Yuri Nikulin monument, Bronze memorial statue near Moscow Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard, Russia

The monument is a bronze figure of Yuri Nikulin stepping into a parked Adler Trumpf cabriolet, the car known from the film "Kavkazskaya Plennitsa". Nikulin wears his clown jacket, tie and canotier hat; the car carries a plate reading "Yuri Nikulin" instead of numbers. Sculptor Alexander Rukavishnikov made the cabriolet slightly smaller than the original, and the whole composition weighs 3.5 tonnes.

The bronze monument by sculptor Alexander Rukavishnikov was unveiled on 3 September 2000 in front of the circus where Nikulin worked for more than half a century. It took two years to make: the Adler Trumpf cabriolet was cast in Minsk and the figure of the actor in Italy, at a cost of 350,000 US dollars. The circus financed it through a fundraising foundation and donated the monument to Moscow at the opening ceremony.

Nikulin worked at the circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard for more than half a century, and the monument joins his two careers: he sits in the Adler Trumpf cabriolet from the film "Kidnapping, Caucasian Style", dressed in his clown jacket, bow tie and canotier hat. Passers-by rub the nose, parts of the clothing and the car seats for luck, and these spots are polished to a shine.

The monument stands on the pavement of Tsvetnoy Boulevard in front of the Nikulin Circus, not on the roadway: Moscow's traffic police rejected the original plan to place it where cars park. Visitors rub the nose, parts of the clothing and the car seats for luck, so these spots are polished to a shine; the sculpture was cleaned of dust and dirt in 2013.

The Adler Trumpf cabriolet beside Nikulin is a reduced bronze copy of the car he owned and drove in "Kidnapping, Caucasian Style"; the original is now in a private collection. Instead of licence plates the car carries a plate reading "Yuri Nikulin". The figure was cast in Italy, the car in Minsk, and the whole composition weighs 3.5 tonnes.