After passing the introductory composition “Memory of Generations” and the alley of Lombardy poplars, you will climb the granite staircase to Square “Those Who Stood to the Death”. It is paved with granite, and flower beds have been laid out along the perimeter, with spruces and birches growing there. In the middle there is a low circular pool, from the center of which a rock rises up. From it, a mighty warrior seems to have grown, his power and indestructibility recalling granite.
This stern bogatyr has the face of a seasoned soldier who has seen the pain and horrors of war and has firmly resolved not to yield a single inch of his native land to the enemy. The facial features of the sculpture were modeled on Vasily Chuikov, Marshal of the Soviet Union. He was the chief military consultant and a good friend of the sculptor Vuchetich, the author of the memorial ensemble on Mamayev Kurgan. Marshal Chuikov is buried here as well, on the kurgan, beside the monumental sculpture “The Motherland Calls!”.
On the rock from which the warrior rises, quotations from the memorable 1942 order appear as if handwritten: “Stand to the death!”, “Not a step back!”, “There is no land for us beyond the Volga!” and other words with which the defenders of Stalingrad went into mortal battle.
The Russian bogatyr, drawing strength from his native land and the waters of the Volga, symbolized by the rock and the pool, personifies all the soldiers who rose to defend the Motherland. The composition of the monument is full of symbolism: with his muscular chest, the stone warrior protects the figure of the Motherland, which can be seen behind his back.
