Volgograd: Russia's tallest statue

Known as Stalingrad during the bloodiest battle of World War II, Volgograd today preserves on the Mamayev Kurgan hill one of the world's tallest statues.

The memorial complex is comfortably explored on foot.

On the hill of Mamayev Kurgan, site of some of the bloodiest clashes of the Battle of Stalingrad, stands since 1967 the memorial dedicated to Soviet casualties.

At the center of the complex, The Motherland Calls, a statue over eighty-five meters tall including the sword, was for years the world's tallest statue.

Coming down into the city, you visit the Panorama Museum of the Battle of Stalingrad, with a three-hundred-sixty-degree circular painting that recreates the battle at its climactic moment.

Just steps away, Pavlov's House, a residential building defended for nearly two months by a small group of Soviet soldiers, remains partially preserved as a symbol of the city's resistance.

The sword of the Motherland Calls statue, originally steel, had to be replaced decades after its construction because the wind caused it to sway dangerously, threatening the stability of the entire statue.

The Battle of Stalingrad, lasting approximately six months between 1942 and 1943, remains among the deadliest conflicts in human history and marked the first major defeat of the German army on the Eastern Front.