Moscow statue to honour Diana

Diana would have turned 40 on July 1

MOSCOW, Russia -- The Russian capital plans to beat London off the mark by erecting a statue to honour the late Princess Diana.

Zurab Tsereteli, president of the Russian Academy of Art, sculpted the two-metre (6.6-feet) bronze statue on his own initiative, timed roughly around what would have been the British princess's 40th birthday, Elena Larionova, spokeswoman for the academy, told the Associated Press.

Known for mammoth and sometimes controversial works, the artist said he had met Diana, who was divorced from the heir to Britain's throne, Prince Charles, several times at art and charity events.

His creation, which portrays the princess in a ruffled evening gown and tiara, is to be installed in a modern art museum in central Moscow later this month, said Larionova.

The statue is a much smaller scale than some of Tsereteli's past projects which include a 94-metre (310 feet) statue of Peter the Great and 660-ton bronze statue of Christopher Columbus.

In Britain plans for what is said to be the world's largest rose garden and a fountain near Diana's last London home have been recently unveiled.

Diana, who would have turned 40 on July 1, died in Paris car crash in 1997.