One of the most remarkable pages in the history of our Motherland was the battle of Kulikovo Field, which ended with the victory of Russian troops over the Mongol - Tatar invaders. Here, on a field that now lies in the Kurkinsky district, Tula region, near the confluence of the Nepryadva River with the Don, in 1380 there was a "terrible sich", after which the Don flowed for three days and three nights, "dark with blood". Russian regiments pursued and destroyed the enemy for 50 versts from the battlefield, and a monument to Russian soldiers was later erected on the site of Khan Mamai's tent, which stood on the Red Hill of Kulikovo Field. But the appearance of the latter was preceded by a long history... Centuries passed, and only the mounds near Nepryadva and the church of the village of Monastyrschina (on the site of the one that was once erected by the soldiers of Dmitry Donskoy) reminded of the past 1 . The unprecedented feat of the masses of the people, who defeated Napoleon's army in 1812, aroused interest in events that were close to the "glorious memory of the twelfth year" (A. S. Pushkin). In 1818, a monument to K. Minin and D. Pozharsky was unveiled in Moscow. Under the impression of this, the Tula governor V. F. Vasiliev in 1820 raised the issue of creating a monument on Kulikovo Field as a place "where Russia was liberated and glorified". Provincial residents, expressing their readiness to honor the memory of the "sons of the fatherland", offered to "appeal to all classes" to raise the necessary funds. The Governor-General of the Tula, Orel, and Ryazan provinces, A.D. Balashov, supported the local initiative and soon received consent in the capital to erect Monument 2 . In August 1820, Balashov wrote a letter to I. P. Martos, the author of the monument to Minin and Pozharsky in Moscow, with a proposal to develop a project for a monument to the heroes of the Battle of Kulikovo. In a reply letter dated August 22, 1820, 3 the sculptor Martos shared his idea. ... Read more