The author of this, as well as all other Uzhgorod mini-sculptures, is Mykhailo Kolodko. It was installed almost 12 years ago on July 20, 2011. It was opened not as a tribute to friendship with the USA, but on the occasion of the so-called Uzhgorod regatta – a kind of competition of homemade watercraft on the Uzh River. The reason for the creation of this cute sculpture was the angry appeal of Ukrrichflot about the inadmissibility of navigation on rivers without their consent. Its creation was initiated by the Department of Tourism of UzhNU and the Information Center.
The official name of the sculpture is the “Ungvar” lighthouse, but people simply call it “Svobodka”. The statue is a mini-lighthouse – a light-emitting diode is built into the torch. So it serves as a kind of symbolic, slightly sarcastic message to Ukrrichflot from the city community.
