Space Conquerors Monument, Moskva, Russia
The Monument to the Conquerors of Space was erected in Moscow in 1964 to celebrate the achievements of the Soviet people in space exploration. It depicts a starting rocket that rises on its contrail. The monument is 110 m tall, has 77° incline, and is made of titanium. The Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics is located inside the base of the monument.
The monument is located outside the main entry to today’s All-Russia Exhibition Centre, in the northeastern part of Moscow, near Prospekt Mira (“Peace Avenue”). The easiest access is from the VDNKh subway station.
Since the 1960s, this part of Moscow in general has had a high concentration of space-themed sights and names: besides the monument and the museum under it, the grand “Cosmos” pavilion in the Exhibition Centre displayed many artifacts of the Soviet space program. Many streets in the area have been named after the precursors of the space program and its participants. The Cosmonauts Alley south of the monument also features busts of Soviet cosmonauts. The choice of this part of Moscow for space-related names and monuments may have been inspired by the fact that Prospekt Mira runs toward the north-eastern suburbs of Moscow, where, in Podlipki much of the space program was based. Korolyov himself lived in a house within a few blocks from the monument, which is now preserved as Korolyov Memorial Museum.
Epic Russia Culture & Adventure Route © Monika Newbound