A memorial bust of French writer Honore de Balza, author of La Comédie Humaine (“The Human Comedy”), has been recently opened in Kyiv on the occasion of the literary artist's 220th birthday. Also, a large Balzac Fest festival is held in Ukraine to promote Balzac's work and deepen Franco-Ukrainian cultural ties.
The author Balzac bust is the famous Ukrainian sculptor Vasyl Boroday, who made the sculpture in 1965. The pedestal (granite block) of the monument bust was brought from the village of Verkhivnya. It was the village where the writer and his wife lived in the Gansky estate. The bust weight is approximately 400 kg, and the pedestal weight is almost 2 tons.