Memorial dedicated to victims of "Kursk" submarine tragedy opens in St. Petersburg

On Tuesday, a series of events dedicated to the 3rd anniversary of the "Kursk" nuclear submarine tragedy will be held in St. Petersburg.

According to chair of the St. Petersburg Submariners' Club Igor Kudrin, on Tuesday afternoon relatives and friends of victims, Navy officers, representatives of administrative and legislative structures of the city will gather in Nikolski Marine Cathedral for a memorial religious service in memory of the "Kursk" submariners.

The inauguration ceremony of a memorial on the Seraphim cemetery, where 32 victims of the "Kursk" tragedy are buried, will be held at 2 p.m.

The central sculpture of the memorial is a black cube topped with a bronze body of a petrel. One side of the pedestal is engraved with the phrase "In memory of the "Kursk" crew" and the coordinates of the location where the submarine drowned. On the other side - a line from the note left by perished lieutenant commander Dmitri Kolesnikov, "Do not despair." The central piece is surrounded by 32 headstones. Despite the fact that their design is similar, each headstone looks different because the relatives of each victim made specific additions to the work of the artist.

The architect of the memorial is Gennady Peychev. All Russia National Military Fund donated the money for the memorial.