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Монуме́нт «Покори́телям ко́смоса» | |
 The monument seen fromCosmonauts Alley in 1967 | |
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| Location | Moscow, Russia |
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| Coordinates | 55°49′22″N37°38′24″E / 55.82278°N 37.64000°E /55.82278; 37.64000 |
| Opening date | 1964 |
TheMonument to the Conquerors of Space (Russian:Монуме́нт «Покори́телям ко́смоса»,romanized: Monumént "Pokorítelyam kósmosa",IPA:[mənʊˈmʲentpəkɐˈrʲitʲɪlʲɪmˈkosməsə]) is a giantobelisk inMoscow built in 1964 to celebrate achievements of theSoviet people inspace exploration. It depicts a starting rocket that rises on its exhaust plume.
The monument is 107 metres (351 feet) tall, has 77°incline, and is made oftitanium.[1] TheMemorial Museum of Cosmonautics is located inside the base of the monument.
The monument is located outside the main entry to today'sExhibition of Achievements of the National Economy (VDNKh), in the northeastern part of Moscow, nearProspekt Mira ("Peace Avenue"). The easiest access is from theVDNKh 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 theSoviet space program. Many streets in the area have been named after the precursors of the space program (Nikolai Kibalchich,Friedrich Zander,Yuri Kondratyuk) and its participants (Sergey Korolyov).
TheCosmonauts Alley south of the monument featuresbusts 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, inPodlipki(today's Korolyov City) 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 the Korolyov Memorial Museum (Russian:Дом-музей академика С. П. Королёва).
In March 1958, a few months after the launch ofSputnik 1, a competition was announced for the best design of an obelisk celebrating the dawn of theSpace Age. Out of some 350 proposals, the design bysculptor A.P. Faidysh-Krandievsky and architects A.N. Kolchin and M.O. Barshch was chosen. The grand opening of the monument took place on October 4, 1964, on the day of the 7th anniversary of the Sputnik 1 launch.
The monument was designed to accommodate a museum in its base. However, it took until April 10, 1981 (two days before the 20th anniversary ofYuri Gagarin's flight) to complete thepreparatory work and open theMemorial Museum of Cosmonautics. The museum reopened on April 12, 2009, after three years of renovations.
The main part of the monument is a giantobelisk topped by a rocket and resembling in shape the exhaust plume of the rocket. It is 107 meters (350 feet) tall and, on Korolyov's suggestion, covered withtitanium cladding. A statue ofKonstantin Tsiolkovsky, the precursor of astronautics, is located in front of the obelisk.
Both sides of the monument base, in their front parts, are decorated withhaut- andbas-reliefs depicting men and women of thespace program: scientists, engineers, workers, their occupations indicated by appropriate accoutrements of the professions. Notable figures include acomputer programmer (or perhaps some other computing or telecommunications professional) holding apunched tape, acosmonaut wearing a space suit, andLaika the space dog, first living creature to orbit Earth.
No contemporary Soviet politicians are depicted in the monument (that would violate the convention existing in the post-Joseph StalinSoviet Union against commemorating living persons in this fashion), but the crowd on the right side of the monument are moving forward under the banner ofVladimir Lenin.
TheMonument to the Conquerors of Space is featured on the 1967 10 kopeck piece, one of the series of thecommemorative coins issued to celebrate the 50th anniversary of theOctober Revolution. This coin has the distinction of being the smallest-denomination commemorative coin ever minted in the Soviet Union. (It was the smallest coin in the 1967 series—the only time commemorative fractional currency coins were ever produced in the USSR. All later commemorative coins were either 1 rouble, or a higher denomination).
The Monument is featured in the 1993 music video "Go West" byPet Shop Boys.
Also monument featured in the music video "Sweet Lullaby" byDeep Forest.
The monument was depicted on the home kit for theRussia national football team for the2014 FIFA World Cup on the front of the shirts in different shades of maroon.
The monument also featured on the back page of the 1964, no. 11,Soviet Woman.
The monument toKonstantin Tsiolkovsky in downtownBorovsk, designed by Sergey Bychkov, contains a nearly exact scale replica of theConquerors of Space "rocket needle" and a whimsical statue of Tsiolkovsky gazing into the skies (and wearingvalenki boots). It was unveiled in 2007. A copy of this statue (but not the "rocket needle") is installed at theSir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium. A copy is also exhibited in the park of the United Nations Office in Geneva, a gift donated by the USSR and designed by the architect Alexander Koltchin and sculptor Yuri Neroda.[2]
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