Monument aux Défenseurs héroïques de Leningrad

Монумента героическим защитникам Ленинграда

Guerre de Continuation
1941-1944

Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad is the first sight you see if you arrive in Saint Petersburg from the southern direction, on the way from Pulkovo airport. This unique monument commemorates the great feat of Soviet people during the Siege and the glorious Victory in one of the most devastating wars of the humankind.This powerful and impressive monument was built as the focal point of Ploshchad Pobedy (Victory Square) in the early 1970s to commemorate the heroic efforts of the residents of Leningrad and the soldiers on the Leningrad Front to the repel the Nazis in the 900-day Siege of Leningrad during World War II.

The monument, built in the shape of a huge broken ring represents all the efforts it took to break the 900-day Siege of Leningrad. The inside of the ring is lit with gas torches and its walls feature engravings celebrating the incredible courage shown by the defenders of Leningrad. Inside the monument, in a vast underground memorial hall, there is an exhibition devoted to the Siege. An English-speaking guide is usually available, so just ask a member of the museum's staff. Make sure that you see the map of Leningrad's defenses and the museum's short documentary film, and take a look at the beautiful mosaics on the eastern and western walls of the hall.

Metro : Moskovskaya

метро - "Московская" 

Description

Tickets: 1h avant la fermeture 

Langues

The composition includes 3 main parts:

"Square of the Victors", featuring 26 bronze figures. These are Soldiers, Pilots and Civilians who defended the city. They are looking towards the Pulkovo Heights, where the defensive lines fighting the Nazis were located.

The central part is a 48-m tall granite obelisk with statues of a Soldier and a Worker placed at its pedestal. They symbolize the united effort of the armed forces and Leningrad homefront in the heroic city defense.

The open-air memorial hall is surrounded by a broken ring, which signifies lifting of the Siege, and has beautifully crafted sculptures in the middle. They create a very strong emotional impression of all the pain and suffering endured by Leningrad people during that tragic time.

The Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad, erected on Pobedy Square in the former Srednaya Rogatka District is one of the most impressive and remarkable memorials dedicated to the participation of Russia in the Second World War.

Underground Memorial Hall

The subterranean part of the museum features a collection of war artefacts: documents, awards, soldiers' personal belongings, weapons, handwritten letters from boys seeking to join the army. The grim silence is interrupted only by the sound of metronome and emergency announcements transmitted on the radio. On a huge display on the wall a short documentary is being broadcast, bringing us closer to the feelings of people who witnessed those horrible events.

Among the highlights are mosaics depicting a Siege and a Victory scene, the map of Leningrad defense and 900 torches lighting the space - as many as the number of days in the Siege.

Permanent display of the Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad is located beneath the monument. Mosaic triptych “The Siege of 1941” by Sergey Repin, Ivan Uralov and Nikita Fomin depicts volunteers leaving for the war, women working at the factory in besieged city, and the portrait of Dmitry Shostakovich, who wrote his famous Symphony No. 7 to glorify the city's resistance and defiance to fascism. The “Victory” panel in the opposite part of the hall represents the reception of returning soldiers and the Victory Parade, which was held in Leningrad in the June of 1945. The display includes documents, awards, soldiers' personal belongings, weapons, a 125-gramm slice of bread – the only food available to the citizens from November 20 to December 25,1941, and other items, connected with the history of the Siege.

The Memorial Hall houses “Chronicle of the Siege of Leningrad” and “Memory Book”. Bronze pages of the Chronicle describe the series of events that took place in the city of Leningrad and on the Leningrad front in 1941, 1942, 1943 and 1944. Pages telling about each of the 900 blockade days are changed daily and exhibited on a special base. The “Memory Book”, also made of bronze, contains the whole list of military units that undertook defence of Leningrad.

The display is accompanied by reproduction of call signals from Moscow, changed by the metronome ticking – audio documents of the epoch. During the Siege the radio broadcast a ticking of a metronome warning citizens about coming air raids. Fast tempo meant an air raid warning and a slow tempo informed the citizens that the threat was over.

The museum display features documentary films “Recollections about the Siege” and “Leningrad in Struggle”. Fragments from the Symphony No. 7 byDmitry Shostakovich are used as background music to the movies.

A visit to the underground Memorial hall is free with Petersburg Card.

Historical facts

The monument was constructed during the 1970-s, designed by S. Speransky and V. Kamensky and sculpted by M. Anikushin. A lot of volunteers took part in the works - not only citizens of Leningrad, but people from other cities as well, and even from other countries. The monument was opened on May 9th 1975, the 30th anniversary of the Victory in World War II. The underground part was not completed on time and opened later, in 1978.

The first plans to build a monument to the World War II victory where announced in 1958 when the city announced an open competition for the design of the monument. There were 44 entries, according to B. Isacheko in his book 20th Century St. Petersburg Architects.

Decorated Russian architect Sergei Speransky won the competition with his knowledge of city construction design and the pervasiveness of the theme of World War II victory in his art. As early as 1946, he was active in the restoration of Minsk and the creation of a World War II monument there.

His competition-winning design for Ploshchad Pobedy was highlighted by a broken ring surrounding a high-level composition dedicated to the Leningrad citizen's successful efforts to repel the terrible 900-day Nazi siege during World War II. A monument was designed to rise up from the center of the ring, flanked on the western and eastern sides by the horizontal ray buildings in the fold of the massive and Stalinesque Moscow Prospekt and the tall towers at the intersection of the square and the prospekt.

The square was formally named Ploshchad Pobedy in 1962. Up until then it had been named Sredney Rogatki Ploshchad.

After the completion of construction on several nine-story apartment buildings along Moscow Prospekt near Ploshchad Pobedy, a second competition was announced for the monument, which was by then called "The Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad." This time more than 80 applicants participated, but Speransky and his team nevertheless prevailed with their design "Eternal Flame of Our Memory."

Their plan called for a parade-like entry or gateway into the Hero City from the south, from the Soviet capital Moscow and Pulkovo Airport, at the approximate point where the city's defensive lines held back the Nazis in World War II. It also focused on the aesthetic pattern and unique architectural style of Leningrad. It maintained a classical strictness, clarity and balancing of its various aspects and proportions with the parameters of the older city. The idea and design drew from historic St. Petersburg sites Mars Field and Palace Square, and combined modernity with the best spiritual and artistic traditions of the city.

The tall and clean obelisk, which rises up from the broken ring design will surely attract your attention if you enter St. Petersburg from the airport or from E-95 highway. The sculptural ensemble placed at the pedestal of the obelisk is one of the best examples of Soviet monumental art dedicated to World War II Victory.

The sobering space inside the broken ring is lit with gas torches. Engravings on the walls of the monument are dedicated to the nationwide recognition of the courage shown by the defenders of Leningrad. Inside the monument, in a vast underground memorial hall, there is an exhibition devoted to the Siege. English-speaking guides are usually available upon request. Pay special attention to the detailed map of Leningrad defenses and the short documentary. Pay attention also to the beautiful mosaics on the eastern and western walls of the hall.

On the outside, up a short flight of stairs from the exhibition, you can see the sculptures representing soldiers, sailors and civilians who did not surrender to the Nazis despite hunger, cold and constant bombardment.

The author of the sculptures M. Anikushin powerfully depicts with raw emotion the story of the great feat of the people of Leningrad and the soldiers on the Leningrad front.