The Monument to the Conquerors of Space was erected in Moscow in 1964 to celebrate achievements of the Soviet people in space exploration. It depicts a starting rocket that rises on its exhaust plume. The monument is 107 meters tall, has 77° incline, and is made of titanium. The Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics is located inside the base of the monument.
Location and surroundings
The monument is located outside the main entry to today's Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy, in the northeastern part of Moscow, near Prospekt Mira. The easiest access is from the VDNKh 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 the Soviet space program. Many streets in the area have been named after the precursors of the space program and its participants. The Cosmonauts Alley south of the monument features busts 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, in Podlipki 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.
History
In March 1958, a few months after the launch of Sputnik 1, a competition was announced for the best design of an obelisk celebrating the dawn of the Space Age. Out of some 350 proposals, the design by sculptor 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 to complete the preparatory work and open the Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics. The museum reopened on April 12, 2009 after three years of renovations.
Design and sculpture
The main part of the monument is a giant obelisk topped by a rocket and resembling in shape the exhaust plume of the rocket. It is 107 meters tall and, on Korolyov's suggestion, covered with titanium cladding. A statue of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, the precursor of astronautics, is located in front of the obelisk. A poem in Russian on the front of the stone base of the monument base says:
И наши тем награждены усилья, Что поборов бесправие и тьму, Мы отковали пламенные крылья Своей Стране И веку своему!
Approximate translation:
And our efforts were rewarded once overcoming rightlessness and darkness by forging blazing wings To our Nation And the age of ours!
Below, in smaller letters, is the dedicatory statement: "В ознаменование выдающихся достижений советского народа в освоении космического пространства сооружен этот монумент", and the year, 1964. Both sides of the monument base, in their front parts, are decorated with haut- and bas-reliefs depicting men and women of the space program: scientists, engineers, workers, their occupations indicated by appropriate accoutrements of the professions. Notable figures include a computer programmer holding a punched tape, a cosmonaut wearing a space suit, and Laika the space dog, first animal to orbit Earth. No contemporary Soviet politicians are depicted in the monument either, but the crowd on the right side of the monument are moving forward under the banner of Vladimir Lenin.
The monument reflected in other media
The Monument to the Conquerors of Space is featured on the 1967 ten-kopeck piece, one of the series of the commemorative coins issued to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution. This coin has the distinction of being the smallest-denomination commemorative coin ever minted in the Soviet Union.. The Monument is also featured in the music video "Go West" by Pet Shop Boys. Also monument featured in the music video "Sweet Lullaby" by Deep Forest. The monument is depicted on the home kit for the Russia national football team for the 2014 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.
Replicas
The monument to Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in downtown Borovsk, designed by Sergey Bychkov, contains a nearly exact scale replica of the Conquerors of Space "rocket needle" and a whimsical statue of Tsiolkovsky gazing into the skies. It was unveiled in 2007. A copy of this statue is installed at the Sir 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.
