Monument to Prince Vladimir Unveiled in Smolensk

The ancient Russian city of Smolensk has been adorned with a new monument to the saint and prince Vladimir, reports TASS. The new monument, installed on the banks of the Dnieper River, was unveiled in a ceremony attended by the head of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) Patriarch Kirill. 

Thousands attended the unveiling ceremony, including representatives of the regional government and city authorities, as well as activists from NGOs and members of the religious community. In their speeches the honoured guests noted that the monument is the first to Prince Vladimir to have been raised on the banks of the river Dnieper in Russia. 

According to the head of the ROC, the role of Prince Vladimir in Russian history is impossible to overstate. "The significance of what he did is difficult to compare with all the many following upheavals which occurred in the subsequent centuries", he said. 

As reported by the Russkiy Mir Foundation, Smolensk-based sculptor Valery Graschenkov has portrayed Prince Vladimir in his monument as a thirty-year-old man. The saint is fixing his gaze on the river where the Russian people were first baptised into the Christian faith.

Another monument to the prince who baptised Russia was unveiled on 29 August in the city of Valdimir which bears his name.