NEW YORK, February 07. /ITAR-TASS/. CNN has removed from its website the mischievous comment by Iain Aitch on the ten monuments across the world, which the headline of the comment described as the ‘ugliest’ ones.
The review listed, among others, the ‘Courage’ monument to the defenders of the Fortress of Brest, one of the most tragic and remarkable instances of armed resistance to the invading Nazi on the Eastern Front of World War II.
“CNN has withdrawn the story ‘The world's ugliest monuments’ because it was not of the standard we would expect of a CNN report,” the notice on the company’s website said.
In a review that was obviously designed to be entertaining and addressed to “sculptors, stonemasons and cement stirrers of the world,” Iain Aitch provided a list of memorials that, according to his conclusions, offered illustrations of “how not to build a monument.”
Describing ‘Courage’, which he placed at the top of his list, Aitch wrote: “This giant, angry Soviet soldier emerging from a mountainous block of concrete looks as if he's about to thump the West into submission before hurling North America at the sun.”
He admitted however that the sculptural composition was “a much-loved national monument which marks the defense of the Belarusian city of Brest and the Soviet victory in World War II.”
“CNN apologizes for the unintended offense caused by an article from a contributor that was intended to be a humorous look at monumental architecture worldwide,” the CNN notice said Friday.
“We recognize that the Courage Monument carries deep and significant symbolism in honoring the soldiers who gave their lives defending their nation,” it said.