Памятник Счастью, Animated character monument in Tomsk, Russia.
The Monument to Happiness stands on Shevchenko Street in Tomsk: a bronze figure with the head and hooves of a horned animal and a human-like torso, mounted on a red stone block. It leans back on two front hooves held near its chest, its rounded belly forward and rear hooves extending at the base. A plaque on the block reads "ПАМЯТНИК СЧАСТЬЮ".
The bronze wolf was unveiled on Shevchenko Street in Tomsk on 5 October 2005. The idea came from A. Zakharov, press secretary of the construction company Tomlesstroy, which funded the casting; sculptor Yulia Zavyalova and caster Maxim Petrov made the figure with advice from L. Usov. Similar monuments later appeared in Angarsk in 2007 and Krasnoyarsk in 2008.
The wolf comes from the Soviet animated film "Once Upon a Dog" and was chosen as the character best expressing happiness. A metal contact on its belly triggers one of eight phrases from the film, including "I'm going to sing now!" and "God help you!".
The monument stands on a public pedestrian path and is open to visit at any time of day or night. There is a metal contact on the wolf's belly that you can touch to trigger an audio playback of phrases from the original film.
The electronic components inside the monument were once stolen, and the figure had to be fully restored before it could work again. After the theft, security cameras were installed around the site to prevent it from happening again.
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