The monument to the two baptizers of the land of Vladimir – the city's founder Prince Vladimir Krasnoye Solnyshko and Saint Fyodor – looks out over the Klyazma River from the observation deck of Pushkin Park. The garden adjoining the Assumption Cathedral has become a splendid setting for the majestic monument to these two outstanding figures. And from the observation deck at the foot of the sculptural composition, an excellent panoramic view opens onto the river and the central districts of the city.
The Monument to Prince Vladimir and Saint Fyodor was created quite recently, in 2007, in honor of the 850th anniversary of the beginning of the formation of Vladimir Rus. On a high pedestal with columns, Prince Vladimir rides a horse with a fluttering banner bearing the image of Jesus Christ. Next to him stands a priest in ancient vestments – Saint Fyodor, who blesses the people with one hand and holds the Bible in the other.
Depicted between the columns of the pedestal are saints and heroes: Ilya Muromets, Prince Vsevolod Bolshoye Gnezdo (the son of Yuri Dolgoruky), Maria Vladimirskaya (Vsevolod's wife), their son Georgy, Grand Princess Olga of Kyiv, and Princes Alexander Nevsky and Andrey Bogolyubsky. Also immortalized here is Sofia of Suzdal, whom her husband, Tsar Vasily III, forcibly sent to a monastery because of her infertility. She was later canonized as a saint.
