LJUBLJANA, October 18. /TASS/. A monument to the first man in space, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, was unveiled on Tuesday in the Croatian capital city Zagreb to mark the 55th anniversary of the first-ever manned space flight, a spokeswoman for the Russian embassy in Croatia Anna Kalabukhova told TASS.
The ceremony in the Tresnjevka park was attended by Russian Ambassador Anvar Azimov and Mayor of Zagreb Milan Bandic.
"It is a really remarkable day in the history of Russia-Croatia relations and world space science," the Russian ambassador said. "Yuri Gagarin, a legendary man, a patrimony of the entire humankind, the planet’s first cosmonaut, will be here, in Zagreb, too. Generations will grow up, dozens of leaders will come and go, but the memory of this great man and his exploit will stay in Croatia, in the hearts of our brothers and sisters in Zagreb," Azimov said.
He noted that a bust to the world-famous Russian poet, Alexander Pushkin, had been unveiled earlier this year.
"Our next project will be a monument to the famous Russian poet, Sergei Yesenin. I am confident we will do that thanks to the efforts and help of the Zagreb administration and Mayor Bandic personally," the Russian diplomat said.
It is a great honor for us to have a monument to the famous Russian poet, and now - a monument to the first cosmonaut," Bandic said. "Despite the differences in political approaches, cultural development, our peoples are united by a common warm Slav soul."