Yuri Gagarin, the Russian giant whose monument stands tall in Moscow

Moscow Chronicles, by Jacob Icia

There is always a contest of pride between super powers, especially in the question of who broke through first in monumental historical discoveries.

While the United States of America boast of landing the first man in the moon, Russians walk heads high ever for their son Yuri Gagarin who is credited as the first man to the space.

In Moscow, along Lenin Avenue (Leninsky Prospekt), lies the Gagarin Square in the scientist’s honour, where the tallest statue in Moscow stands.

The Gagarin statue is 42.5m tall, made of pure titanium to a whopping 12 tones, is another interesting feature well preserved history of a Russian great.

“The beauty of Russians is their fidelity in keeping their sons history especially the ones who merit. Gagarin is always referred to in aerospace studies here in Russia, as a person who made great contribution in space science, not only for Russia but the whole world,” a Kenyan student studying in Moscow told Citizen Digital.

The man Gagarin

The space science icon was born on March 9, 1934, in the Klushino of the then USSR. Notably, his town was occupied by Germans in the 1941 World War and his siblings were deported to Poland as forced labourers.

He was restrained in a mud hut of three by three metres for over a year by the Germans, but his dreams never died to become a pilot.

After the World War in 1946, he continued with his studies and his impeccable story is there to be read by the world, even on that statue.

Here in Moscow they say, ‘others’ have Neil Armstrong (the American man who first landed to the moon), and Russia has Yuri Gagarin.