There is a place in Volgograd, which is closely connected with the events of the Second World War and with the Great Stalingrad Battle – it is the glorified Mamayev Hill with its “memorial complex “To the Heroes of the Stalingrad Battle”.

Prevailing over the main part of the city, Mamayev Hill is marked on the maps as Height-102,0 and it was the main chain in the system of defense of the Stalingrad front. It also turned out to be the key position in the fight for the banks of the Volga. Fierce battles took place here during the last months of 1942. The ground of the hill was plowed up by bombs, missiles and mines. The soil got mixed together with the fragments of metal. This is the place of the numerous human losses… Right here, in the area of Mamayev Hill, on the 2nd of February of 1943 the Stalingrad Battle was finished.

The name of Mamayev Hill, according to the legend, comes from the name of a Tatar military commander Mamay.

The idea of building a grand monument in the heroic city in the memory of the great battle appeared almost right after the end of the fight. The large scale and difficulty of the composition of the planned ensemble required quite a long period of time for bringing it to life. The construction of the monument was started in May, 1959 and was over on the 15th of October, 1967, when the memorial ensemble for the heroes of the Stalingrad Battle was ceremonially opened.

Only with the help of memorial ensemble as the highest form of monumental art the team of sculptors could reflect the range of mass heroism, meaning and importance of the Stalingrad Battle from different angles, realizing artistic images in a number of sculpture forms and its synthesis with architecture and nature.

A visit to the memorial ensemble leaves deep long-lasting impressions, and participating in organized events, that take on the Hill quite often, has a great influence on the minds and hearts of the ones it is devoted to.

Nowadays historical memorial complex “To the Heroes of the Stalingrad Battle” appears to be the most attended monument in Russia. It functions all year round with no days off, free of charge.