Monument to Ivan Susanin
The monument to Ivan Susanin by sculptor N.A. Lavinsky was put up in Kostroma in 1967 on the spot of the previous mid-19th-century monument by famous sculptor Vasily Demut-Malinovsky.
Ivan Susanin, peasant from Kostroma area became famous for his heroic action. In the winter of 1613 he saved tsar Mikhail Romanov from Polish invaders by leading the enenmys's troop deep into swampy forest. He was tortured and killed for not telling them the way out of the forest. Mikhail Glinka devoted an opera to him - "Ivan Susanin" also known as "A Life for the Tsar".
Earlier the monument to Susanin was a granite column with the bust of Tsar Mikhail on top and Susanin on bended knee at the foot of the column. This monument was demolished in early Soviet times according to the decree "On dismantling of monuments to tsars and their servants".