The monument to the outstanding entrepreneur Ivan Kharitonenko, established in 1996, in sum, is located on one of Central squares of the city – Pokrovskaya. Successful Sumy philanthropist and sugar manufacturer, was one of the richest people in the Russian Empire 19 article I. Kharitonenko influenced the development of Sum - him and his descendants in the city were built educational institutions, hospitals and other infrastructure.

The monument is surrounded by curly iron lamps, connected by a massive chain. Reference railings and plinth lights decorated with coats of arms of the city. This is not the first pedestal, established in honor of the Kharitonenko sugar at this place. The first monument was designed by A. Opekushin, who is the author of the monument to Mikhail Lermontov in Pyatigorsk and A. Pushkin in Moscow. In addition to his creation of the monument was also attended by French sculptor A. Croisy, the authorship of which belongs marble gravestones on the graves of family Kharitonenko at the Central city cemetery Sums. Under his supervision were cast and the bronze figure I. Kharitonenko.

The monument was created by voluntary contributions of the inhabitants of the city. It opened on October 1, 1899, On the face of the monument was placed a bronze plaque with the inscription "Ivan Gerasimovich Kharitonenko 1899".

In the 1920s, with the advent of Soviet power to Sumy region, a monument to Charitonenko destroyed, but instead was a set figure of the "leader of the proletariat Vladimir Lenin. In 1991, the sculpture of Vladimir Lenin was demolished. A study of cultural development in Sumy city Executive Committee, it was decided to restore the monument to Sumy patron. Native the pedestal I. Kharitonenko back in 1997, the Sculpture of Ivan Gerasimovich was recreated by local sculptor Anatoly Abramovich Ivchenko.

Today the monument to I. Kharitonenko is a vivid reminder of the person, a noble cause which has experienced times of forgetfulness and was revived in the memory of grateful descendants.