• Monuments commemorating the Siege of Leningrad on the »Road of Life«
Several dozen memorials around St. Petersburg, some of them of monumental size, commemorate the Siege of Leningrad, as the city was called then. Many of them are located along the »Road of Life« through which the city was supplied during the blockade.
Image: Leningrad, 1942, Soviet anti-aircraft gunners preparing a gun battle, RIA Novosti, Boris Kudoyarov
Leningrad, 1942, Soviet anti-aircraft gunners preparing a gun battle, RIA Novosti, Boris Kudoyarov

Image: Saint Petersburg district, 2006, »Broken Ring«, Evgeniy Adayev
Saint Petersburg district, 2006, »Broken Ring«, Evgeniy Adayev
The Leningrad Blockade lasted from 8 September 1941 until 27 January 1944. The German Wehrmacht cut the entire city off from supplies; about one million people died of thirst and hunger in the almost 900-day long siege. From the start the killing of civilians through starvation was part of the Wehrmacht commanders' strategy and served as a preparation for the city's occupation. Only one route connected Leningrad to the outside world: the Road of Life, as it was already then known. Ships supplied goods via Lake Ladoga, on the way back they evacuated civilians. When the lake froze over, horse-drawn sleighs and trucks were used to bring in provisions.
Image: Leningrad, 1942, Soviet anti-aircraft gunners preparing a gun battle, RIA Novosti, Boris Kudoyarov
Leningrad, 1942, Soviet anti-aircraft gunners preparing a gun battle, RIA Novosti, Boris Kudoyarov

Image: Saint Petersburg district, 2006, »Broken Ring«, Evgeniy Adayev
Saint Petersburg district, 2006, »Broken Ring«, Evgeniy Adayev
Of the three million inhabitants of the city at the outbreak of war, about 700,000 survived until the liberation in January 1944. Around 1.4 million people could be evacuated over Lake Ladoga. Between 800,000 and 1.2 million perished from cold, thirst, starvation and illnesses during the city's siege. About 18,000 died in air raids and grenade bombardments.
Image: Saint Petersburg (Leningrad), 1941–44, residents pull a coffin along Nevsky Prospekt, Deutsch-Russisches Museum Berlin-Karlshorst, Nikolay Chandogin
Saint Petersburg (Leningrad), 1941–44, residents pull a coffin along Nevsky Prospekt, Deutsch-Russisches Museum Berlin-Karlshorst, Nikolay Chandogin

Image: Saint Petersburg district, 2008, »Flower of life«, Mikhail Gruznov
Saint Petersburg district, 2008, »Flower of life«, Mikhail Gruznov
It was decided in the 1950s to create a series of memorials around Leningrad to commemorate the siege of the city and the supply of its inhabitants over the Lake Ladoga. Most of the about 80 memorials were erected between 1964 and 1968. The complex, set up along the former line of encirclement, has been given the name »The Green Belt of Glory«.
As part of this complex three monumental memorials were built along the »Road of Life«.On the western shore of Lake Ladoga, on the Vaganovskiy Bluff, the »Broken Ring« was erected in 1966. Two halves of a white semi-circular arch represent the breaking of the encirclement of Leningrad. The concrete surface it stands on bears the marks of truck tyres.
Around 20 kilometres to the east the monument »Katyusha« stands near the village of Kornevo. It is composed of five long steel rails pointing upwards, representing a Katyusha multiple rocker launcher – also known as a »Stalin Organ« – at the spot where a battery of launchers stood during the siege to defend the »Road of Life«.
A further 15 kilometres to the east, just outside the city's outskirts, the monumental sculpture »Flower of Life« was erected in 1968. It commemorates the children who perished in the Leningrad Blockade. 900 birch trees, one for each day of the siege, were planted around the memorial. Beneath the trees are stone slabs inscribed with excerpts of 11-year-old Tanya Savicheva's siege diary. She lost all her family members during the siege and died a short wile after the city's liberation of the effects of years of starvation.
Image: Saint Petersburg district, 2009, »Katyusha«, Valeriy10f
Saint Petersburg district, 2009, »Katyusha«, Valeriy10f

Image: Leningrad district, 1977, Side view of the »Broken Ring« monument, V. Baranovskiy, RIA Novosti
Leningrad district, 1977, Side view of the »Broken Ring« monument, V. Baranovskiy, RIA Novosti
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Pamjatniki na »Doroge Zhisni«
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+7 812 272 381 9
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oxpamlo@peterlink.ru
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The monuments are accessible at all times.