ZHELEZNOVODSK, RUSSIA — While American conservatives might consider the very suggestion a perverse attack on public decency, a Russian town that has built its reputation on getting to the bottom of health matters has erected a $42,000 bronze monument commemorating the lowly enema.The sculpture, which depicts a five-foot-tall, 800-pound syringe bulb held aloft by three angels, was unveiled Thursday at the Mashuk-Akva Term spa in the nether regions of the country’s Caucasus Mountains. The mountains are renowned for the spas that treat digestive and other complaints by administering enemas of mineral-spring water.
“There is no kitsch or obscenity; it is a successful work of art,” spa director Alexander Kharchenko told the Associated Press. “An enema is almost a symbol of our region.”
Sculptor Svetlana Avakina acknowledged the irony and humor implicit in her work: The angels are modeled after those found in the paintings of Italian Renaissance artist Alessandro Botticelli.
“This device is eternal, it will never change,” Avakina told the AP. “We could promote this brand; turn it into a franchise with souvenirs and awards for medical doctors.”
