Mother Russia

Mother Russia

VOLGOGRAD, Russia

Completed in 1967, the statue "Motherland is Calling" is 52 metres high (171 feet), made of 7900 tons of reinforced concrete. The sword is made of stainless steel, 29 metres long and weighs 14 tons. The Statue is the centerpiece of the Mamayev Kurgan museum complex in Volgograd, built to commemorate the World War II Battle of Stalingrad, a key turning point in the War. The statue stands atop Mamal Hill, the site of the battle's most intense fighting. The city of Volgograd was established in the late 16th century to defend the land that Ivan the Terrible had wrested from the Tatars. Then known as Tsaritsyn. In 1925, as Stalin rose to power in the Soviet government, the city was renamed Stalingrad. 10 November 1961, at the 22nd Congress of the Communist Party, the city of Stalingrad was renamed Volgograd in honor of the river on whose banks it stands.