In 1989, a monument to Vasily Makarovich Shukshin, an outstanding Russian actor, director, and writer, was unveiled in Barnaul. The opening of the monument was timed to coincide with the 60th anniversary of Shukshin's birth, who had already passed away by that time. Later, a granite pedestal was added to the monument. It is located in the center of a park on a street named after Shukshin, and since 2012, the park itself bears his name.

The creator of the monument was amateur sculptor Nikolai Zvonkow. Together with professional sculptors Vasily Rublev, Mikhail Kulgachev, and Sergey Bozhenko, he prepared the monument for casting in bronze over a year and a half. The details of the monument were cast for almost two months at the Transmash factory. In the summer of 1989, the assembly of the monument was completed, and since then, it has hosted the annual 'Shukshin Readings.'

The monument is included in the All-Russian catalog of sculptural works. Ten years later, Sergey Bozhenko published a book titled 'Reaching the Conscience, or How It Was in Barnaul,' where he presented his version of the story behind the creation of the monument.

Writer and screenwriter Alexander Segyen, who personally knew Shukshin, commented on the monument: 'The monument, created by Altai sculptors, is very good. It fully reflects the character of Makarych, a strong, sorrowful, restless man, with early wrinkles on his forehead and eyes that pierce through the spaces of life and history.'