Piskaryovskoye memorial cemetery (Saint Petersburg)

 cemetery, shrine, green area, war memorial, object of cultural heritage of federal importance (Russia), Great Patriotic War

The memorial complex was opened on May 9, 1960.

About 420,000 civilians and 50,000 soldiers of the Leningrad Front were buried in 186 mass graves. Near the entrance an eternal flame is located. A marble plate affirms that from September 4, 1941 to January 22, 1944 107,158 air bombs were dropped on the city, 148,478 shells were fired, 16,744 men died, 33,782 were wounded and 641,803 died of starvation.
Mother Motherland

The center of the architectural composition is the bronze monument symbolizing the Mother Motherland, by sculptors V.V. Isaeva and R.К. Taurit.

By granite steps leading down from the Eternal Flame visitors enter the main 480-meter path which leads to the majestic Motherland monument. The words of poet Olga Berggolts are carved on a granite wall located behind this monument:

Here lie Leningraders

Here are citydwellers - men, women, and children
And next to them, Red Army soldiers.
They defended you, Leningrad,
The cradle of the Revolution
With all their lives.
We cannot list their noble names here,
There are so many of them under the eternal protection of granite.
But know this, those who regard these stones:
No one is forgotten, nothing is forgotten.