🌳 Field of Mars

A huge field-square with lawns and lilacs, with a granite memorial to the Victims of the Revolution in the centre.

The square covers about 9 hectares — the second largest in the city after Moskovskaya Square.
Under Peter I parades were held here and “amusement fireworks” were set off; the meadow was called the Great one, under Elizabeth the Tsaritsyn, and the Field of Mars from 1805.
The monument to the Fighters of the Revolution, designed by Lev Rudnev, was unveiled on 7 November 1919; the inscriptions on the slabs were written by Lunacharsky.
On 6 November 1957 the USSR's first eternal flame was lit here — the torch was brought from an open-hearth furnace of the Kirov Plant.
In 1967 the flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow was lit from the fire on the Field of Mars.
In the summer of 1942, during the siege, the whole field was given over to vegetable gardens.