In 1977, the first monument to Yuri Gagarin, the outstanding Soviet cosmonaut, was installed in Rostov-on-Don. The monument is in the form of a bust set on a marble pedestal, and its author is the sculptor Lev Kerbel.

The appearance of the monument in the southern capital of Russia is not accidental: in June 1967, Gagarin visited Rostov and the village of Veshenskaya. The opening of the monument was timed to the 10th anniversary of this visit.