The Eye of Sauron will not, after all, gaze out over Moscow this week, after opposition from the Russian Orthodox Church torpedoed an art installation planned by fans of JRR Tolkien’s fantasy novels.
On Tuesday, the main spokesmen for the Russian Orthodox church, Vsevolod Chaplin, told a local radio station that the eye was “a demonic symbol” that could have dire consequences for Moscow.
“Such a symbol of the triumph of evil is rising up over the city, becoming practically the highest object in the city. Is that good or bad? I’m afraid it’s more likely bad. Just don’t be surprised later if something goes wrong with the city.”
An online petition was also created where Orthodox believers could voice their opposition to the proposal. The group behind the installation, an art collective called Svechenie, quickly announced it was abandoning the proposal.
“We didn’t expect that our fan initiative, which received a lot of attention from the media and millions of Tolkien fans, would get such a reaction in society,” said the group in a statement on its Facebook page. “The project does not have any religious or political subtext, and as we do not want to offend anyone, we are stopping the project.”
In Tolkien’s books, the Eye of Sauron is a flaming eye controlled by the “dark lord” Sauron. The installation, which was meant to be lit up on Thursday evening and blaze until late in the night, was planned at the top of one of the tall buildings in the Moscow City business district. Light projectors were to have been used to create a 3D effect.
The installation was planned to coincide with the release of the final part of the film adaptation of The Hobbit, and not everyone was happy about the decision to call it off.
“I came all the way from a different country to look at the Eye and see the Hobbit premiere. You are idiots,” wrote Andrey Borovkov on the group’s Facebook page.
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