Hungarian professor who taught lecture from trenches receives mini-sculpture in Ukraine

The world clearly needs heroes, and some of it also needs mini-sculptures. Fedir Shandor, the Hungarian professor from Ukraine's Transcarpathian region is clearly a man whose activities are recognised the world over: in civilian life he is a professor at the National University of Uzhhorod, Ukraine but currently, he is fighting in the Russian-Ukrainian war.

A powerful photo of him and the accompanying story made news in May last year, showing him delivering a lecture to his students gun in hand, from the trenches, during breaks in the fighting. In his professional life, Shandor, who is one of about 150 000 Hungarians living in Ukraine, is a tourism expert, sociologist and works on urban and regional projects.

According to a Wednesday tweet, a mini statue dedicated to him, or as he is described, "the professor from the trenches" was unveiled in Uzhhorod, Ukraine. As Ukrinform, the Ukrainian National News Agency, tweeted, Fodor is currently a soldier in a Transcarpathian battalion.

The small statue in Uzhhorod is not the first such work to appear in the town, but the 46th of its kind. Many of the mini-sculptures, which are becoming increasingly popular with tourists have a Hungarian connection, from the one featuring painter Tivadar Kosztka Csontváry skating on the ice of Ung, to Rubik's Cube, Béla Bartók and Franz Liszt. According to a blog post, the author of the tiny sculptures in Uzhhorod is the same Mihály Kolodko, whose statues have also been popping up around Budapest.

Mihály Kolodko, a Ukrainian-Hungarian sculptor born in Uzhhorod, moved to Hungary in 2017. We reached out to the sculptor to find out if he had made the Fedir Shandor mini-sculpture, and will update our article if he responds.