Monument to Pyotr Alabin (Samara)

The Monument to Pyotr Alabin is a bronze statue in central Samara, standing on the Krasnoarmeysky descent by the Strukovsky Garden, where Krasnoarmeyskaya Street meets Maxim Gorky Street. It honours the city's 19th-century mayor and was unveiled in 2019, the year of his 195th birthday. The figure stands on the upper terrace of the stairs leading down to the Volga embankment.

History of the monument

The monument was created by sculptor Karen Sarkisov and architect Alexei Yankov. The statue is cast in bronze and is about three metres tall. It was unveiled in late August 2019, shortly before Alabin's birthday. The site was chosen for its view of the Volga: the former head of the city looks out over the descent to the river, next to one of Samara's oldest parks.

Pyotr Vladimirovich Alabin

Pyotr Vladimirovich Alabin (1824–1896) was a statesman, public figure, writer and journalist. Born in Podolsk, he spent most of his life in Samara, where he sat on the city duma and served as mayor from 1884 to 1891.

Under his leadership Samara gained an iron foundry and an oil mill, a printing house, a weather station, a fire-fighting water supply and a theatre, as well as gas street lighting and its first telephone exchange. Alabin is regarded as the father of Samara's first public museum: he began collecting exhibits in 1880, and the museum opened in 1886. Today the Samara Regional Museum of History and Local Lore on Leninskaya Street bears his name, as does Alabinskaya station of the Samara metro.

The best-known episode of his life dates from the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878. At Alabin's request, the nuns of Samara's Iversky Convent sewed the Samara Banner, which was presented to the Bulgarian volunteer militia. From late 1877 Alabin served as governor of Sofia, introducing civil administration there, and a street in the Bulgarian capital is named after him.

His last years as mayor were troubled: after the famine of 1891 he was accused of abuses, but a court acquitted him in 1895.

Legends and accounts

Alabin was buried in the family crypt on the grounds of the Iversky Convent, but his remains have been lost. Archaeologists searching the crypt found only the remains of his daughter; Alabin's own were never found. This makes the monument on the Krasnoarmeysky descent the city's main place of remembrance for him.

Getting there

The monument stands at the corner of Krasnoarmeyskaya Street and Maxim Gorky Street, at the entrance to the Strukovsky Garden, above the descent to the Volga embankment. From here you can walk up into the garden or take the stairs down to the river and continue along the embankment.