A monument to Tsar Ivan the Terrible is to be built in the Russian city of Orel, 350 kilometers south of Moscow, the TASS news agency reported Wednesday.
The monument will be unveiled on Aug. 3, two days before the 450th anniversary of the city’s founding, the Orel region’s governor Vadim Potomsky told journalists.
“He founded the city 450 years ago. A great city of great people” he said, adding that the statue will not be financed from the city or the regional budget, TASS reported.
The first Tsar of all Russia, Ivan IV, commonly known as Ivan the Terrible, ruled Russia from 1533-1584 and is credited with creating a centrally controlled Russian state imposed by strong military rule. Famous for his extreme temper, he murdered his own son in a fit of rage as well as blinding the architect of Moscow’s St. Basil’s Cathedral.