A giant bronze statue of Prometheus, the Olympian rebel of Greek mythology, towered over the State University of New York at Brockport campus for 43 years.
The statue, called “Light and Knowledge to the World,” stood 40 feet tall and was one of two sculptures given to the university by the U.S.S.R. to commemorate the university hosting the fifth International Special Olympics in August 1979. The games drew celebrities, from Muhammad Ali to Christopher Reeve, from around the world to Brockport.
They were the work of Zurab Tsereteli, a controversial artist who was a visiting professor at the time, and today is considered the closest thing Russia has to an official state artist.
His other sculpture, “Joy and Happiness to All the Children of the World,” stands outside the Drake Library.
But Prometheus has been put out to pasture. Today, the Greek god of light and knowledge who stood sentinel over SUNY Brockport for decades sleeps in a grassy field cloaked in the woods on the western edge of campus.
The Greek god of fire was felled from his perch outside the Allen Administration Building in May 2022 because he was on life support, according to a university news release announcing his removal. Guy wires were holding him up.
The university explained that the top half of Prometheus — his chiseled bare upper body holding aloft a sunburst — would be stored and that officials would determine whether he could be resurrected.
On a recent day, the once majestic Prometheus was surrounded by deer scat and an immobile front-end loader that reeked of hydraulic fuel. His bottom half had been mangled and his torso punctured.
A university spokesperson said where Prometheus rests, in a forest between Commencement Drive and Redman Road, is the same place the university has placed other outdoor artwork in the past.
One of those pieces was Albert Paley’s “Conclave,” which was restored and resurrected in 2015 with private funding from former Brockport professor Bill Andrews as a memorial to his late wife, Monica W. Andrews.
“When I learned about the sculpture, it was lying the field over by Redman Road, I thought it was a shame the college didn’t do something with it,” Andrews once said.
Asked about Prometheus, Andrews said, “I can see the difficulty the college is having with it. And I don’t see any good solution to it. I’m not surprised that it’s just lying in the woods and the solution is probably just to let it sit there.”
University spokesperson John Follaco said school officials determined that it would cost more than $250,000 to restore Prometheus to his former glory. Efforts to find private support for the endeavor were unsuccessful, he said.
“Hopefully,” he said, “that will change one day.”
Emails regarding the statue sent to Tsereteli through his website were not returned.
