Official presentation of the ‘Eighth Wonder of the World’ project in Moscow

Another distinctive attribute of the project is the fact that its design will embody the latest Russian and global trends in monumental architecture and sculptural installations, including a comprehensive use of the most advanced technologies and hi-tech gadgets as well as the application of the so-called ‘green building principles. Such an approach, according to project’s developers, will make the monument unique in terms of its full compliance with the most stringent environmental and safety requirements on the protection of the Earth’s ecosystem. According to the management of Terra Viva, the Latin for ‘Living Planet,’ a Moscow-based international public environmental protection organization, which is both the initiator and sponsor of the project, Cyprus recently became the first country in the world to give its consent to the establishment of this unique complex on its territory, specifically in a village, located at about two and half miles from Limassol, the nation’s ‘tourist capital city.’ 

The monument’s global mission

The goal of the unique monument, according to the authors of the project, is to symbolize the unity of different peoples of different nationalities and religious faiths. “Consequently, the project that will be built in Cyprus, which envisages the development of the world’s biggest monument with a huge entertainment mall on its basement, will usher in a new generation of tourist facilities that will seamlessly combine the best features of business, cultural and social centers,” Terra Viva Chairman Nikolai Drozdov, better known in the country as a prominent environmentalist and the popular Animal World TV program host, noted. “Besides, it will also be an extremely powerful industrial asset with an enormous investment potential, which will make the project particularly attractive to business executives, from the point of investment outlay.” 

“The main objective of this unique monument is to symbolize the unity of different peoples of different nationalities and religious faiths in full harmony of kindness and love.”

According to Drozdov, the design of ‘The Kind Angel’ monument can rightly lay a justified claim to be the ‘Eighth Wonder of the World,’ started last year. “This building will be higher and larger than any of the world’s existing large-scaled sculptures. It will be a tourist complex of new generation, with strong investment potential for the global business community,” he added. “Specifically, I want to emphasize one unique aspect of this project, which is very important to me as a person fully interested in solving environmental problems. This is the fact that this complex will be based on the best concept of ecological design, consequently, irrespective of where the monument will be located, its practical construction will always fully comply with all the best green building principles. 

Pyotr Stronsky — one of the authors of the idea, and the monument’s chief architect, who also doubles as the CEO of Strong Art Ltd. — emphasized the ‘universality’ of his team’s creation that will enable this monumental complex to be erected in almost every country in the world and in any climatic conditions. “As the chief architect of the project, I have been working on this idea for several years. Indeed, it has become a lifetime task for me. Therefore, it is with joy that today I present the latest draft version of this monument to the public, which in my opinion, is the best from all the versions we have made over the years,” he added. “This is a universal project that can be built in practically any country with an in-built capability to enable it equally function effectively under various climatic conditions or areas with geographical peculiarities.”

According Stronsky, the uniqueness of the complex’s sightseeing opportunities, will, no doubt, attract the attention of thousands of potential tourists to the country of its location. For example, our experts forecast that at least about 1mln people will visit the ‘Kind Angel of Peace’ complexes around the world in the first year after their erections, while the number of tourists will geometrically increase to 3.5mln within a couple of years, a reality that will, undoubtedly, have a positive impact on such countries’ economies. “This is a unique tourist complex with a new generation of year-round-operation facilities, a one-of-its-kind entertainment park with interesting technological solutions, combining the most advanced features of modern business and cultural centers.”

In addition, the project, according to Stronsky, will also open up great opportunities for strategic investors. “For example, the aggregated usable spaces on the tiers of the sculpture and the transparent cupola, which symbolizes the globe, and the base of the monument, totals about 33,000sqm, which can be designed in different ways to meet the wishes of different potential investors,” he said. “That is why this object has high investment potential for investors. For some, it could be used as a purely business center, for other investors as a concert and entertainment hall or a hotel complex,” he added. “The final decision will be made by the investors, taking into consideration the proposals put forward by the country, where the monument will eventually be erected. These spaces in the monument will be the main source of revenue generation in form of rents from the project.” 

Feasibility studies highlight the project’s enormous investment potential 

Interestingly, all the commercial details of the project voiced by Stronsky almost fully correlated with the results of an independent feasibility study and the investment attractiveness analysis of the project conducted by International Theme Park Services, Inc., the U.S.-based company considered as one of the world's most authoritative experts in designing, planning and development of vertical recreational and leisure facilities. Thus, according to International Theme Park Services, Inc. President Dennis Spiegel, the comparative analysis of the designs of the world’s most famous towers and sculptures conducted by his company’s experts team unanimously concluded that none of these monuments can match the beauty, uniqueness, innovativeness and ecological friendliness of the ‘Kind Angel of Peace’ monument. 

“The Kind Angel of Peace’ monument can rightly lay a justified claim to be the ‘Eighth Wonder of the World, as it will be higher and larger than any of the world’s existing large-scaled sculptures.” 

Presenting the main results of the feasibility study of the project, Spiegel further noted that when choosing a place to locate the monument, such vital factors as easy accessibility, availability of social infrastructure, good visibility, proximity to densely populated cities, etc., are to be taken into consideration. “Thus, regarding Cyprus, the first country to host the monument, has always been one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world, and therefore, we believe that the ‘Kind Angel of Peace’ monumental complex will have a huge positive impact on the development of the tourism industry not only in Cyprus, but throughout the entire Mediterranean region.”

Specifically speaking about the project’s capability to significantly boost the inflow of tourists and financial aspects of its realization, Spiegel, citing his company’s preliminary estimates, said the number of tourists to the complex in Cyprus is expected to reach 823,000 by 2014, and thereafter further increase to about 882,000 tourists by 2018. In addition, the estimated investment outlay in the project, according to the Spiegel’s estimates, will range from $60mln to $72mln, while the expected yield on the investment stands at a robust 30%. “This project, because of its uniqueness, beauty and significance, has great investment potential with a high chance of being implemented in other major cities around the world,” he predicted. 

Today, miniature sizes of the original the ‘Kind Angel of Peace’ monumental complex, fondly called by their authors and the media as ‘kind little angels of peace,’ as they are only  15m high, compared to 135m of the real-life version, have been erected in over 30 cities across Russia, including Moscow, Abakan, Penza, Chelyabinsk, Orenburg, Cheboksary, Magadan and Sochi, etc. “One of the most  recent ‘kind peace angelet’ monument was erected on September 2 in Beslan, a city made famous by the devastating terrorist acts in 2004,” said Drozdov, as he completed the official presentation of the monument’s design with the announcement of Terra Viva’s planned future events, including a list of cities, where the ‘kind little angels of peace’ sculptures will be erected in Russia and abroad.