Grigorij Danilovič Jastrebeneckij
1923–2022 · Russian sculptor of war memorials
Grigory Danilovich Yastrebenetsky (1923-2022) was a Russian sculptor, the author of many monuments and commemorative plaques in Saint Petersburg. His work is closely tied to the memory of the Second World War and the Siege of Leningrad, in which he took part as a soldier.
During the war he served in a reserve mortar regiment during the siege of Leningrad and was hospitalised in December 1941 with malnutrition. He later served with the 8th Artillery Observation Balloon Division, which fought at Narva, Shlisselburg, the Karelian Isthmus and Königsberg. In 1951 he graduated from the Ilya Repin Academy of Fine Arts.
His output includes more than 250 portraits and numerous sculptures and monuments to noted residents of Saint Petersburg, as well as the memorial at the Neuengamme concentration camp. His works are held by the State Russian Museum, the Tretyakov Gallery and the Hermitage Museum.
Among his best-known works is the Nameless Height, erected in 1968 on the banks of the Neva, where the Red Army prevented the Nazis from crossing the river. A bas-relief of five soldiers stands on a artificial mound twenty metres high, behind a figure of a woman. He also designed sculptures along the Leningrad defence line, part of the Green Belt of Glory complex, and the memorial statue at Oreshek Fortress, erected in 1985.
He was honoured as People's Artist of the RSFSR in 1984 and was a member of the Russian Academy of Arts. His legacy endures in the commemorative landscape of Saint Petersburg.