Central embankment of Volgograd

Volgograd’s Central Embankment is one of the best Volga parks and a venue for public events, city holidays and celebrations. The spacious street starts near the Friendship Park “Volgograd – Baku” and the automobile bridge across the Volga and stretches along the right bank of the river. Walks along it are very popular among the city residents. In addition, frequent guests of the coastal part of Volgograd are tourists, most of whom start their acquaintance with the city from here.

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Highlights

The Central Embankment received its current look in the middle of the last century, during the reconstruction led by architect Vasily Nikolaevich Simbirtsev. Today it is divided into two terraces – upper and lower. The elevated part is called the Victory Park. Here there is a green alley, stands the restaurant “Mayak”. The coastal terrace passes by the pier and river port, where small motor ships and cruise ships moor every day. Near the Volga River is the Central Concert Hall, and during the summer months cafes open and amusement rides begin to operate.

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The Volgograd embankment is very picturesque. It is decorated with wide marches of granite stairs, tall eight-column propylaea, various monuments, elegant lanterns and a large fountain “Art”. The first women’s gymnasium and the Tsaritsyn water pumping station have been preserved here.

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At the end of spring there is a scheduled water release of the Volga hydroelectric power plant. The level of the Volga rises and the coastal part of the embankment is flooded, so flowerbeds, attractions and piers are submerged in water.

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History of the Central Embankment of Volgograd

In the late 19th century, the Volga city served as a large cargo port. On the place where the Central Embankment of Volgograd is now located, there was Tsaritsynskaya wharf, warehouses and port, where ships from different cities arrived. Behind the wharf towered churches. Above the cliff stood St. John the Baptist, Assumption, Trinity and Nicholas churches.

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For a long time the embankment was not landscaped. At the beginning of the last century on it made smooth earth slopes, planted acacia, and to the piers built a staircase of wood. But in 1913 there was a strong landslide, and all efforts to improve the coastal part of Tsaritsyn were nullified.

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When the revolution occurred, the embankment was named after Stepan Razin. The city authorities carried out its radical reconstruction, as a result of which the cargo port was transformed into a recreation park. In the 1930s, when there was active anti-religious propaganda, the old temples above the river were destroyed. At that time, a monument to pilot Kholzunov was erected on the embankment, and instead of the destroyed church of St. John the Baptist, a wooden restaurant “Mayak” was erected.

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During the Battle of Stalingrad, heavy fighting took place on the Volga bank. The defense of the city blocks were soldiers of the 62nd Army. From the embankment evacuated civilians, and from the other bank of the besieged brought provisions and ammunition. In order to immortalize the feat of the soldiers who fought, in the post-war years the Central Embankment of Volgograd was named after the 62nd Army. The waterfront part was completely rebuilt, and it became the parade “entrance” to Volgograd from the Volga side.

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Monuments

The central embankment of Volgograd is decorated with several monuments. The very first monument here was a monument dedicated to the bomber pilot Kholzlovnov. In the 1930s he fought in Spain and was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. The brave pilot died during a test flight in 1939, and a year later a bronze monument was dedicated to him in the Volga city. It is noteworthy that the monument is one of the few monuments that survived in the Volga city during the war.

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A monument in honor of the Volga rivermen is dedicated to the military theme – the armored boat “Gasitel”, which the Volgograd residents themselves call a fire steamer. The small vessel was built at the beginning of the last century in Nizhny Novgorod, and it took part in two wars. The boat ferried weapons and soldiers, transported the wounded and extinguished fires. In the fall of 1942, while performing a combat mission, the heroic boat sank, but a year later it was raised from the bottom of the river and repaired. Its service “Gasitel” completed in 23 years, and on the memorial pedestal it was placed in 1977.

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On the Central Embankment of Volgograd you can also see monuments to Peter the Great and hero sailors who served in the Volga Military Flotilla. Since 2008 there has been a memorial to the prisoners who built the Volga-Don shipping canal. In recent years, a monument dedicated to the repressed Cossacks and a monument to Peter and Fevronia have appeared on the banks of the Volga River.

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Музей-панорама

Many travelers, coming to Volgograd, try to visit the large museum complex dedicated to the Battle of Stalingrad. The museum itself, the famous Pavlov House, the ruins of Grudinin’s mill, and the bayonet stele are located on the embankment.

In addition to the epic panoramic canvas and four dioramas, the museum features portraits of Soviet military leaders, collections of military equipment and weapons. One of the halls of the complex is dedicated to the war in Afghanistan. Near the museum building on the Central Embankment of Volgograd there are Su-2 bomber aircraft, howitzers, several heavy tanks, as well as a steam locomotive with cars and platforms of the war years. Since 1990, a monument to the commander of the 62nd Army Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov has stood next to the museum. It is located near the place where the headquarters of the army headed by him was stationed during the war.

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The Panorama Museum welcomes visitors Sunday through Wednesday and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Thursdays from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m., and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

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Rotunda

An elegant gazebo with a rounded dome appeared on the Central Embankment of Volgograd in 1952. During the war, from this place was defended by an anti-aircraft battery commanded by Lieutenant M. A. Baskakov. In heavy bloody battles anti-aircraft gunners managed to stop Nazi tanks and prevent the Germans from entering the city. On the heroes of the war years reminds attached to the gazebo memorial plaque.

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From the Rotunda down there is a staircase that connects two terraces of the coastal street. The graceful architectural monument has become one of the most popular places on the waterfront, and lovers of leisurely walks and beautiful sunsets come here every day.

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Fountain

The picturesque fountain was built on the Volga bank in 1958, and since then it has been considered the main decoration of Volgograd’s Central Embankment. The fountain has two names – “Art” and “Friendship of Peoples”. On a stone pedestal are the figures of three dancing women in folk costumes. Four mascarones are fixed below them, and tinkling jets of water flow from pipes installed in a figurative pool, which is located at the foot of the pedestal.

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It is noteworthy that all the green alleys originate from the fountain. Around it flowerbeds are laid out and neat benches are installed, near which citizens and tourists like to meet. In the evenings, the fountain is brightly illuminated, and the water jets beautifully “dance” to the music.

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Restaurant “Lighthouse”

During the improvement of the coastal part of the city in the 1930s, a wooden restaurant “Lighthouse” was erected in place of the demolished St. John the Baptist Church. During the days of the battle for Stalingrad, city residents waited here for the evacuation queue and escaped bombing.

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When the Germans broke into this part of the city, they arranged a DOT in the building and for a long time held back the Soviet offensive. After the fighting, the former restaurant housed a military hospital and treated wounded soldiers. The modern stone restaurant “Mayak” was built in 1955, during the reconstruction of the Central Embankment of Volgograd.

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The graceful rounded building is topped with a light rotunda and ends with a tall thin spire. At the very top is fixed a small ship. On the river side, the restaurant is surrounded by a spacious terrace with a magnificent view of the Volga. Today it is one of the most expensive restaurants in the city, whose visitors are served by a banquet hall, a bar and a cabin. Weddings, anniversaries and graduation parties are traditionally celebrated here.

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How to get there

The Central Embankment of Volgograd is located on the right bank of the Volga River. It can be reached by streetcars № ST and ST2, buses № 1, 4, 9, 12, 12B, 20, 35, 55, 95 and 98 and route cabs № 3c, 9c, 23a, 33, 36, 51k and 75. Get off at the stop “Lenin Square” or “Technical University” and then walk towards the river.

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