I. G. Pershudchev. Bust of Sergeant Meliton Kantaria

A companion to the bust of Mikhail Egorov, this is a portrait of his comrade-in-arms Meliton Kantaria. Together they raised the Victory Banner over the Reichstag on the night of 1 May 1945. Ivan Pershudchev made both portraits in May 1945; this bust was cast in bronze from the model, apparently in 1985.

Meliton Varlamovich Kantaria (1920–1993) was born in Georgia and, like Egorov, served in the 756th Rifle Regiment of the 150th Rifle Division. Both standard-bearers were made Heroes of the Soviet Union on the same day, 8 May 1946. Pershudchev (1915–1987) volunteered for the front and sculpted portraits of soldiers right at their positions. In May 1945 alone he made seven portraits: besides the two standard-bearers, they included Generals S. N. Perevertkin and V. M. Shatilov, Colonel Zinchenko, Major Sokolovsky and Captain K. Ya. Samsonov.

Kantaria is shown wearing a forage cap. The bust is cast in bronze and mounted on a granite pedestal, finished by grinding and chasing; it measures 60 × 28.5 × 25 cm. As the museum's staff note, in their modelling and stern truthfulness both busts belong to the heroic time of the war.