Description of the attraction
The opening of the monument on the Mamayev Kurgan was planned immediately after the Battle of Stalingrad and in the post-war period a competition was held for the best design of an architectural and sculptural composition, as a result of which E. V. Vuchetich became the author and director, and Ya. B. Belopolsky became the chief architect.
The construction of the memorial complex with a length of one and a half kilometers was carried out for nine years using the method of folk construction. On October 15, 1967, at the site of fierce battles and fateful events for the country, a monument-ensemble "To the Heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad" was solemnly opened. The sculptural ensemble consists of architectural links standing in a row, turning into a single axis, which is why new elements of monumental art are revealed when climbing the mound. The complex opens with a composition-high relief "Memory of Generations" with a memorial stele. Further, a wide staircase leads to the alley of pyramidal poplars, the pedestrian part of which is lined with granite slabs and has a length of 223 meters. After the alley begins the square "Stand to the death" with a central sculpture of a warrior 16, 5 m high. From here, a five-march staircase, framed with bas-relief compositions "Wall-ruins", opens onto Heroes' Square. In the center of the square there is a rectangular water basin, and on the right side there are six monumental two-figure sculptural compositions symbolizing the feat of the Soviet people in the Battle of Stalingrad. Heroes' Square is framed by a large retaining wall with an area of about one thousand square meters. with picturesque episodes in embossed image. A door in the retaining wall leads to the Hall of Military Glory with the names of 7200 soldiers who died in the "Battle of Stalingrad", in the center of which there is a five-meter sculpture - a hand with eternal fire. Further, the most emotional square with the sculpture "Mother's Sorrow" begins the ascent to the top of the Mamayev Kurgan to the base of the central monument of the entire ensemble "Motherland - Mother Calls". The height of the sculpture of a woman with a sword reaches 52 meters above the ground and weighs more than 7,500 tons, it is illuminated by searchlights at night.
From the foot of the Mamayev Kurgan to the main monument at the top, two hundred steps have been installed - according to the number of days of the Battle of Stalingrad. In 2008, according to the results of voting in the "Seven Wonders of Russia" competition held in Moscow, Mamayev Kurgan with a statue of the Motherland-Mother was included in the list of recognized wonders of Russia.
