The smallest monument in the capital of Moldova

There are a lot of monuments in Chisinau that are worth seeing. Recently, I wrote about one of the famous monuments in Moldova - Stefan the Great monument. That one is quite big. However, one of the architects from Chisinau decided that it would be great to make another one -  the smallest monument in the whole country. Since then, the sculpture of Little Prince, the hero of a famous novella written by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, decorates the fence of the Valea Morilor Park, in the capital of Moldova.

Little Prince and asteroid B-612

Antoine de Saint-Exupery wrote the story about the Little Prince while living in New York, after moving from France that was occupied by the Nazi. Its very first publication was in 1943 in New York, in English. In the original, French language, the story was first published also in the USA, but in the author's homeland France the story was released only after the war, in 1946. The plot tells us about the pilot who makes an emergency landing in the Sahara desert. He meets one extraordinary and mysterious boy - the Little Prince from another planet - asteroid B-612. Feeling unhappy and pissed off, the Little Prince flies off to explore other places in the Universe. He visits other asteroids and meets a lot of strange adults on his way. Together with the pilot, they have a very interesting conversation about the adventures, friendship, love and being a grown up. The Little Prince learns a lot of useful and important things that will reveal the truth of life in general. 

The smallest monument in Moldova

Coming back to the monument, just as the little character from the story, it is small - only 115 millimeters in height which makes it the smallest monument in the whole Moldova. The Little Prince stands on his native asteroid B-162, crowning one of the segments of a cast-iron fence, installed around the lake. The author of ​​this small sculpture is a resident of the capital and illustrator Igor Udushlivy. The author says that the idea of making own Moldavian Little Prince came up to him while he was walking around the Valea Morilor Lake. There is a metal fence that surrounds the lake, which is decorated with small iron balls. Suddenly, this reminded him of a chain of petite planets. "Who lives on these kinds of planets?" - he asked himself. Then, he remembered the most iconic illustration of Little Prince standing on his own planet - asteroid B-612. That is how the desire of making the sculpture appeared. After a year of works, we could see the little bronze Prince on the most picturesque Lake in Chisinau. 

Huge perspectives of tiny sculptures

These tiny format monuments are absolutely new in Moldova. The small size of Prince is determined by the context - it was necessary to keep the original value of the story and character. The Little Prince is a tiny resident of a tiny planet. The sculpture of author reflected that value. The audience was excited about it. Igor Udushlivy thinks that this is only the beginning - Moldova should have some more tiny sculptures because it is important not to lose the tricky and positive emotions no matter what happens. Those kinds of monuments are free from formality and importance, which in perspective can add more cognitive and entertainment significance to the street art in Moldova. 

How to find the Little Prince in Valea Morilor?

Because of the small size of the sculpture, it could be a bit tricky to find the Little Prince. If you go from the entrance of Valea Morilor Park on Grigore Alexandrescu street, you should look for a bridge. Then go down the stairs that lead to the embankment with the iron fence. The smallest monument of the capital of Moldova - the Little Prince lives on the 23rd decorative ball of that fence. 

Valea Morilor Park

Valea Morilor Park, Strada Grigore Alexandrescu, Chișinău, Moldova