Victory Square (Rostoshi)

Victory Square is a memorial square with an eternal flame and a small open-air museum of military equipment in the Rostoshi neighbourhood of Orenburg, on Zoryanka Street. It opened on 5 May 2016, for the 71st anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic War, with the support of the gas company Gazprom Dobycha Orenburg.

History

Rostoshi was founded in 1990 as a gas workers' settlement: it was built by Orenburggazprom (now Gazprom Dobycha Orenburg) on high ground near the old village of Rostoshi, beyond the Nezhinskoye highway on the road to the airport. The settlement later became a neighbourhood of Orenburg.

The square was conceived as a gift to the company's veterans and a tribute to the front-line soldiers and home-front workers who worked in the gas industry. At the opening, the company's director general Vladimir Kiyaev recalled that thirty years earlier every 25th employee had been a war veteran, while by 2016 only 12 veterans and 139 home-front workers were still alive.

Before the opening the grounds were landscaped and a stele and panels with portraits of the company's veterans were put up. The eternal flame was lit from a flame brought from the memorial complex on Pobedy Avenue in Orenburg. The ceremony featured speeches, brass band marches and wartime songs, a gun salute, and guests could look over the equipment prepared by the company's staff.

Military equipment museum

The open-air display lines an alley next to the eternal flame. It includes:

• a Su-24M frontline bomber;
• a Mi-24P attack helicopter;
• a T-80 tank;
• howitzers and field guns;
• an Akatsiya self-propelled gun;
• a Grad multiple rocket launcher.

The museum was created by Gazprom Dobycha Orenburg with the help of the Orenburg city administration, and the company looks after the square. Each exhibit has a sign describing it, which makes the alley a popular stop for families with children.

Remembrance days

For Victory Day, the gas company's veterans come to the square with their families and lay flowers at the eternal flame. The square has become a yearly meeting place for veterans and a place of patriotic education for young people.

Getting there

Rostoshi lies on the outskirts of Orenburg, on the way to the airport. Bus 69n runs from the city centre (from the Gazovik Palace of Culture to Rostoshi); the nearest stop is Ulitsa Zoryanka.