A group of Russian designers have scrapped a planned light installation modelled on the all-seeing evil eye in JRR Tolkien's fantasy novels after the Russian Orthodox Church protested.
The group had planned to raise what resembles a giant glowing eye on the 21st floor of a Moscow skyscraper to celebrate the local release of the final part of Peter Jackson's movie adaptation of The Hobbit on Thursday.
In Tolkien's The Hobbit, and also in the subsequent Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Eye of Sauron is a giant flaming eye controlled by the "dark lord" Sauron, which allows him to watch anyone who puts on the fateful, power-giving ring.
But the Russian Orthodox Church's head of public affairs, Vsevolod Chaplin, objected to what he called a "demonic symbol" in an interview with Govorit Moskva radio station.
"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," Chaplin warned on Wednesday.
