Gagarin Monument

Gagarin is likely the most celebrated hero of Baikonur. Among all of sculptures, paintings, pins, posters, plates, flags, etc... there is one representation in particular which draws our attention: the Gagarin Monument located between the Town Hall and the Parc of Peace.

The sculpture, about seven meters high, shows a standing man with his arms raised to the sky as a sign of victory or greeting. As a simple rule of body language, he invites us to do the same.


The very sober appearance of the gray mat painted concrete, reminding the pachyderm skin, reinforces the massive aspect of the sculpture.

At the opposite of the usual former soviet propaganda (e.g. a statue of Lenin few meters away) , this Gagarin representation breaks with academical sculptural postures. The cosmonaut does not wear military uniform or pressurised space suits. His head is free of the helmet (traditionally captured on almost all other Gagarin icons). This suggests more a humanistic intention than a political message. This impression seems confirmed when getting closer by the friendly Gagarin's smiling face.


The artist was likely not seeking the secret of man ideal proportions as L. di Vinci did, but surely demonstrated that despite the tallest position a man can have, he remains ridiculously small compared to the world he tries to reach.

With his feet on the ground, his stretched arms and the palm facing the sky, Gagarin ideally represents "the Man" as a fragile and harmonious link between Earth and the Cosmos.

His eyes are staring at Восток (Vostok meaning "East" in Russian), refers to the name of the spaceship that brought him to space.

Another detail: when the "sky calendar" is favorable, if one sits in the front of the sculpture, it is possible to see Gagarin "carrying" the sun at sunset or the full moon at night between his hands.

The sculpture becomes then a natural player of the cosmic clock.

Credits: Acem (via Raphael)

After spending some time admiring all the facets of this monument, one will realise that after a certain 12th April 1961, somewhere in the kazakh steppe near Baikonur, Homo Erectus has definitely started his evolution towards "Homo Cosmicus"...