MOSCOW— The Mashuk-Akva Term spa, a resort in Zheleznovodsk, Russia, has unveiled a $42,000 monument to the enema, reports the Associated Press. The sculpture features an 800-pound bronze syringe bulb resting on the shoulders of three Boticelli-style angels. While sculptor Svetlana Avakina said she designed the 5-foot-high monument with "irony and humor," the spa's director Alexander Kharchenko wants the monument to be viewed as more than just a joke: "There is no kitsch or obscenity, it is a successful work of art. An enema is almost a symbol of our region."

The Caucasus Mountains region is known for dozens of spas where enemas with water from mineral springs are routinely administered to treat digestive and other complaints. A banner declaring "Let's beat constipation and sloppiness with enemas" — an allusion to a line from The Twelve Chairs, a famous Soviet film comedy — is posted on one of Mashuk-AkvaTerm's walls.