On September 4, 2014, a monument to Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol was unveiled in the Tsiolkovsky Park of Kaluga, replacing a previously installed bas-relief created by Ekaterina Dmitrievna Nikiforova-Kirpichnikova. The new bronze sculpture was made by Alexander Smirnov. The initiative to install the monument came from the People's Artist of the RSFSR Valery Zolotukhin. He proposed to immortalize Gogol's memory in Kaluga, purchased the sculpture with his own funds, and donated it to the Kaluga Museum of Fine Arts. The ceremonial opening of the monument was organized by the museum staff, who collected donations and obtained permission for the installation from the local mayor's office.

The Gogol monument appeared in Kaluga not by chance. In the 19th century, there was a wing of the Governor's dacha here, where the famous Russian writer visited three times. Nikolai Vasilyevich was on friendly terms with Alexandra Osipovna Smirnova, the wife of the Kaluga governor Nikolai Mikhailovich Smirnov, and he gladly came to Kaluga, where he was always warmly welcomed. He visited the city in 1849, 1850, and 1851. During his first visit, Gogol was working on the second volume of 'Dead Souls.' Although the house has not survived and is now the site of the State Museum of the History of Cosmonautics, the connection between Gogol and Kaluga remains significant, and the residents of the city take pride in the writer's visits.