Saint Vladimir Monument, Monument in Belgorod, Russia

The Saint Vladimir Monument is a dark bronze figure of a bearded prince in long robes and a cap, holding a tall cross in his raised right hand and a round shield at his left side. It stands on a fluted round pedestal atop a grey stone block carved with an emblem, an inscription panel and a figure in a niche. The whole structure rises 22.5 metres, with the prince's figure 7.5 metres tall, on the northern end of Kharkovskaya Hill beside Vatutina Avenue in Belgorod.

Prince Vladimir is traditionally considered the founder of Belgorod, though no documents confirm this. In the 1990s the city decided to raise a monument to him; sculptor Vyacheslav Klykov, who had worked on the Prokhorovka bell tower in 1995, was invited. Funds came from donations and sponsors, and the 22.5-metre monument was unveiled on 4 August 1998, ahead of the 55th anniversary of Belgorod's liberation and the 2000th anniversary of the Nativity.

The statue is one of the symbols of present-day Belgorod, and the city treats Prince Vladimir as its conventional founder, though no documents confirm this. The monument has appeared on Russian postal items: a 2002 envelope, a 2004 stamp marking the 50th anniversary of Belgorod Oblast, and a special cancellation of the same year.

The monument stands at the northern tip of Kharkov Hill, on the east side of Vatutina Avenue near its junction with Kostyukova Street. A wide staircase leads from the pedestal's front face up to an observation platform, from which the city below is visible. The site is open to walkers at any hour.

The 22.5-metre monument is the tallest statue of Prince Vladimir anywhere; Kyiv's is 2.5 metres shorter, and its prince figure measures 4.4 metres against Belgorod's 7.5. Sculptor Vyacheslav Klykov's work was made by chasing at the Kaluga sculpture factory and used over 1.5 tonnes of copper.