In October 1834, Emperor Nicholas I, visiting Kostroma, decided to allocate funds for the creation of two monuments in the cradle of the Romanov House: to Mikhail Fyodorovich at the Ipatiev Monastery and to Ivan Susanin at Catherine Square in the city center. The Academy of Arts announced a competition for the design of these monuments, in which V. Demut-Malinovsky, B. Orlovsky, and E. Goldberg participated. After reviewing the projects in 1838, Nicholas I changed his initial decision and commissioned V. Demut-Malinovsky to create a new design for the monument that would reflect the role of Tsar Mikhail Romanov and the feat of peasant Ivan Susanin.

The monument to Tsar Mikhail Fyodorovich and peasant Ivan Susanin was unveiled in Kostroma in 1851. It was located in the historical center of the city, at Susanin Square, but was destroyed after the October Revolution in two stages, in 1918 and 1928.

The monument consisted of a column made of red granite on a quadrangular pedestal, topped with a bust of the young Tsar Mikhail Fyodorovich in the Monomakh hat and a fur coat, with a gilded cross on his chest. In the upper part of the column, beneath the royal bust, was a double-headed eagle, the state emblem, and in the middle part was secured the "Pavlovsky" coat of arms of Kostroma province. At the base of the column was a kneeling figure of the praying Susanin, beside whom lay two charters granted to his descendants in the form of scrolls. The composition faced the Volga and the Trading Rows. On the front side of the granite-clad pedestal was a bas-relief depicting the scene of Susanin's murder by the Poles. On the back side of the pedestal, in golden letters, it read: "To Ivan Susanin, who laid down his life for the Tsar, the savior of faith and kingdom. Grateful descendants." The monument was surrounded by an elegant fence adorned with armor and spread-winged Nicholas eagles, and at the corners stood four cast-iron lantern posts.