Kristofari haykali, Moskva, Bronze monument near Sberbank headquarters in Moscow, Russia.
The Kristofari Monument is a bronze statue set on a granite base at a street intersection in Moscow, close to the Sberbank headquarters complex. The figure bears inscriptions that identify the person commemorated and give brief context about his work.
On 13 March 1842 Nikolai Kristofari opened savings book No. 1 at Russia's first state savings bank, depositing ten rubles. The monument marking that event was unveiled on 13 March 2007, 165 years later, at the entrance to Sberbank's central office on Vavilova Street. Its author is the sculptor Aleksandr Rukavishnikov.
The monument stands at a street corner near the Sberbank headquarters, making it part of the daily flow of the city. Many people pass by without knowing who Kristofari was, which makes it a quiet presence in a busy urban setting.
The monument stands outdoors and can be reached on foot from several nearby metro stations. There are no special visiting conditions, so it can be seen at any time, though daylight makes it easier to read the inscriptions and notice the details.
The pedestal carries stone tablets recounting Kristofari's biography, the opening of savings book No. 1 and the story of the monument itself, so the base holds more text than the figure does. The inscription reads that Nikolai Antonovich Kristofari was the first depositor of the first Russian savings bank.
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