The Green Belt of Glory

Categories / Architecture/Sculpture, Monuments
THE GREEN BELT OF GLORY, a complex of memorial installations and parks along the border-lines of the Battle of Leningrad, 1941-44. The idea of the establishment of the complex was suggested by poet and front-line soldier M.A. Dudin on the pages of Smena newspaper on 23 February 1965. The memorial symbols have been placed along the 200-kilometre siege circle, the so-called Road of Life (with memorial mile stones) and on Oranienbaum Beachhead. Such placing was selected due to the location of the border-line of Hitler's army advance, where it was halted in September of 1941. The general design project was completed in 1958-64, by the Leningrad Project Institute (Lenproekt; architects G.N.Buldakov, V.L.Gaykevich, M.A.Sementovskaya). The construction of the memorials was carried out in two stages: 9 May 1967 deadline, and by 9 May 1975 deadline. The memorial complexes include some monuments, erected in 1944-61, mass graves, pillboxes, bunkers, sample models of war equipment. The project engineering of the memorials was conducted by sculptors and architects on pro bono basis. Several sections of The Green Belt of Glory were taken into patronage by city and district councils; the construction work was carried out by workers and employees of Leningrad enterprises, establishments, educational institutions, and military units. The total number of monuments erected is over 80, grouped into 35 memorial complexes (Kirovsky Bulwark, Pulkovsky Border-Line, The Unbroken, The Attack, The Assault, The Garden of Peace, January Thunder, The Remote Border-line etc.). In 1974, The Green Belt of Glory was taken under state protection. Some monuments are of remarkable artistic value, i.e. The Flower of Life (1968, architect A.D. Devenkov and others), Katyusha (1966, architects L.V.Chulkevich, P.I.Melnikov, engineer G.P.Ivanov et al.), The Broken Circle (1966, architect V.G.Filippov, sculptor K.M. Simun, engineer I.A.Rybin et al.) - all these are situated on the Road of Life; The Unnamed hill (1965-68, sculptors G.D.Yastrebenetsky, V.G.Kozenyuk, architect L.I.Kopylovsky) by Ivanovskie rapids; Lembolovskaya stronghold (1967, architect A.I.Gutov, sculptor B.A.Svinin) at the Thirty-Fourth kilometre of Priozerskoe Freeway; The Coast of the Courageous (1967, architects A.G. Kamaldinov, А.Е.Rivkin, sculptor P.A.Yakimovich et al.) not far from Kernovo village, 103 kilometres from St. Petersburg. The memorials of The Green Belt of Glory have become traditional places for holding rituals and ceremonies of mourning in honour of the defenders of the country. See illustrations on page 288. See map on page 298.

References: Порецкина Э. Н. Стойкости и мужеству героев: Памятники и мемор. доски Ленинграда, посвящ. Победе в Великой Отеч. войне: Справ. Л., 1985; Ганшин В. И., Сердобольский О. М. Кольцо памяти, кольцо славы. Л., 1988.

Y. M. Piryutko. Buldakov Gennady Nikanorovich
Chulkevich Lev V.
Dudin Mikhail Alexandrovich
Filippov Vladimir Gavrilovich
Gaykovich Vladislav L.
Gutov Alexander Ivanovich
Ivanov Georgy Ivanovich
Kamaldinov A.G.
Kopylovsky Leonid Iosifovich
Kozenyuk Valentin Grigorievich
Levenkov Alexander Danilovich
Melnikov P.I.
Rivkin A.E.
Rybin A.I.
Sementovskaya Maryana Avenirovna
Simun K.M.
Svinin Boris Alexandrovich
Yakimovich P.A.
Yastrebenetsky Grigory Danilovich
Порецкина Э. Н. Стойкости и мужеству героев: Памятники и мемор. доски Ленинграда, посвящ. Победе в Великой Отеч. войне: Справ. Л., 1985
Ганшин В. И., Сердобольский О. М. Кольцо памяти, кольцо славы. Л., 1988 Battle for Leningrad, 1941-44
Siege of 1941-44
Road of Life
Oranienbaum Bridgehead
1965