Monuments and Memorials

Like any historical capital, St. Petersburg has a wealth of statues and monuments commemorating its history and its greatest citizens. As well as numerous and very different statues of the city's founder, Peter the Great, St. Petersburg's public spaces are decorated with the figures of Russia's literary greats, military heroes, and political dignitaries, and a score of monuments to the city's triumphs and tragedies, especially to the hardships and losses suffered by the city during the Siege of Leningrad.

"The Bronze Horseman" This inspirational equestrian monument to Peter the Great, founder of St. Petersburg, is among the major landmarks of the city and is a definite must-see. ›››

Monument to Catherine the Great Located on Ostrovsky Square, a few dozen yards from Nevsky Prospekt, this monument is dedicated to Russia's magnificent Empress Catherine, who is surrounded by the most prominent men and women of her reign. ›››

The Alexander Column Located in the middle of Palace Square, opposite the world-famous Hermitage Museum, this column is an impressive 47.5 meters (156 feet and 9 inches) tall and its body is made of a single piece of red granite. ›››

Monument to Fiodor Dostoyevsky This monument to one of Russia's most prominent writers was unveiled in the spring of 1997 just off Vladimirskaya Square and only one block away from the Dostoyevsky Museum. ›››

Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad At the point where our grandfathers halted the WWII Nazi advance on the city, there now stands an impressive memorial to the bravery of the citizens of Leningrad, combining an eternal flame, an obelisk, numerous heroic Soviet sculptures and an underground museum. ›››

Piskariovskoye Memorial Cemetery A sobering monument and the burial site of over 500,000 victims of the Siege of Leningrad. The cemetery's date-marked common graves stand as a constant reminder of those thousands of heroic citizens who died protecting the city from the Nazis. ›››

The Narva Gate This triumphal arch was built between 1827 and 1834 to commemorate the victory of Russia and its allies in the war with Napoleon in 1812-14. ›››

The Moscow Gate This triumphal arch, which stands on the city's southbound Moskovsky Prospekt, was built between 1834 and 1838 in memory of Russia's victory in the 1828-29 War with Turkey.  ›››

Monument to Peter the Great (opposite the Mikhailovsky Castle) This Romanesque equestrian statue was created by the Italian architect Carlo Rastrelli soon after Peter the Great's death, although the statue wasn't erected as a monument until the very end of the 18th century.  ›››

Monument to Peter the Great (by Mikhail Shemiakin) This controversial statue to the founder of the city of St. Petersburg was created by the Russian-American sculptor Mikhail Shemiakin, and is a less than flattering portrayal of the Emperor. It is, however, a great favorite with kids visiting the famous Peter and Paul Fortress. ›››

"The Tsar Carpenter" This monument celebrating Peter the Great's rather unexpected shipbuilding skills was somehow mislaid during the 1930s, but luckily this copy was donated to the city in 1997 by the government of the Netherlands.  ›››

Monument to Nicholas I (on Isaakievskaya Square) This equestrian statue to Emperor Nicholas I is notable for its innovative design, involving it balancing on just two legs.  ›››

Monument to Alexander III This sturdy statue, depicting the ultra-conservative undereducated Tsar Alexander III, now stands in the courtyard of the Marble Palace where Vladimir Lenin's armored car once stood.  ›››

Statue of Goete The bust of Johann Wolfgang Goethe was unveiled in 1999 in front of the Lutheran Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul on Nevsky Prospekt for the 250th anniversary of the great German poet and philosopher's birth. ›››

Statue of Gogol (on Malaya Konyushennaya Ulitsa) The statue of the great Russian writer Nikolai Gogol was unveiled on Malaya Konyushennaya Ulitsa on 1997. Although Gogol only lived in St. Petersburg for a few years - from 1828-1836 - it was here that he began his literary career and this city that made arguably the greatest impression on his work. ›››

Statues of Mikhail Kutuzov and Barclay de Tolley Boris Orlovsky's statues of Mikhail Kutuzov and Barclay de Tolley, two of the great Generals who led Russia to victory in the Napoleonic Wars, were erected outside Kazan Cathedral in 1838. The choice of location was no accident, as the Cathedral itself (built in 1801-1811) was made into a memorial in thanks for the victory over Napoleon in 1812, and Kutuzov was buried in it in 1813. ›››

Statue of Turgenev The statue of the Russian writer Ivan Turgenev was unveiled on Manezhnaya Ploshchad in the summer of 2001, not far from the old editorial offices of the magazine Sovremennik, or The Contemporary, in which Turgenev published his work. Also nearby the former home of Turgenev's best friend, the writer Vasily Botkin, and the Demidovskaya Hotel, where in 1843 Turgenev met the love of his life, the singer Polina Viardo. ›››

Chizhik Pyzhik One of the world's smallest monuments, the 11-centimeter Chizhik Pyzhik was installed in 1994 on Fontanka Embankment - right down by the water. This very Petersburg statue was created by the renowned Georgian sculptor Rezo Gabriadze. ›››