OREL, Russia — Despite protests and court battles, the Russian city of Orel has unveiled the country’s first monument to Ivan the Terrible, the bloody 16th-century czar who massacred his subjects by the thousands and even reportedly killed his own son.
At a ceremony Friday, officials inaugurated the statue of Ivan on horseback, wielding both a sword and a cross, in the city 225 miles south of Moscow. The region’s governor likened the brutal czar — favorably — to current Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“We have a great, powerful president who has forced the whole world to respect and defer to Russia — just like Ivan the Terrible did in his time,” Vadim Potomsky said at the ceremony.
Ivan, who reigned from 1547 to 1584, was responsible for violence including the Novgorod Massacre, which killed thousands. But he is also respected as both key to Russia’s establishing itself as an empire and as a patron of the arts, including commissioning the landmark St. Basil’s Cathedral, which dominates Red Square in Moscow.