Musa Jalil Monument (Orenburg)

The Musa Jalil Monument is a sculpture of the Tatar poet and war hero in Fourth of April Square (Skver Chetvyortogo Aprelya) in central Orenburg, at the junction of Postnikova Street, 9 Yanvarya Street and Parkovy Prospekt. It was unveiled in 1996 for the 90th anniversary of the birth of the poet, a native of the Orenburg region.

Musa Jalil and Orenburg

Musa Jalil (1906–1944) was born in the village of Mustafino in what is now the Sharlyk District of the Orenburg region. In Orenburg he studied at the Khusainiya madrasa and worked as an instructor of the regional Komsomol committee. During the Second World War he was taken prisoner, joined an underground group in a German camp and was executed in 1944; the poems he wrote in captivity became known as the Moabit Notebook. The Orenburg monument is one of the memorials to him in the region where he spent his childhood and youth.

The monument

The sculpture shows Musa Jalil seated on a stone, calmly watching people walk by. The figure conveys concentration and inner calm rather than the heroic pathos usual for war memorials.

Fourth of April Square

The square commemorates an event of the Civil War: on the night of 3 to 4 April 1918 a detachment of Dutov's Cossacks raided Orenburg, and people in the town were killed. A concrete sculpture of a soldier with a grenade and a banner on a brick pedestal is dedicated to the victims of that raid.

The square is small and well kept, with paths, a board of honour and an Alley of Heroes. Ash, lime, blue spruce, pine, shiny cotoneaster and yellow acacia grow here, along with some old white poplars.

Next to the Jalil monument stands the Good Angel of Peace, unveiled on 28 June 2008 as part of the Pride and Glory of Orenburg project: a three-metre gilded figure of a guardian angel holding a dove, on a six-metre granite column.

Getting there

Fourth of April Square is in central Orenburg, at the corner of Postnikova and 9 Yanvarya streets by Parkovy Prospekt. It is an easy walk from the city centre, or a ride by city bus, trolleybus or tram.