Sovetskaya square, Kuusinen monument. Petrozavodsk Webcams online

At the beginning of the Avenue, near the lake, is the Soviet square,where we are now. Until recently, in the early 70s, the entire area was occupied by wooden private houses, and there was no square. Now here in a large modern building (architects E. F. Andreev, V. I. Antokhin, E. E. Zhuravkova) is the local government administration of the city. A two-story elegant house that was built in 1950 (architect R. Kornev) has been preserved nearby. If you look at this house from the waterfront, the shape of the building will remind you of a large pink birthday cake. And indeed, the shape and content of the building are the same: Now this building is the city's wedding Palace. And earlier there was a city house of pioneers. In the center of the square is a monument to one of the prominent leaders of the Republic in the Soviet period, Otto Wilhelmovich Kuusinen (1881-1964). The square is framed on one side by a continuation of the ensemble of residential buildings of Lenin Avenue built in the early 20th century, on the other side – Levashovsky Boulevard. The area is limited by the embankment of lake Onega (the second largest freshwater reservoir in Europe - 10 thousand square kilometers).
In the very center of the square stands a monument to Otto Kuusinen. The authors are sculptor B. Dyuzhev, architects A. Zavarzin and E. Kulaga. The monument was opened on June 22, 1973, during the celebration of the 270th anniversary of Petrozavodsk. The material of the monument is Shala granite (the village of Shala is located on the Eastern shore of lake Onega, 20 km from which are the famous Onega petroglyphs). The statue is made of blocks processed at the Leningrad plant "Monumentskulptura". The pedestal is made of dark gray granite at the Kondopozhsky stone processing plant. The perimeter of the plinth (platform) is made of hewn granite, has staircases, and performances of various groups are held here on holidays.
In the strict forms of the statue, you can feel calm strength, in the expressive soft forms of the face-the wisdom of a philosopher and at the same time the simplicity of a typical northerner.The right hand rests on a granite block – a symbol of connection with the proletariat, with the working people.

The total height of the monument is 9 meters. The monument faces the lake. The square in front of it to the Onega embankment does not look like a typical square, there is a Playground for fans of playing football.
So who was O. V. Kuusinen and why do the Karelian people honor his memory?
During the revolution, the national movement played an important role in public life. The Karelian educational society was active in the North of Karelia. In 1917 it has developed a draft Constitution of Karelia, providing for the autonomy of the region as part of Russia. Many were in favor of independence of the Republic of Karelia. Finland, as a kinship of the Finnish and Karelian peoples, wanted to Annex the Karelian lands to itself. The society was divided into three groups – the local administration stood apart as a symbol of the old regime, and no one believed it anymore; many public organizations and trade unions were formed, but they did not have the support of the Supreme power (no one knows them, no one will give them anything); and Councils of workers 'and soldiers' deputies were created, which United all the poor and destitute, directed and thus established their power.
A little Later in Finland, too, there is an attempt at a coup, but the" red " Finns are defeated. Led by Gulling, they moved to Karelia and in 1920 formed the Karelian labor commune (CPC), namely June 8 - this date is now considered the Day of Karelia, which is celebrated annually.
The CPC existed for about 2 years, and a new idea was put forward to transform the CPC into the KASSR in 1923. The status of the Karelian autonomy has increased. There are more rights in the economy and public administration.

The KASSR lasted until 1940. Under the terms of the peace Treaty with Finland, after the end of the "winter" war (1939-1940), the Karelian isthmus with Vyborg, the North-Western Ladoga region, and a number of other territories were ceded to the USSR.Most of them were transferred to the Republic of Karelia. In 1940, a law was passed to transform the KASSR into the Karelo-Finnish SSR. The emergence of a new Federal Republic was sought by propaganda as evidence of the strengthening of the power of the Soviet Union after the Soviet-Finnish war. It was at this time that O. V. Kuusinen came to power and was in power until 1957. He played a significant role in the Foundation of PetrSU, became the main popularizer of the Karelo-Finnish epic Kalevala and translated it himself.
In 1956, the Karelo-Finnish SSR was again renamed KASSR. Now (namely, since 1991) we are already part of Russia-the Republic of Karelia, the capital of the Republic - g.Petrozavodsk. The population of the capital is 264 thousand people, which is 40 percent of the population of the entire Republic. Mostly inhabited by Russians, Karelians and Veps (1/4 of the entire Veps of Karelia), there are 50 different nationalities. We have all the appropriate regalia – a coat of arms and a flag. You can see the flags of Karelia and Petrozavodsk on the building of the Petrozavodsk city administration.
On February 16, 1993, the state flag of the Republic of Karelia was approved, based on a later version of the flag of the Karelo-Finnish SSR. The national flag of the Republic of Karelia is a rectangular cloth with equal horizontal stripes: the upper stripe is red, symbolizing blood, the middle one is blue – the Karelian rivers and lakes, and the lower one is green-the forests of Karelia. The ratio of flag width to length is 2: 3.