Monument to W.R. Williams
The monument to Academician Vasily Robertovich Williams (1863-1939). He was an outstanding Soviet soil scientist, agronomist, and Lenin Prize laureate – is located on the grounds of the K.A. Timiryazev Agricultural Academy. The monument was solemnly unveiled on September 7, 1947, on the day of the celebration of Moscow’s 800th anniversary. The authors of the monument are sculptor Samuil Osipovich Makhtin and architect Isidor Frantsuz. The bronze sculpture depicts the scientist at full length, dressed in a suit, leaning against a small column. In their artistic approach, the authors succeeded in conveying Williams’s inner grandeur, profound intellect, and paternal kindness. The choice of location is deeply symbolic: almost all of Vasily Williams’s life and career were inseparably linked to the Timiryazev Academy. Entering it at the age of twenty, he rose from student to professor, head of the Department of General Agriculture and Soil Science, and in 1907-1908 and 1922-1925 he served as rector. The monument stands on the site where the Church of the Apostles Peter and Paul once stood. The sculpture is mounted on a monumental pedestal made, according to various sources, of black labradorite or granite. The lower part of the pedestal is adorned with a bronze wreath composed of grain and forage grasses – plants to whose study and improvement the academician devoted his scientific work. The front side bears the inscription: «To Academician V.R. Williams. 1863-1939». The area around the monument features a stately architectural and landscape design. Wide granite steps lead to the entrance, flanked by two bronze vases. At the foot, a lush flower garden is laid out. On the street side, the space is framed by a hedge of low thuja; on the other sides it is planted with two rows of trees: the outer row consists of lindens, the inner row of blue spruces. Since 1960, the monument has been under state protection as a cultural heritage site of local significance.
Address: Moscow, Timiryazevskaya St., vl. 49
