Art@Site www.artatsite.com Andrey Faydysh-Krandiyevskiy Monument to the Conquerors of Space
Artist:

Andrey Faydysh-Krandiyevskiy

Title:

Monument to the Conquerors of Space

Year:
1964
Adress:
Prospekt Mira
Website:
www.vanderkrogt.net:
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 (350 feet) tall and covered with titanium cladding. The rocket it 11 m (35 feet) long.
Both sides of the monument base, in their front parts, are decorated with haut- and bas-reliefs of 4-7 x 23 m (13-23 x 75 ft) 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 (or perhaps some other computing or telecommunications professional) holding a punched tape, a cosmonaut wearing a space suit, and Laika, the first space dog. No contemporary Soviet politicians are depicted in the monument either (that would violate the convention existing in post-Stalin's Soviet Union against commemorating living persons in this fashion), but the crowd on the right side of the monument are moving forward under the banner of Lenin.