Vienna Soviet War Memorial

The Heroes' Monument of the Red Army, often called the Russian Monument or Liberation Monument, stands at the southern end of Schwarzenbergplatz in Vienna's third district. It was erected in 1945 to honor the roughly 17,000 Red Army soldiers who lost their lives in the Battle of Vienna toward the end of World War II. Planning and design took place while the campaign was still under way, with architect Major S. G. Yakovlev and sculptor Lieutenant Mikhail Avakovich Intezarian creating the designs. Because no clay was available, improvised methods had to be used to produce the statue, which consists of about 15 tons of bronze. Construction was carried out by Austrian laborers and German prisoners of war, and 300 square meters of Engelsberg marble were also used for the column.

Architecturally, the monument is dominated by a 20-meter-high central column, topped by a soldier holding a flag and a gilded shield. The column is framed by a semicircular colonnade of 26 columns, each eight meters tall, with two fighters depicted at either end. Extensive inscriptions in Russian appear on the columns and the main structure, including a text by Supreme Commander Stalin documenting the capture of Vienna on April 13, 1945, as well as quotations from the poet Sergei Mikhalkov. In front of the central column is a tilted metal cube bearing a dedication to the fallen soldiers in German and Russian. The monument was ceremonially unveiled on August 19, 1945; those attending the ceremony included State Chancellor Karl Renner and Mayor Theodor Körner.

Since its construction, the monument has been a site of historical debate. The Vienna city administration took over its care and remains responsible for its maintenance to this day, an obligation enshrined in the 1955 State Treaty. In the postwar years, the southern part of the square was temporarily called Stalinplatz. The monument has also been the scene of various incidents, including planned assassinations and a murder case in the 1950s. More recently, particularly after the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the monument was drawn back into public debate, and the private wall behind it was painted in the Ukrainian national colors to express solidarity.