The Hero-City of Leningrad Obelisk stands in Ploshchad Vosstaniya, one of the busiest squares around Nevsky Prospekt. It is a Soviet-era monument to the city's wartime endurance, and its height and granite severity make it hard to miss when you arrive near Moscow Station.
It is most interesting if you are tracing the city's Second World War history. On Victory Day, 9 May, the square becomes a ceremonial point for veterans' parades and banners, but even on an ordinary day the obelisk gives the traffic-heavy square a clear historical anchor.