In September 2008, the reconstruction of the Cosmonauts Alley near the VDNKh metro station was completed. As part of this reconstruction, a model of the solar system was installed on the Alley. In the center is the Sun (in combination it also performs the role of a sundial), around which 9 planets revolve. You can walk along the Monument to the solar system, touch it with your hands, which is what passers-by and tourists do – usually there are so many people there that it is almost impossible to take a photo so that there are no people in the frame.

Composition of the monument

An interesting feature of the composition is that the location of the planets exactly corresponds to the one that was on October 4, 1957 – the day the first aircraft was launched into space. On Earth, the point where Baikonur is located is highlighted – the launch site of the launch vehicle that put the first satellite into orbit.

The author of the monument is the famous sculptor Salavat Shcherbakov. Many noted (including myself) that the master, when creating his creations, often sins against the truth. For example, on the monument “Farewell of the Slav” at the Belorussky railway station, our soldier first had a German rifle “Mauser” instead of our “mosinka”.

Not without incidents and the “solar system”.

As mentioned above, it depicts 9 planets, including Pluto. But back in 2006, Pluto was stripped of planet status. Even more surprising is the fact that instead of the Roman numeral IV (four), the number VI (six) is indicated on the sundial.

In 2020, many media reported that the “Solar System” was to be restored – the desire of numerous tourists to rub something and take pictures on horseback on one of the planets led to the fact that the monument fell into disrepair. In addition, someone managed to break out and drag away the bronze orbits (apparently, there were not enough forces to pull the planets themselves). The press service of the Internal Affairs Directorate for the North-Eastern Administrative District even reported on the capture of likhodey.

The restoration was scheduled to be completed in the second half of 2021.