In the centre of Tian'anmen Sq rises the 40m-high Monument to the People’s Heroes, an obelisk of Qingdao granite completed in 1958 (though it was commissioned in 1949). On its sides are bas-relief carvings of patriotic and revolutionary events – mostly those depicting the struggle against foreign humiliations since the Opium Wars. An inscription in Mao's calligraphy reads: 'The people's heroes will be remembered eternally'.
During the 1989 Tian'anmen pro-democracy demonstrations, it served as ground zero for the student protesters.