In a small square to the side of the pretty Voronezh Opera and Ballet Theatre is a statue of Russia's favourite poet - Aleksandr Pushkin. It was opened in 1999 on the 200th anniversary of the birth of the great poet. In form it comprises a bust of Pushkin on top of a column covered by a gazebo inscribed with the words "In centuries to come I shall be loved by the people, For having awakened noble thoughts with my lyre".