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A bronze statue of famous Soviet Armenian architect Karo Halabyan was unveiled in Moscow on Tuesday, April 27.

The statue was erected with the support of the Moscow government and at the initiative of the Armenian Embassy in Moscow. Armenia’s Ambassador to Russia Vardan Toghanyan made a speech at the inauguration ceremony.

The sculptor of the bronze statue is People's Artist of Russia Georgy Frangulyan, the architects are Ashot Tadevosyan, Andrey Frangulyan and Karina Danielyan, the Armenian Embassy reported.

The statue depicts Karo Halabyan holding drawings of Moscow's Central Academic Theater of the Russian Army. The statue is 3 meters high. The pedestal is made of red granite, which is reminiscent of Armenian tuff due to its color.

Born on 26 July 1897 in Elisabethpol, Halabyan held the prestigious title of the chief architect of Moscow and led many architectural projects in and around the city. His architecture was predominantly socialist post-constructivism and soviet neoclassicism.

Halabyan graduated from the Moscow Higher Art and Technical Institute in 1929. He authored the architectural design of the Builders Club, the residential building of Electrochemical Trust and many other places built in Yerevan.  In 1932, Halabyan moved to live and work in Moscow. From 1932 to 1950 he served as a secretary of the Union of Architects of the Soviet Union. From 1937 to 1950 Halabyan was the deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the union. He was the vice president and later president of the USSR Academy of Architecture.

In 1943-1945 Karo Halabyan led the development of the recovery plan of Stalingrad. The buildings of the Sochi Sea Port (jointly with L. B. Karlik), the Central Academic Theatre of Russian Army (together with V. N.  Simbirtsev), ground subway station Krasnopresnenskaya (jointly with T. A. Ilyin, V. I. Aleshin, and T. D. Zebrikova) have been constructed based on the project of Halabyan.