Great Patriotic War, Monuments to (entry)

Categories / Architecture/Sculpture, Monuments
GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR, MONUMENTS TO. The first monuments devoted to the heroic defence of Leningrad appeared in 1944, immediately after the Lifting of the Siege, with concrete steles depicting the Order of the Patriotic War in Memory of the Defensive Battles of 1941-42, near the village Yam-Izhora, near the Uritsk (Ligovo) station, in the Sosnovaya Polyana Park, and with pylons along the front line near Pulkovo (architect K.L. Iogansen, V.A. Petrov). In honour of the Victory of September 1945, the Moscow Victory Park and Primorsky Victory Park were laid. The process of erecting monuments to the events of the war was hampered by the "Leningrad Affair", whose victims included many organisers of the defence of Leningrad. Architectural decoration of communal graves and mass burial places throughout Leningrad began in the middle of the 1950s, including the Piskarevskoe Memorial Cemetery (1960) and the Serafimovskoe Cemetery (1965). From 1965, monuments and memorials were erected to make the Green Belt of Glory, which consisted of about 80 structures along the ring of the Leningrad defence, with total length of over 200 kilometres; monuments on the Road of Life were also built. For the 20th anniversary of the Victory (1965), monuments to special soldiers from different Leningrad districts were erected, including in the Oktyabrsky District (1964, on Sadovaya Street), and the Leninsky District (1965, near the Baltic Railway Station). Installation of memorial signs and memorial plaques at city factories and institutions was actively carried out in 1970s. For the 30th anniversary of the Victory (1975), the monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad was erected. This commemoration was achieved through the erection of an obelisk 33 metres high To the Heroic City Leningrad on Vosstaniya Square (1985, architect A.I. Alymov, sculptors A.S. Charkin, B.A. Petrov, engineer-architects B.N. Brudno, V.M. Ivanov). The territory of the monument partly coincides with the foundation of the monument to Emperor Alexander I, which was situated on the square before 1937. The obelisk consisted of 52 iron-concrete beams with a total length of 26 metres, which were driven into the foundation, forming an obelisk with a mass of 177 tons; the entire operation was accomplished in 40 minutes. Replicated monuments with a military theme caused the theme to lose its significance and artistic value, particularly in such monuments as the Torn Ring near Vaganovsky slope on the Road of Life (1966, sculptor K. M. Simun, architect V. G. Filippov), the Monument to Hero Students of the Leningrad Academy of Physical Culture and Sport, on the territory of the Academy of Physical Culture (1974, sculptor M.P. Shcheglov), and the Nevsky Memorial on Dalnevostochny Avenue (1980, sculptor L.G. Mogilevsky, architect D.S. Goldgor). A new phenomenon in the 1990s was the erection of Orthodox churches in memory of the defenders of the city, particularly with the City-Heroes park, and the Church of the Assumption at Malaya Okhta.

Y. M. Piryutko. Alexander III, Emperor
Alymov Alexander Ivanovich
Brudno Boris Naumovich
Charkin Albert Serafimovich
Filippov Vladimir Gavrilovich
Goldgor David Semenovich
Iogansen Kirill Leonardovich
Ivanov Vladimir (Vadim) Mikhailovich
Mogilevsky Leonid Georgievich
Petrov Boris Anatolievich
Petrov Vasily Alexandrovich
Shcheglov Mikhail Petrovich
Simun K.M.
Dalnevostochny Ave/Saint Petersburg, city
Lifting of the Siege, 1944
Leningrad Affair
Seraphimovskoe Cemetery
The Green Belt of Glory
Road of Life
Heroic Defenders of Leningrad, Monument to
Holy Assumption Church on Malaya Okhta
1985