One of the symbols of pre-revolutionary Rostov-on-Don was the monument to Catherine II, erected in 1894 and destroyed by the Bolsheviks in 1920.

The initiator of the monument's installation was Yakov Khlitchiev, who in 1873, as the head of the Nakhichevan City Duma, proposed this idea. He was supported, and it was planned to install the monument in 1879, for the centenary of the city's founding, but the necessary funds could not be raised at that time. The idea was revisited in 1883 thanks to the new city head Minas Ilyich Balabanov, who organized fundraising among the Armenian diaspora. 30,000 rubles were collected, and preparations for the monument's creation began.

As a result of a competition in St. Petersburg, the project was authored by the father and son Chizhovs. In 1892, all details of the monument were finally approved, and the sculptors began work. The bronze statue was cast in St. Petersburg and delivered to Nakhichevan by train. On September 18, 1894, a solemn ceremony for the monument's opening took place in Sobornaya Square, after which the square was renamed Catherine Square.

The monument stood until 1917, after which it was removed by the Bolsheviks, but the White Cossacks, who liberated the city, returned it to its place. After the final arrival of Soviet power in 1920, the monument was demolished and melted down along with other sculptures from the Don region. In 1925, a monument to Karl Marx was installed on the empty pedestal. In 1942, after the Germans arrived, the Cossacks destroyed the monument to the communist ideologist, but it was restored in 1959.

In the late 1990s, representatives of the local Armenian diaspora proposed to restore the monument to Catherine II at its original location, but the local administration did not support this initiative. The question of moving the monument to Karl Marx and restoring the monument to Catherine II was actively discussed again in 2005, when the monument to Kirov was relocated in Rostov. According to a 2009 project, the restoration of the monument was estimated to cost 11 million rubles. The Armenian community was ready to cover all expenses, but the communists continue to oppose the restoration of the monuments destroyed by their power.