Taras Shevchenko Monument, Kharkiv
A sixteen-metre monument of 1935, encased in sandbags since March 2022.
The monument was unveiled on 24 March 1935 after a competition of 1929: sculptor Matvey Manizer, architect Iosif Langbard, height about 16 m, the poet's figure 5.5 m. At the time of its unveiling it was the largest bronze composition in the USSR; it was cast at the Monumentskulptura works. Its predecessors were a white marble bust of 1898 and a plaster one of 1919. The garden in which the monument stands was laid out in 1804 as the university garden and was given Shevchenko's name in 1935. On 23 March 2022 Zelenbud and volunteers covered the monument with four rows of sandbags; on 9 March 2025 the poet was honoured beside it once again.
Shevchenko Garden, entrance from Sumska Street. As of 09.03.2025 the monument was covered with sandbags to protect it from shelling (Suspilne Kharkiv, 09.03.2025). Kharkiv is regularly attacked: on 28.09.2026 a strike on an apartment block in the Saltivskyi district injured 22 people (ArmyInform, 28.09.2026), and on 30.09.2026 a drone hit a shopping centre (Slovo i Dilo, 30.09.2026), so during an alert go to a shelter.