The monument was erected in 1932 to commemorate 15th anniversary of October Revolution and was designed by architect Iosif Langbard and sculptor Matvey Manizer. Manizer was the first sculptor in the history of the Soviet art who decided to attempt creating a multi-figure equestrian sculpture. Amongst the figures are a commissar, a Bashkir soldier, a partisan peasant, a Tatar soldier in a torn shirt, a female in headscarf, a sailor and Chapaev on horseback with a sabre. Characters of the monument are based on real participants of the civil war.
To help create Chapaev’s facial features Manizer used as a model Chapaev’s son, Alexander, who looked much like his father. To create the character of the Red Army Bashkir soldier, raising from the ground, the sculptor used as a model a student of Leningrad Military Medical Academy and Bashkir poet Gaisa Yusupov.
photographer unknown
