The memorial was inaugurated in 2020 in the Tver region, along the M9 highway, near the village of Khoroshevo (8 km from Rzhev’s center). From Moscow, it takes about 3 hours by car (230 km) or ~5 hours by train, using two commuter trains departing from Kursk Station. There is a large, free parking lot near the memorial. The memorial is located on the Rzhev-Vyazma salient, where some of the bloodiest battles of the entire war took place between January 1942 and March 1943. Here, our troops lost over 1 million people. Even 75 years later, during the memorial’s construction, sappers unearthed half a thousand shells and mines. The 25-meter bronze statue of a soldier is a collective symbol, literally. The facial features were created using computer modeling based on photographs of soldiers who died near Rzhev. Over 17,000 names of the fallen are engraved on metal panels along the alley. When the monument was unveiled, commemorative coins and stamps were issued, and in 2022, the Rzhev Memorial took center stage on the new 100-ruble banknote. Now, this image will forever remain in the memory of millions of Russians across the country. In addition to the sculpture, the memorial includes a museum where photographs and letters are displayed, and audio recordings recount soldiers’ memories. Through a glass floor, visitors can view weapons, shells, and other artifacts unearthed by researchers during excavations. The levitating effect of the sculpture is both mesmerizing and impressive. The supporting structures are so skillfully concealed by crane figures that the 200-ton soldier appears to hover above the hill! The sculptor managed to weave several already-classic works about the war into this composition. Rasul Gamzatov’s “Cranes” are evoked in the monument’s design, verses from Alexander Tvardovsky’s “I Was Killed at Rzhev” are engraved at its base, and the entire composition refers to the legless soldier on crutches and wrapped in a cloak from Grigory Chukhrai’s film “Ballad of a Soldier”, who seems to ascend into the sky.