Field of Mars

Brief information

The Field of Mars did not begin as a ceremonial square, but as a drained rectangle of land: the marshy area between the Neva, the Moyka, and the Krivusha was cleared, leveled, and sown with grass after the Swan and Red Canals were dug. That is why its early history can be read through the form of an open space: first “empty meadows,” then a place for walks, parades, fireworks, public festivities, and sporting contests.

The sharpest turn came in 1917, when four mass graves in the shape of the letter “L” were dug in the center of the square for those who died during the days of the February Revolution. Later, the memorial became the site of new burials and turned the former field for military reviews into an urban necropolis. Thus the open square preserved the military theme in its name, but acquired an entirely different meaning.

What to notice right away

The main focus of the visit is how an empty field became an organized memorial space. At the center stands the memorial to the “Fighters of the Revolution”: a square-plan wall made of rectangular blocks of pink and gray granite. Inside are commemorative slabs with the names of those buried there; the stone for Rudnev’s project was taken from the dismantled Salny Buyan warehouse complex, so the memorial is literally built from the material of another urban structure.

It is worth comparing the austere granite square with the low parterre garden around it. Such a garden was proposed after a planning competition, and in 1920 alleys were laid out and plots were arranged here according to Fomin’s drawings. Another detail of the change in function is the 16 lanterns moved here from the Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge. An eternal flame burns at the center of the memorial: it was here in 1957 that the first such flame in the USSR was lit.