Year: 1985

Postcard made in the Soviet Union, 1985, showing the Piskaryovskoye Memorial Cemetery in St. Petersburg (formaly known as Leningrad). The Piskaryovskoye Memorial Cemetery is located in Saint Petersburg, on the Avenue of the Unvanquished, dedicated mostly to the victims of the siege of Leningrad.The memorial complex designed by Alexander Vasiliev and Yevgeniy Levinson was opened on May 9, 1960. About 420,000 civilians and 50,000 soldiers of the Leningrad Front were buried in 186 mass graves. Near the entrance an eternal flame is located. A marble plate affirms that from September 4, 1941 to January 22, 1944 107,158 air bombs were dropped on the city, 148,478 shells were fired, 16,744 men died, 33,782 were wounded and 641,803 died of starvation.By granite steps leading down from the eternal flame visitors enter the main 480-meter path which leads to the majestic Motherland monument. The words of poet Olga Berggolts are carved on a granite wall located behind this monument: