Mother Russia and Volgograd Regional Botanical Garden

Due to some change in plans we ended up being able to see more of the city of Volgograd instead of being the field.

We first went to the Battle of Stalingrad Museum. This was a incredibly moving place. To think of all of the soldiers and civilians who gave their life protecting the city. The museum did a wonderful job of illustrating the battle and honoring those who died.

The old mill; the only building left standing after the battle

A call to war advertisement

A 3 deminsional representation of what the city looked like during the battle. 

Statue of Victory

Next we were able to go to one of the places I've been most looking forward to. We went to visit the statue of Mother Russia. It is situated at the top of a large hill they call the Mamai Hill, the name of the hill dates back to when Mongols ruled the area. The whole area has many monuments dedicated to soldiers and at the base of the hill is where the front line was located during the Battle of Stalingrad.

The Russian Solider Statue in the foreground

The wall of ruins depicting the offensive battle by the Russian soldiers

The statue is 2 km tall it took 8 years to build and all the monuments on the hill are made with reinforced concrete. There are several mass graves on the site because it was the site of a very severe battle.

We had an amazing tour guide who was very passionate about the monument 

It is hard to grasp the size of this monument without being right next to it

We were so grateful that our hosts shared this history with us. It is hard to imagine what the city was like during that time.

Next we got to see part of the Volgograd Regional Botanical Garden. I was very excited for this because I had heard about the garden from traveling with Oleg the director of the garden last October.
The botanical garden is separated in to two sites. We went to the smaller one today sitting on 2.5 acres, later in our travels we will be seeing the larger of the sites. Though small this site had a great diversity of plant material. They have a market they run all year long selling plants to the public
. In fact they had some Iris in bloom ready to sell.

Iris all potted up

They are also focused on testing plants that grow well in the Volgograd climate and are resistant to dry and hot conditions.

Testing different gymnosperms for tolerance

Paval gave us a tour of the grounds he is in charge of growing the plants that are for sale as well as his own research projects. He is standing in front of 2 year old clones of the Popoulus nigra of Stalingrad the only tree left standing after the battle. 

They are also dedicated to preserving rare and endangered species of the region. They not only grow these plants on their grounds they also have a lab dedicated to their conservation.

Pulsatilla pratensis in the Volgograd Region Red Data Book of rare species

Pulsatilla patens also in the Red Data Book

Here they created a steep like area with lots of pot ash on the top layer. All the plants grown here are in the Red Data Books. 

The lab works on different methods of conserving rare and endangered plants including DNA conservation and tissue culture.

After a long day we got to enjoy some Ukrainian food with our wonderful hosts!!

Maria, Leanna and Evgeni our awesome hosts