I have been sort of obsessed with this statue, ever since buying a small replica of it at the old sixth ave flea markets back in the late 90s https://twitter.com/doctorow/status/1357325924761411584

It's titanium, larger than the statue of liberty, and features a V2 rocket on top because the actual configuration of Gagarin's space capsule was a state secret.

There's a giant space museum underneath, which felt very alt-universe, in which the highlighted achievements of space exploration were sputnik, belka and strelka (who are there, stuffed, on display!), Gagarin, and the Lunakhod.

Got to see it in person in 2016.

belka & strelka

gagarin

korolev

this is probably based on one of Tsiolkovsky's designs (nothing was labeled in English so I was at a bit of a disadvantage)

gagarin folk art

the painting is unintentionally accurate. By the aeronautics rules of the day, a record wasn't set unless the operator landed with the vehicle. Gagarin parachuted out of the capsule & landed separately, but Soviets lied about it for years.

I mean, he was still the first man in space! It was an airplane-based rule.