In the territory of St Sophia Cathedral in Rome, on 11 October 2015 after the Hierarchical Liturgy led by UGCC Primate Patriarch Sviatoslav (Shevchuk) the monument to St. Volodymyr the Great was consecrated on the occasion of the millennium of his eternal repose.
The monument to St. Volodymyr was constructed as a gift to Pope John Paul II to mark the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus-Ukraine in 1988. Its author is a prominent sculptor Leonid Molodozhanyn (nicknamed Leo Mol), whose 100th anniversary is celebrated in 2015.
In the twentieth century many talented artists - natives of Ukraine, for various reasons were forced to emigrate and achieved considerable success. One of them - Leonid Molodozhanyn, who worked in Winnipeg, Canada, and has made a great contribution to the popularization of Ukrainian culture and art in the international arena and in the development of Ukrainian spirituality in the countries of the Diaspora.
He is called “a heaven born sculptor” and the religious motives in sculptures, icons, stained glass, and mosaic constitute the bulk of his work. The busts of Pope Paul VI and John Paul II created during their lifetime, and of Pope John XXIII posthumously, are being kept in the Vatican museums. Numerous monuments adorn the great cities of Europe, North and South Americas, as reported by Vatican Radio.
Photos from FB-page of the Embassy of Ukraine in the Apostolic Capital