Monuments of My City
Monument is a building, sculpture or construction that was created to honor famous people or historical events.
Monuments that are special for us.
 On the night of 26 March 1944, a commando group led by Senior Lieutenant K.F. Olshansky and composed of 68 volunteer sailors, munitions experts, signalmen and guides entered the city. They took control of a few port buildings and defended them successfully for two days, through 18 firefights in which 700 enemy soldiers were killed.
12 members of Olshanky's group survived and were supported by forces of the Third Ukrainian Front. Eventually, the Soviet Army liberated Mykolayiv.
Olshanksy's group is memorialized with a monument in the park formerly known as Cathedral Square. Their heroism saved the port and prompted the liberation of the city.
Every member of Olshanky's team was honored with the title Hero of the Soviet Union. Their March 1944 commando attack was the only occasion during World War II when every participant in an action earned that title. The 56 members of the Olshanky party who died in combat are buried in the eastern side of Lenin Square.
In 1946, soon after the war ended, a first monument to the Olshanky rangers was constructed. A more extensive memorial was unveiled in March of 1977. It includes a sculpture which depicts Olshanky and members of his group going into battle. The square is surrounded by spring birches and evergreen conifers. Near the sculpture, an eternal flame burns and stairs descend to the rangers' tombs.
There, the rangers' names are carved on black flagstones and the Golden Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union is displayed.
Elsewhere, at an entrance to the Nikolaev Sea Port, there is an additional memorial for K.F. Olshanky.
 In 1967, at the intersection of Lenin Prospect and Dekabristov Street, a memorial to soldier-liberators was erected. In bas-relief, the large bronze panel depicts the courage of Soviet soldiers and the grief of their mothers. And there is a list of the divisions, battalions, and detachments that fought to liberate Mikolayiv.
Near the city cemetery, in March of 1969, a monument to guerillas killed while fighting the Nazis was unveiled. A granite obelisk, it shows the face of a mother in grief and three symbolic faces of unknown heroes.
 On March 28, 1944, a T-34 tank under the command of General Sviridov Karp Vasiliyevich overran enemy forces and entered the city as the leading edge of the liberating force. Thirty two years later, in 1976, the same tank entered the city again.
A monument now, it was mounted on a pedestal at the crossing of Lenin Prospect and Komsomolskaya Street.
The largest park in the city, Victory Park, was created in 1945 to commemorate the victory over Nazi Germany. A monument in the center of the park (added in 1955) honors the soldier-liberators who freed the city. A cornerstone on one of the walkways in the park honors the courageous acts of scout Aleksandr Petrovich Sidorchuk.
Resistance forces played a vital role during World War II. One of the heroes of the resistance was Victor Aleksandrovish Lyagin. He came to the city in 1941 and organized "Nikolaev Centre." Lyagin died in 1943, a victim of Gestapo torture. One of Nikolaev's streets was renamed in his honor and a granite pedestal and bronze plaque were placed where that street crosses Lenin Prospect. The plaque carries the inscription "Hero of the Soviet Union Lyagin V.A."
All Nikolaev schoolchildren learn the story of Shura Kober and Vitia Khomenko, members of a resistance group led by V.I. Andreyev (Palagniuk). Kober and Khomenko accomplished many feats. The courageous boys ferreted out enemy intentions, damaged enemy rolling stock, and carried important information across battle lines. In November of 1942, they were captured by the Nazis and executed. In November of 1959, a monument to these young patriots was placed in Pioneer Square. Bronze statues of the boys are on a high pedestal. A granite plaque is inscribed with the words: "From pioneers of Ukraine to pioneer-heroes and young scouts Shura Kober and Vitia Khomenko who died in a struggle with fascist invaders on the 5th of December 1942".
At the crossing of Mir Prospect and Kosmonaytov Street, in May of 1985, a monument marking the 40th anniversary of the World War II victory was erected. It depicts the Victory Medal and displays the figures "1941 - 1985
In Victory Park, there is a monument to all the soldiers of the Soviet era.
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