Monument to Taras Shevchenko

The life of the great Ukrainian poet was connected with St. Petersburg: here he studied at the Academy of Arts and at the University, wrote many of his works and died here.

The first monument of T. Shevchenko in Petrograd was built in 1918 according to the project of the Latvian sculptor Janis Tilberg. The gypsum bust of the poet was installed on Kronverksky Prospekt, it existed until 1926.

The modern monument was made by Canadian sculptor of Ukrainian origin Leo Mall (Leonid Molozhanin ) and was presented to St. Petersburg in 1993. Originally, the monument was planned to build on Vasilyevsky Island, in front of Library of Academy of Sciences, but in the end, a different place was chosen. It was a square on the Petrograd side, between Ordinarnaya street, Maliy and Levashovsky prospects.

The opening was held on December 22, 2000, with the presence of President of Russian Federation V.V.Putin and the President of Ukraine L.D. Kuchma. In 2001, this square was named Taras Shevchenko.