Alexander Pushkin and Natalia Goncharova Monument, Moscow

Just across the street from the Alexander Pushkin Memorial Apartment on Arbat stands a bronze statue of a young couple. The monument depicts Russia's beloved poet Alexander Pushkin and his wife Natalia Goncharova; it was inaugurated on November 18, 1999 – the anniversary of their wedding. Right after the marriage in the nearby Church of the Grand Ascension in 1831, the newlyweds moved into this rented accommodation and lived here for three months before moving to Saint Petersburg. Despite their brief stay, the popularity of this place has been sufficient to make it a Pushkin museum complete with a monument erected outside.

Pushkin and Goncharova spend most of their life together in Saint Petersburg, where they had four children. Later, it was also there that Alexander Pushkin met his end at a duel with Georges d'Anthès, a French officer of the Chevalier Guard Regiment, who, according to rumors, courted Natalia thus causing Pushkin's anger. The poet was only 37.

A recognized beauty, Natalia Goncharova was 13 years younger than her husband, and was often described after his death, quite unjustly so, as a frivolous and windy, secular girl who caused many a trouble for Pushkin, ultimately pushing him to the fatal duel.

Still, the Arbat monument gives no hint of this tragic end and shows the bliss of an attractive couple in love. The work by sculptors A. and I. Burganov, it is considered to be one of the best monuments to the poet, successfully conveying a portrait resemblance of him and his wife. Their hands are all shiny from the many touches by visitors, who thus hope to get a good luck for their own love life. A common belief is that if you make a wish whilst rubbing Natalia’s right hand, the wish will certainly come true.