In Minin and Pozharsky Square, opposite the Dmitrovskaya Tower of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin, stands a monument to Kuzma Minin, a Russian national hero. With outstanding energy and oratory talent, he organized fundraising among his fellow citizens to fight for the liberation of the Motherland and became one of the leaders of the Zemsky Militia in 1611-1612, when the Russian people opposed the Polish intervention.

The monument's project was created by sculptor Alexander Ivanovich Kolobov, a member of the Union of Soviet Artists. During the Great Patriotic War, a competition was announced in Gorky (now Nizhny Novgorod) for sketches of the Kuzma Minin monument. Kolobov, having his own workshop, immediately began working, ahead of other artists who were still developing sketches.

The monument to the liberator-hero was created over several months and was solemnly opened on November 7, 1943, in a square renamed in honor of this event to Minin and Pozharsky Square. This was the first monument erected during the war years.

The figure of Kuzma Minin was made of concrete and painted to look like bronze, as all metal during the war was used for front needs. Due to the material's lack of durability, the monument was dismantled in the summer of 1985 and sent for reconstruction to Balakhna, the presumed homeland of the hero.

On June 1, 1989, a new monument was installed in place of the old one, created by Soviet sculptor O.K. Komov and architects E.I. Kutirev, V.V. Voronkov, and N.I. Komova. The old monument, after reconstruction, was placed in Soviet Square in Balakhna.

The new monument features a pedestal made of red granite with a bronze figure of Kuzma Minin. He is depicted with his left hand raised, symbolically calling for the fight against the invaders. The pedestal is adorned with a bronze plaque inscribed: "To the great patriot of the Russian land Kuzma Minin."