Monument to Joseph Stalin unveiled in Volgograd

The grand opening of the monument to the head of the USSR Joseph Stalin, Marshal Georgy Zhukov and Marshal Alexander Vasilevsky took place on the territory of the Stalingrad Battle panorama museum in Volgograd. This was reported administration areas. As noted by the Volgograd edition v1.ru the structures are installed 120 meters from the monument to the victims of political repression.

The grand opening of the monuments took place as part of the program of the 80th anniversary of the victory in the battle on the Volga. The initiators of the construction of the monuments were the veteran community.

The author of the sculptures is the Honored Artist of Russia Sergey Shcherbakov. Archival photographs were used to create the busts. Joseph Stalin is depicted in dress uniform with medals and orders. The sculptures are made of bronze and mounted on a granite pedestal.

The opening ceremony was attended by hundreds of people, including officials and military personnel. Chairman of the Volgograd Regional Duma Alexander Bloshkin during the opening said that the residents are asking to rename the city to Stalingrad. Volgograd was called Stalingrad from 1925 to 1961.

During Soviet times, many monuments to Joseph Stalin were erected in Stalingrad, including at the Tsaritsyno Defense Museum, on the Square of the Fallen Fighters, at the administration of the Traktorozavodsky district, in the city garden. The largest monument to Joseph Stalin in the world was erected in 1952 on the embankment of the Volga-Don Canal. It was demolished in 1962 after the city was renamed. Subsequently, several more monuments were demolished in the city. Until today, there were two monuments to Joseph Stalin in the city – near the building of the regional committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and the local history museum.

Lusine Balasyan