When Leo Tolstoy imagined the plot of "War and Peace", he visited Borodino fields, a place of that famous of 1812 war with Napoleon. He lived in a nearby monastery for a few days, He was walking around, drawing, reсreating every move of every division of both armies. He wanted to describe the war, and the Borodino battle, as it was never done before in a literature. So this is it, the Borodino field. The place where over 100 000 died in a day is now peaceful and green countryside and the world's oldest open-air museum dedicated to a single battle. There are about 50 memorials spread across 110 sq kilometers.

P.S. Did you know that "War and Peace" is actually a wrong translation? It should read "War and World". In old Russian language, "мир" (peace) and "мir" (world) were two different words. When lettera "i" was eliminated by Bolsheviks justs after the Revolution, Peace and World have merged into one word, "мир". The original wording by Tolstoy, was of course "World" as the subject he was willing to explore was the damange any war does to the World, countries and people.

This monument near Shevardino redoubt was made in 1913 on the site of Napoleon’s command post on the day of the Battle of Borodino. It was created in France and financed by ordinary French people on subsription. With the consent of the Russian government. it was brought to Borodino in memory of all the Napoleonic soldiers, officers and generals who were killed at Borodino on September 5-7 1812. It reads Aux Morts de la Grande Armee - "To the Dead of Great Army" .