Heroes Memory Public Garden stretches along the wall in the south of the historical center of Smolensk. It is devoted to the defenders of Smolensk during the War of 1812, as well as during the Great Patriotic War.
This public garden between the Gromovaya (Thunder) Tower and the Mokhovaya (Moss) Tower was opened by centenary of the victory in the War of 1812. It was opened on August 6, 1912, during a visit of Emperor Nicholas II to Smolensk, and was given the name «The Public Garden of the Memory of the Heroes of 1812».
Initially, there was installed the bust of the military leader М. I. Kutuzov. And on the fortified wall there were installed 19 memorial plaques devoted to the military units, which distinguish themselves in the Battle of Smolensk. To our days there remained only ten cast-iron plaques. On September 10, 1913 in the center of the public garden the noted Eagle Monument was installed. It symbolizes the defenders of the country.
The City School was built near the monument, on the site of Kandalovskaya (Fetters) Tower, in 1912. Later it housed the expositions of the museum «The Smolensk Region in the Years of the War».
After the Great Patriotic War there appeared the monuments devoted to that war in the public garden. The memorial with the eternal flame was created at the foot of the Donets Tower. Later in the fortified wall of Smolensk there appeared the burials similar to those in the wall of the Moscow Kremlin.
