To the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad is on the list of attractions that guests of the Northern capital visit most actively. The structure was erected in honor of the 30th anniversary of the victory of the peoples of the USSR over the Nazis. It tells visitors about the most tragic page in the history of Leningrad - the 900-day siege of the city and its heroic breakthrough.

The meaning of the monument

Leningrad is a city that was destined to experience all the horrors of the fascist occupation. Finding himself in the blockade ring, with incredible efforts he local population was able to survive and not surrender to the enemy. The siege of the city lasted almost 900 days and was broken in January 1943 after the successful execution of Operation Iskra by Soviet troops. Few people today think about what ordinary residents had to experience surrounded by fascist forces. The monument to the heroic defenders of Leningrad on Victory Square is one of those few memorable places a city that, for many decades, retains the memories of the tragedy it experienced.

Background of construction

People in the Soviet Union started talking about the need to erect a monument to the defenders of the city from the Nazi invaders in Leningrad even during the war. But for a long time it was not possible to implement this idea. Only in the 60s did the city authorities manage to decide on the location where the future monument was to be erected. It became Victory Square (until 1962 it was called Srednyaya Rogatka). This choice was made for a reason, because the most intense battles for the city took place here during the war.

Leningraders actively supported the idea of ​​erecting a memorial to the defenders of the city during the siege and even transferred their own financial savings to its construction. For this purpose, a special one was opened at the State Bank. The transfer amounts were different. For example, M.A. Dudin donated his fee for the poem “Song of Crow Mountain” published in 1964 for the construction of the monument. At least we managed to collect more than 2 million Soviet rubles, its construction was delayed for a long time. On creative competitions Many designs for the monument were presented, but it was impossible to choose the best one.

Work on the construction of the monument

The need to create a memorial to the defenders of Leningrad was again discussed only in the early 70s. The 30th anniversary was approaching Great Victory and the grand opening of the monument was planned for this date. As a result, the project created by the sculptor M. Anikushin and architects S. Speransky and V. Kamensky was approved. All of them took part in the defense of the city.

The monument to the heroic defenders of Leningrad, a photo of which can be seen in this article, began construction in 1974. By the end of summer, a huge pit for the memorial complex was prepared on Victory Square and piles were driven in. But with the beginning of autumn, organizations began to recall their workers involved in the construction of the monument to other sites. In order not to disrupt the completion of the monument on time, volunteers began to be involved in its construction. There was no end to those wishing to take part in the construction of the structure. As a result, the monument was completed on time, and its grand opening took place on May 9, 1975.

Description of the main part of the complex

The monument to the heroic defenders of Leningrad on Victory Square consists of several parts. Its top is a 48-meter granite stele and 26 bronze figures depicting the brave defenders of the Northern capital (soldiers, sailors, pilots, militia, snipers, etc.). The sculptural composition is the main part of the memorial complex. It opens up to everyone who comes to St. Petersburg from the Pulkovskoye Highway. In addition to the stele and figures, the monument includes an underground Memorial Hall and an internal platform. These parts of it are no less interesting than the main one.

Memorial hall-museum and lower square

You can get to the underground Memorial Hall via steps located on the territory of the complex. Here, visitors are presented with mosaic panels telling about the life of Leningraders in the city surrounded by fascists and about the Memorial Hall being a museum. Its walls are illuminated by 900 torch lamps (according to the number of days of the siege of the Northern capital). The museum's exhibits include the Book of Memory, which contains the names of citizens and soldiers who gave their lives for the liberation of Leningrad. The underground hall was built 3 years after the opening of the stele. It has been welcoming visitors since 1978. Tourists, schoolchildren, students, veterans and all those who are interested in the history of St. Petersburg come here.

Behind the stele there is a lower (internal) platform. There is a composition of sculptures called “Blockade”, the heroes of which are women and a Soviet soldier supporting children dying of hunger. The site has the shape of a broken ring, which symbolizes the liberation of Leningrad from the siege. Installed on it eternal flames, lit in memory of the people who died in the city surrounded by enemies.

Visiting procedure

The museum-monument to the heroic defenders of Leningrad receives visitors every day. You can view the above-ground part for free. A visit to the Memorial Hall is paid for most categories of citizens. The exceptions are war veterans and disabled people, preschool children, orphans, cadets, and museum employees - for them, admission to the museum is always free. On public holidays, everyone can visit the memorial complex for free.

The idea of ​​creating a monument to the defenders of Leningrad first arose during the Great Patriotic War. However, its implementation did not begin immediately. Only in the 1960s was the construction site finally chosen - the square near Srednyaya Rogatka, which in 1962 was named Victory Square. The future monument was assigned special role in the ensemble of the Green Belt of Glory - a complex of memorial objects on the lines of defense.

It was decided to build the monument using funds from voluntary donations. For this purpose, a personal account No. 114292 was opened in the Leningrad office of the State Bank. Many Leningraders transferred their money to him. For example, the poet Mikhail Dudin transferred his entire fee for the book “Song of Crow Mountain” to this account. Despite the active participation of the townspeople, construction was postponed. At numerous creative competitions best project the winner of the monument was not identified.

In the early 1970s, it became clear that a monument to the 30th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War would not be built in Moscow. In Leningrad, they decided to complete this task on time. To create the project, a special creative group. As a result, the monument to the heroic defenders of Leningrad was created according to the design of people's architects of the USSR V. A. Kamensky and S. B. Speransky and people's sculptor of the USSR M. K. Anikushin - participants in the defense of Leningrad. Before this they worked independently.

Construction work on Victory Square began in the spring of 1974. By August, a pit had already been dug here and all the piles had been driven in. But in the fall, many contracting organizations began to recall their workers due to the need to fulfill the plan at their other construction sites. Volunteers had to be called in to erect the monument to the heroic defenders of Leningrad. Thousands of Leningraders responded to the call. In addition, workers from other cities and even other countries participated in the work.

Thanks to all these efforts, the monument was built on time. Grand opening its ground part took place on May 9, 1975, to mark the 30th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War.

It is worth noting that the collected special account two million rubles were not enough to build the entire memorial complex. The cost of its first stage alone (the ground part) cost the state treasury 10,227,000 rubles. The second stage (Memorial Hall) required more than one and a half million rubles.

The monument to the heroic defenders of Leningrad formally marks the southern entrance to St. Petersburg. This is the story of difficult fate of the city, the peaceful panorama of which extends beyond Victory Square. The southern facade of the memorial is “Winners Square”. There are 26 bronze sculptures installed on granite pylons - these are images of the defenders of Leningrad. The sculptural groups face the former front line - the Pulkovo Heights.

The main vertical is a 48-meter granite obelisk - a symbol of the triumph of Victory in one of the hardest wars in human history. At the base of the obelisk there is a sculptural group “The Winners”: the figures of a worker and a soldier testify to the unity of the city and the front. The obelisk is a connecting link between the “Winners Square” and the semicircular Memorial Hall “Blockade”. Wide stairs lead to it on both sides of the obelisk pedestal. Broken lines walls, the edge of breaking the symbolic ring of the blockade are associated with the chaotic accumulations of an all-destructive war. According to the authors' plans, the surface of the walls retains the texture of wooden formwork - such were the defensive structures of the war years. The Blockade Memorial Hall contrasts sharply with the open space of Victors Square. An overhanging granite ring 124 meters long isolates the hall from external environment. All elements of decoration and sound design create the atmosphere of a temple. Dominant of the hall - sculptural composition"Blockade". Its pedestal is low and compact, and the height of the bronze figures is not much higher than human height. The sculptor who created it, M. Anikushin, described it as follows: “Everything is here: bombing, artillery shelling, terrible hunger, severe cold, suffering and pain of Leningrad, which was tormented by a ruthless enemy...” On February 23, 1978, the underground Memorial Hall opened. There is a documentary and artistic exhibition dedicated to the defense and siege of Leningrad.

The monument to the heroic defenders of Leningrad is a historical monument and an example of classical Soviet architecture. It is visited by more than 1 million people a year.

The Blockade Memorial Hall was opened on February 23, 1978. It is a museum, but with its silence and severity it gives the impression of a temple. There are 900 candle-shaped lamps installed along its walls - that’s how long the Blockade lasted. Under the lamps are the names of settlements and places of battles near Leningrad. The Memorial Hall houses 12 art and historical exhibitions where you can see documents and objects from the Great Patriotic War. There are also mosaic panels “1941 - Siege” and “Victory”, an electronic map “ Heroic battle for Leningrad,” a marble plaque of heroes with the names of almost 700 defenders of the city. In 1995, the exhibition included volumes of the Book of Memory, which included the names of soldiers and civilians who gave their lives for Leningrad.

The complex that we will tell you about today is by no means considered one of the most popular attractions in St. Petersburg, which all tourists who come to this beautiful city strive for. But it, of course, is a visual memory of an important and tragic page in the history of the Northern capital, which will be alive in the memory of many generations of St. Petersburg residents and all Russians. We will talk about the Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad.

About the monument

The hero of our story is located on St. Petersburg's Victory Square (Moskovskaya metro station). This is the address of the Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad. It is comprehensive:

• Obelisk.
• Sculptural groups: "Blockade", "Defenders of Leningrad", "Worker and Soldier".
• Underground museum.

Visiting the ground part of the complex is free (free) at any time. The underground part (museum) has specific schedule works:

• Mon - Sun - from 11:00 to 18:00.
• Tue - from 11:00 to 17:00.
• Wed - the museum is closed.

There is a fee for visiting the Museum of the Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad:

• The cost of an adult ticket is 120 rubles.
• Passage for children and pensioners - 70 rubles.

Photo and video filming is permitted without charging additional fees to the visitor.

Project concept

The idea of ​​constructing such a complex in Leningrad, liberated from the siege, was discussed during the Second World War. But they began to implement the plan only thirty years after the Victory. In the sixties, a suitable location was chosen for the implementation of a grandiose project - the square near Srednyaya Rogatka (in 1962 it will be renamed Victory Square).

This location for the future Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad was not chosen by chance. Leningraders remember that it was Moskovsky Prospekt during the war years that was the front road along which militia, troops and equipment passed by. Not far from here lay the front line of defense. A powerful resistance center with pillboxes was set up near Srednyaya Rogatka, steel hedgehogs, an anti-tank ditch, artillery firing positions and reinforced concrete gouges. It was also here that in joyful June 1945 a temporary triumphal arch, through which the guards troops of the victorious country passed.

Construction of the monument

Let us note that the Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad on Victory Square was partially erected with donations from ordinary citizens. A special account was opened in a state bank for these purposes. Hundreds of thousands of citizens, school students, and factory teams donated their funds to the future majestic monument in honor of the defenders.

The start of construction was postponed several times - they could not choose a winner for the implementation of the grandiose project. Finally, in the seventies a creative group was created. The monument to the heroic defenders of Leningrad was built according to the design of the architects Speransky and Kamensky, as well as the master sculptor Anikushin. It must be said that they, too, were defenders of the city in those terrible days.

According to the plan of the creators, the monument should form the southern entrance to Leningrad from the Pulkovo airport and the heights of the same name. Behind the story about the tragic pages in the life of the city, framed in bronze and granite, there should have been peaceful residential areas. And those entering the city will be “looked at” by the façade of the memorial. 26 sculptures of defenders of the Northern capital will rise on granite pylons. Made of bronze, they will direct their gaze to the Pulkovo Heights - once the front line.

Obelisk

The main vertical of the Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad on Victory Square is an obelisk 48 m high. It is a symbol of the triumph of the winners - Soviet people. At the base of this object there is a sculptural group called “The Winners” - these are a worker and a soldier, according to the sculptor’s plan, symbolizing the unity of the rear and the front.

The obelisk, one might say, connects the “Winners Square” and the “Blockade” hall. Broken lines of walls around the vertical mean a breakthrough of the blockade ring, and in more in a broad sense- destruction, chaos in a besieged city caused by artillery shelling and bombing. You should definitely pay attention to the texture of these walls - it is strikingly similar to the wooden formwork and defensive fortifications of the war years.

Hall "Blockade"

In the northern part of the complex, the memorial hall “Blockade” faces the city. It is slightly recessed - an open concrete ring with a diameter of 40 m and a total length of 124 m hangs over it. It is a symbol of the breakthrough of the Leningrad siege. In the center of the hall the sculptor placed the composition “Blockade”.

The sculptural composition is made almost in human height, so that viewers can feel as closely as possible the grief of the people who survived that terrible time, and see that fine line between life and non-existence. As Anikushin himself said, he expressed everything in his work: incessant bombing, constant killing hunger, fear, despair, the merciless winter cold.

Underground Museum

The final part of the composition of the Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad is an underground museum space, which is a branch of the Museum of the History of St. Petersburg. The exhibition here is dedicated to the blockade and defense of the city during the Second World War. Visitors should pay attention to the 900 candle lamps installed along the walls of the museum. That is how many days the grueling blockade of the city lasted.

In the museum you can see the following:

• 12 artistic and historical compositions filled with objects and documents of that era.
• Mosaic panels, dedicated to events Great Patriotic War.
• Electronic map of the city's defense from the Nazis.
• A memorial marble plaque with the names of almost 700 defenders of Leningrad.
• Volumes of the Book of Memory containing the names of all civilians and the soldiers who gave their lives for Leningrad.

The monument to the defenders of Leningrad is not just a St. Petersburg monument. This is a composition that fully conveys both the triumph of the people - the winner of fascism, and the sorrow of Leningraders, eternal memory about a terrible war and its victims.

Here, on the southern outskirts of Leningrad, less than eight kilometers from the front line, in 1941 a powerful line of defense of the Neva Stronghold was created - with long-term firing points, anti-tank embankments and ditches, steel "hedgehogs", concrete gouges. In July 1945, one of the three temporary Arc de Triomphe was built here for the ceremonial meeting of the victorious soldiers.
In 1962, Srednyaya Rogatka was renamed Victory Square and became, in essence, " south gate"of our city. And in 1975, the year of the thirtieth anniversary of the Victory, in the center of it was opened majestic Monument to the heroic defenders of Leningrad. Its authors were one of greatest sculptors XX century, an ardent patriot of the Northern capital of Russia Mikhail Konstantinovich Anikushin (1917 - 1997), as well as architects Valentin Aleksandrovich Kamensky (1907 - 1975) and Sergei Borisovich Speransky (1914 - 1983). In 1978, the team of authors was awarded the Lenin Prize.

Composition of the monument

Those entering Victory Square from Moskovsky Prospekt pay attention to the concrete “blockade ring” with a diameter of 40 meters and the inscription in gold “To your feat, Leningrad,” torn from the side of Pulkovskoye Highway. A 48-meter obelisk with the dates “1941 - 1945” rushes up from the gap. In front of the obelisk there are bronze “Winners” - 8-meter figures of a soldier and a worker. Along both borders of the small esplanade, 5-meter sculptural groups are lined up. Closer to the Pulkovskaya hotel - a pilot, Baltic sailors, snipers in camouflage robes; the builders of the legendary "Luga Frontier" and fortifications on the near approaches to the city - women with shovels and men with rails. Closer to the building of the RNII "Electrostandard" - soldiers and workers of the Labor Front going on the attack; a mother seeing off her son to war and Leningrad militias.
On inside"blockade ring" depicts the medal "For the Defense of Leningrad", the Golden Star of the Hero City, two Orders of Lenin, the Order October Revolution, the Order of the Red Banner of Battle and the texts of Decrees on awarding them to Leningrad. On both sides of the “breakthrough” we read “900 days - 900 nights”. Below, under the fir trees, capsules with earth from the hero cities are walled up. Inside the ring, that is, inside the besieged city, we see a 6-figure sculptural group “Victims of the Siege”: a mother holds a child killed during the bombing in her arms, a girl tries to lift her wounded friend, a soldier supports a woman exhausted by hunger who has dropped a bucket of water.

Museum in the underground hall

On February 23, 1978, a memorial hall was opened in the underground space under the Monument, which is now a branch of the City History Museum. Both end walls of it are decorated with colored panels “Blockade” and “Victory” (4.16 x 3.15 meters), created by a group of artists under the direction of Andrei Andreevich Mylnikov (1919 - 2012). 12 showcases display numerous items of soldiers' weapons Leningrad Front and sailors of the Baltic Fleet, as well as everyday life besieged Leningrad. On the marble plaque are the names of almost 700 defenders of the city - Heroes Soviet Union, Heroes of Socialist Labor, full holders of the Order of Glory. Visitors to the museum are shown a film by front-line cameramen “Memories of the Siege” and an electronic sound map “The Heroic Battle of Leningrad”; Book of Memory; daily changing bronze pages of the “Chronicle of the heroic days of the defense of Leningrad”, on which you can read about the events that took place at the front and inside the city on a given specific day in 1941 (from September 8), 1942, 1943 and 1944 (until January 27). Along the perimeter of the hall and inner surface the rings are lit by 900 lamps inserted into genuine 76mm shell casings...

The memorial complex located on Victory Square was created by architects and sculptors who themselves were direct participants in those events.

Kamensky and Speransky and the sculptor Anikushin, at one time, took part in the defense of Leningrad.

Perhaps that is why the memorial turned out to be very solemn and majestic.

None of architectural structures the Soviet period can't even come close to this place.

The monument to the heroic defenders of Leningrad was supposed to take a special place in the so-called Green Belt of Glory.

This is a whole complex of various memorial sites located on the defensive lines around, today, St. Petersburg.

The complex consists of two parts - above ground and underground. Upper part The monument was inaugurated on the 30th anniversary of the Victory on May 9, 1975.

The story of hard life during the siege is told here in bronze and granite. On the southern side of the memorial there is “Winners Square”. These are 26 sculptures of the defenders of Leningrad.

They all “look” towards the Pulkovo Heights, where the front line passed.

The symbol of Victory is a tall, 48-meter obelisk.

At the base of the granite stele are sculptures of a worker and a soldier. This group is called “Winners” and symbolizes the unity of front-line soldiers and home front workers.

Two wide staircases extend from the pedestal, leading to the semicircular Memorial Hall “Blockade”.

The texture of the hall walls imitates the wooden formwork of defensive military structures, and the lines of the walls symbolize the blockade ring.

The granite ring, 124 meters long, and the sound design create the atmosphere of a temple inside the hall.

The central sculpture here bears the same name. It is very short, just above human height, and, according to its creator, symbolizes everything that the residents of the besieged city had to endure.

The lower Memorial Hall presents documents and photographic materials telling about the siege, defense and liberation of Leningrad.

There is such silence here that you get the impression of being not in a museum, but in an underground kingdom.

Perhaps this is so, if we remember that the monument symbolizes 900 thousand people who died from bombs and hunger.

The blockade lasted 900 terrible days.

Such a battle, such a siege and such victims have never happened in the history of mankind.

First of all, you should bring it here, and not to the Hermitage and Peterhof. foreign tourists, so that the brains of well-fed Europeans will brighten up at least a little.

900 lamps, in the form of candles, are installed along the walls.

One at a time, in memory of each day of the siege. Under each lamp is the name of the settlement where fierce battles for the city took place.

Here, in the Memorial Hall, there is an electronic map called “The Heroic Battle of Leningrad”, two mosaic panels “1941 - Siege” and “Victory”, as well as a marble plaque with 700 names of heroes of the USSR on it, who received this title for the defense of Leningrad .

In 1995, the museum’s exposition was supplemented by the Book of Memory, which contains the names of almost all soldiers and civilians who died during the siege.

The memorial is visited by about a million people every year.

How to get there:

From the Moskovskaya metro station, exit onto Moskovsky Prospekt, walk past the Moscow department store, and cross the underground passage to the square.