Monument to W.R. Williams
The monument to Academician Vasily Robertovich Williams (1863-1939), an outstanding Soviet soil scientist, agronomist and Lenin Prize laureate, is located on the territory of the Timiryazev Agricultural Academy. The monument was inaugurated on September 7, 1947, on the day of the celebration of the 800th anniversary of Moscow. The authors of the monument are sculptor Samuel Osipovich Makhtin and architect Isidore Frenchman. The bronze sculpture depicts a full-length scientist in a suit, leaning on a small column. In the artistic solution, the authors managed to convey Williams’ inner greatness, deep intelligence and fatherly kindness. The choice of the installation site is deeply symbolic: almost the entire life and career of Vasily Williams was inextricably linked with the Timiryazev Academy. Having entered here at the age of 20, he went from a student to a professor. He headed the Department of Soil Science and General Agriculture from 1894, and from 1912 to 1939 the Department of Soil Science. In 1907-1908 and 1922-1925 he served as rector. The monument was erected on the site where the church of the Apostles Peter and Paul was located until 1934. The sculpture is mounted on a monumental pedestal, made from black labrador. The lower part of the pedestal is decorated with a bronze wreath of grain and fodder grains, plants that the academician studied in his scientific work. The inscription is carved on the front side: “To Academician V.R. Williams. 1863-1939”. The area around the monument has a solemn architectural and landscape design: wide granite steps lead to the monument, flanked by two bronze vases. Since 1960, the monument has been under state protection as an object of cultural heritage of local importance.
Address: Moscow, Timiryazevskaya St., vl. 49
