July 14, 2011
Interfax
The monument to Karl Marx at Sovetskaya Square in downtown Penza was dismantled as a cathedral will be erected instead of it, the Penza Diocese told Interfax.
"A part of the Savior Cathedral will occupy this part of the square; its construction is underway," the interviewee of the agency said.
A foundation pit for the church building will soon be excavated.
The decision to move the monument was taken by the city administration. It was planned to transfer it to Karl Marx Street.
The world's first monument to Marx was set up in Penza on May 1, 1918, but it broke down as it was made of clay. In November 1960, a new monument was erected here: it was a two-meter bronze bust on a six-meter granite stand.
The new cathedral complex will be built on the place of the old church built in 1800-1824 and blown up in 1934. [The bronze two-meter bust was established on the six-meter granite pedestal on that place where there was an altar of the Spassky Cathedral which was blown up in 1934.]
Read more about this story and see photos of the dismantling here.