What to visit

Monument to the Merry Goat

Description History

You`ll see a funny sculpture of the Merry Goat in Bolshaya Pokrovskaya street. It stands opposite the monument to the literary critic Nicholay Dobrolyubov, and the man is on the contrary, looking sad and thoughtful. The "merry goat", according to the famous Russian journalist and writer Vladimir Gilyarovsky was the nickname for the heraldic symbol of this city, as per visiting merchants the deer of Nizhny Novgorod  looked rather very kicky and kicking: "When will the husband come home?" , was a question to a merchant`s wife in Moscow. "God only knows! He must be under the merry goat spree!"

And the Merry Goat also turned to be the name of the national theatre actors` festival held once in two years here in Nizhny Novgorod.

In addition to this Merry Goat interpretation of the deer from Nizhny Novgorod coat of arms, the citizens of Nizhny Novgorod have yet another reason to have a monument to this livestock right here, in downtown.

As per the local tale, once upon a time, in the middle of the night (God only knows which year it was) the second week of the Great Lent in Kanavino (today Kanavinsky district of Nizhny Novgorod) a fire broke out. And someone's goat left unattended for the night, while wandering up and down the streets accidentally tripped over the guard`s bell cord so the bell started ringing to wake the local folks. They woke up, noticed the flames and timely extinguished the fire. So that goat became a hero, and in its honor they had a celebration with a proper feast despite the Great Lent.

This holiday at the gloomy time of the Great Lent appeared to be so popular that it was soon recognized as a big event for an annual celebration. And those go-getting residents of Kanavino area set up a kind of trade fair market and arranged for a public celebration, including tobogganing fun. The local clergy initially tried to fight such violation of the Great Lent rules, by talking sense into Kanavino people and by addressed formal complaints to the high-rank authorities of church and government, but this Goat`s Shrovetide would not stop.

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