Mamayev Kurgan Statue, Volgograd

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At 85 metres from the base of its pedestal to the tip of its outstretched sword, The Motherland Calls is the tallest statue in Europe and the tallest statue of a woman anywhere in the world. It stands on Mamayev Kurgan hill overlooking Volgograd, the city the world knew as Stalingrad, and it was built to mark the site of the deadliest battle in recorded human history.

The Battle and the Hill

The Battle of Stalingrad ran from August 1942 to February 1943. Casualty estimates across both sides reach approximately two million, encompassing Soviet and Axis military dead, wounded, captured and missing, along with roughly 40,000 civilian deaths. It remains the largest, longest and most lethal urban battle ever fought, and historians credit it with marking the decisive turning point of the Second World War in Europe.

Mamayev Kurgan was the strategic highpoint of the city. Whoever held it controlled observation over the entire battlefield and the Volga River crossings behind. The hill changed hands repeatedly during the fighting. At its bloodiest, Soviet engineers estimated 1,200 bodies per square metre in some sections of the slope. More than 34,500 Soviet soldiers are buried within the hill itself; the memorial complex was built above and around them.

The name Mamayev Kurgan has Tatar origins, referencing a burial mound associated with a medieval warrior chief, though the hill’s history of mass burial is more ancient than any monument on it.

The Memorial Complex

Construction of the memorial began in 1959 and was completed in 1967. The complex was designed primarily by sculptor Yevgeny Vuchetich, who also designed the Sword into Ploughshares statue at the United Nations headquarters in New York. Vuchetich’s approach at Mamayev Kurgan was deliberately sequential: visitors ascend through a series of spaces, each increasing in emotional weight, before reaching the central Hall of the Warrior’s Glory and ultimately the statue itself.

The entrance from the city leads to the Square of Standing to Death, where a half-buried figure of a Soviet soldier emerges from the earth. From there the path climbs through the Square of Heroes, lined with reliefs showing soldiers in combat. The Hall of the Warrior’s Glory holds an eternal flame and the names of 7,200 soldiers inscribed on the walls, with a ceremonial guard that has stood continuously since 1965.

Beyond the hall is the Square of Sorrow, and beyond that, the path opens to the summit where The Motherland Calls dominates the skyline. The figure is depicted mid-stride, sword raised, mouth open in a call to arms. The concrete construction (reinforced with wire tension cables embedded in the structure) has required ongoing maintenance: by the 1980s, moisture infiltration was causing structural issues and significant restoration work has been carried out periodically since.

The complex is open at all times and access to the open-air areas is free of charge. The indoor Museum of Remembrance maintains daytime hours and charges a modest entry fee.

The Panorama Museum

A short distance from the main complex sits the Panorama Museum of the Battle of Stalingrad, housed in a circular building with a 360-degree painted panorama of the battle that is one of the largest paintings in Russia. The panorama depicts the Soviet counterattack of November 1942, Operation Uranus, the encirclement manoeuvre that trapped Field Marshal Paulus and the Sixth Army. The museum also holds artefacts from the battle including weapons, documents, personal effects and the signed German instrument of surrender.

The City

Volgograd stretches for 90 kilometres along the western bank of the Volga River and has a population of around one million. The city was almost entirely destroyed during the battle and was rebuilt from scratch in the Soviet period. The street grid and architecture reflect that reconstruction: broad boulevards, Stalinist civic buildings and a general sense of scale that is not matched by the human density of the streets below it.

The city centre retains its Soviet-era character more completely than Moscow or St Petersburg, which have been substantially overlaid by post-1991 commercial development. Whether that constitutes an attraction is a matter of perspective, but for anyone with an interest in Soviet architecture and planning, Volgograd has examples that have largely disappeared elsewhere.

Getting There

Volgograd has its own international airport (VOG), though connections in the current political climate are extremely limited. Before the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the most common routing for Western visitors was via Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, approximately a 1.5-hour domestic flight or a 14-hour overnight train journey. Train connections from Moscow’s Paveletsky station remain operational for those who can legally and safely enter the country.

Historical Weight

There is an argument that Mamayev Kurgan is one of the most significant war memorials on earth. The Normandy beaches, the Gettysburg battlefield and the Western Front cemeteries are among the most visited sites of military history globally, but the scale of Stalingrad’s casualties and the war-turning importance of the battle are arguably unmatched. The memorial complex was designed to convey that weight, and by most accounts, it does. The ascent to The Motherland Calls is among the more sombre walks in any city.

Whatever the political circumstances of any given moment, the memorial exists for those who died, and that fact does not change.