In 2007, a monument to Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, the founder of the city, was erected in Rostov-on-Don. On December 15, 1749, she issued a decree to establish the Temernik Customs, marking the beginning of the history of this part of Russia. For a long time, Rostov-on-Don was a fortress, and in 1811 it received city status, although the fortress existed until 1835.

After the restoration of the Old-Pokrovsky Church, it was decided to install a monument to the founder of the city. In 2006, a competition for the monument project of Elizabeth Petrovna was announced. The discussion lasted about six months, and six works were submitted to the Don Public Library. The winner was the project of the famous sculptor Sergey Oleshny. Ultimately, the authors of the monument were sculptors Sergey Oleshny and Anatoly Dementyev, as well as architect Vladimir Fomenko. For this work, Oleshny received a Gold Medal from the Academy of Arts.

The creation of the monument took only five months, including modeling, molding, and casting. Seventy people participated in the project. The sculptors studied numerous portraits of the empress, the fashion, and the style of jewelry of that time to accurately recreate her likeness. During the work, they ordered earrings and a crown from jeweler Alexander Ordynsky, who reproduced exact copies of Elizabeth's jewelry. Initially, they were made of plasticine, then cast in bronze. The monument is adorned with bas-reliefs depicting Archbishop Arseny, Ataman Danila Efremov, engineer Rigelman, and Major General Somov.

The bronze figure of Elizabeth Petrovna points with one hand to the site of the future fortress, while holding the decree for its construction in the other. The height of the monument exceeds 7 meters: the sculpture is 3.5 meters, and the pedestal is 3.7 meters. The bronze figure, bas-reliefs, and decorations weigh about 3 tons, while the granite pedestal weighs about 50 tons.