Volgograd Region is the most attended subject of the Russian Federation: everybody who has ever played a game Call of Duty, has visited it virtually. It is situated in the European Russia and has its provincial capital in the city of Volgograd, on the right bank of Volga River. It is actually the former Stalingrad, renamed after Stalin’s death, the place where the Stalingrad battle, one of the most sanguinary battles of the Second World War took place. The game Call of Duty is based on fact.

One of the best ways to explore Volgograd is to take a walking tour with local guides. During this pedestrian tour you will pass through the most beautiful embankment of Volga from the monument comemorating  bombing of Stalingrad on the 23 of August, 1942 to the famous armor turrets placed on points of the frontline of the city. You will also learn many interesting facts about heroic battle for the city. 

 

During the pedestrian sightseeing tour of Volgograd you will visit the most important  places of the city centre.  One of the city`s most famous museums is the Stalingrad Museum with a panorama (one of the largest panoramas in Russia) which depicts a scene from the infamous battle. Beside the Stalingrad museum in Volgograd there stands a red brick building full of bullet holes. It is supposed to be the only remaining building from the former post-war Stalingrad. Yakov Fedotovich Pavlov is credited with holding this building against the Nazis for an amazing length of time, and against all odds.

After the Stalingrad battle british PM Winston Churchill sugested that Stalingrad should remain in ruins to commemorate the horrable war. But Stalin ordered his best architects to rebuild the city as a fine example of the soviet style. During the pedestrian tour you will visit the fighters' square, the first rebuilt street - Peace street, Lenins av. and a pearl of this style - Heroes v. and Central embankment.  

The most famous sightseeing site of the city is Mamayov Kurgan which is a huge War memorial complex dedicated to the warriors that lost their lives in the battle for Stalingrad. The memorial complex displays a symbolic Motherland sculpture. It is a massive statue commemorating the loss of life and the victory. The statue is about 4 meters higher than the statue of liberty in the US.

The statue is situated on the so name Point 102 (Mamaev Kurgan is 102 meters high). The statue is 85 meters high (the figure 52 meters and the sword 33 meters). It is said to weight around 8 000 tons. The statue prototype is divined as Nika goddess, the goddess of Victory.

Mamaev Kurgan is open for visitors 24 hours a day. At night there is a special lightning in the park and near statues and memorials. Some travel sources translate the name of Mamaev Kurgan into English as Mamaev Hill but it is to some extent a wrong translation. Kurgan rather means a tumulus or a barrow due to in encient past it could be a grave of one of the nomades leader. Name Mamaev means the Kurgan could have some connection to Mamai - leader of Golden Hordes, but there is no any reliable historical evidence of that.

If you are interested in exploting Volgograd by car, you shall take an auto tour to Old Sarepta - the memorial estate Sarepta located in the south of Volgograd.  The museum property embraces 24 real estate objects.

Volgograd enters the top ten most popular Russian cities for family recreation. The rating compiled by Oktogo.ru online reservation service and children's Quintura search engine was published by "Forbes" magazine. “Ruined during the war, the city was rebuilt, and even got a new name after a couple of decades: Volgograd. But historically it still remains Stalingrad, the place of famous Second World War battle, says the "Forbes" journalist Irina Rozhdestvenskaya. – So far, Volgograd doesn't have its clear modern look: in the tourists' eyes it is a memorial city, where people come to touch the history and to honor the great heroes." Except Volgograd, the top 10 ranking includes Sevastopol, Sochi, Kazan, Yaroslavl, Vologda, Belgorod, Ekaterinburg, Perm and Samara. 

 

 
 

 

Sources: http://strana.ru