The Mahatma Gandhi sculpture was created in 2007 by Alexander Ryabichev as a replica of the original bronze statue created by his father Dimitry Ryabichev in 1984. The statue, presently housed in the premises of the Embassy of India, Moscow is a 650 kg monument with the inscription “My Life is My Message”. Mahatma Gandhi is known in India as the Father of the Nation.
The sculptor of the original statue, Dmitry Borisovich Ryabichev was born in 1926 in the city of Malin. He studied at the Leningrad Civil Engineering Institute at the Faculty of Architecture, then at the Moscow School of Industrial Art (today MGHPA named after Stroganov) at the Faculty of Sculpture. In 1954 he became a member of the Union of Artists of the USSR. In 1965 he was awarded the UNESCO International Prize and the title of Honored Artist of the USSR. In 1967 he founded his own creative workshop, which is now led by his son, sculptor Alexander Ryabichev who has been the head of the Ryabichevs Creative Studio since 1995, member of the Moscow Union of Artists of Russia (1979), and the Jawaharlal Nehru Prize laureate (1992). In 1983 he went on a creative trip to India and in the subsequent year, he began work on the monument to Mahatma Gandhi which was inaugurated in Delhi and is today, a part of the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Museum.
On the eve of the celebration of the first International Non-Violence Day on 2nd October, 2007, Alexander presented a sculpture of Mahatma Gandhi to the Indian Embassy in Moscow as a token of his respect for the country and its people, in gratitude for the memories of the trip and many wonderful meetings. The monument - an exact copy of the sculpture of Mahatma Gandhi in Delhi, was installed in the park on Vorontsovo Pole in Moscow at the Embassy of India.
