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Memorial for honest public official unveiled in St. Petersburg

One hundred people wearing white gloves unveiled the sculpture, symbolizing honesty at the beginning of a public official's career

Photo INTERPRESS.RU

Photo INTERPRESS.RU

ST.PETERSBURG , October 16 (Itar-Tass) - One hundred people wearing white gloves have unveiled a new sculpture in St. Petersburg on Wednesday. It is not a sculpture of someone of importance, but a mere chair which symbolizes a dream of an honest official. The sculpture, built on the initiative of students of the Presidential Academy of the Economy and State Service, embodies the students' aspirations for honesty which should be the main trait of an official in Russia.

The idea of the monument sprang in a students' environment, where the legacy of Russian reformer of the early 20th century Pyotr Stolypin is very popular. Stolypin's chair, which the Academy museum had received in gift from the Tsarskoye Selo state museum, prompted the idea of a sculpture to honesty.

The idea to build a sculpture of an honest official was approved by the Dean of the state and municipal management department of the Academy Anatoly Likhtin, who organized an excursion to the Saratov region where the famous reformer, Pyotr Stolypin, began his career, student Marina Pozdnyakova told Itar-Tass.

The authors of the monument believe the chair is a symbol of an official who is beginning his career when his professional traits and moral principles - honesty, encyclopedic education, good knowledge of Russian literary language, conscientious service to the state , are being formed yet. These qualities were stipulated in the Charter of the first ever educational establishment in Russia - Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, which educated students for subsequent jobs in state service. The same qualities are stipulated in the Charter of the now Academy, "which entitles us to preserve and continue the traditions of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum if not be its legal successors," Professor Viktor Morosov from the History and World Politics department of the Academy told Tass.

Many legends are already going around the new "chair" cast of iron which has been barely opened yet. Students say that if one manages to get into the iron seat a day before one is to take an examination and exactly at the moment when a canon of the Peter and Paul fortress fires a shot at noon sharp, the exam will be passed with an excellent mark.

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