and after some time the bronze deer came to Smolensk. According to one version, the sculpture attracted the Red Army soldier from Smolensk, who decided to decorate his native city with it.

The second version says that the statue was brought from an estate in East Prussia as a kind of trophy. Some old-timers remember that back in 1945, on the side of a deer with white paint, the inscription "Gift from East Prussia to the children of Smolensk from the guards of the Enn corps!" was applied.