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In the back yard of the Russian ambassador's home in Washington stands a 10-foot tall, black-and-white granite pyramid.

It is a prototype for a 23-foot version that an S.F.-based nonprofit wants to build in several cities around the world, including San Francisco.

The pyramid is a monument to people who helped save Jews during the Holocaust.

"I cannot use the term 'Righteous Gentiles' because many Jewish people were righteous too," said Leonid Nakhodkin, founder and president of the United Humanitarian Mission, the group that wants to build the monuments.

"We call them the righteous of the world."

Nakhodkin, a Jewish immigrant from Ukraine, was a political prisoner in the Soviet Union in the 1980s. Now a San Francisco resident, he started the "To the Righteous of the World" project 2-1/2 years ago and is slowly but surely progressing toward his goal of getting the monuments built.

Two huge steps in the process, he said, were recently completed: finishing the prototype and displaying it in Washington.

Also, Nakhodkin said he has promises from government officials in Germany and Denmark to build monuments there. He is also talking to Russians about building one in Moscow.

Regardless of where they are built, he said, all of the monuments will follow a similar design. Each one will cost about $200,000.

The scale model currently on the grounds of the Russian ambassador's residence was unveiled in conjunction with an art exhibit called "The Courage of Truth."

At the exhibit's opening, few were more bowled over by their emotions than Nakhodkin, who was jailed from 1983 to 1988 for attempting to promote Jewish culture in the Soviet Union.

Although it's in the back yard, Nakhodkin said, the prototype can be seen from the street. The exhibit closed March 3, but the prototype remains on display.

The pyramid's designer is Mihail Chemiakin, a Russian-born artist and sculptor whose evocative, often gargoyle-like characters have earned him worldwide acclaim. The son of a Red Army colonel, he was exiled from the Soviet Union in 1971 and now lives in New York.

His pyramid, which took a year to complete, is topped with a representation of the Western Wall made out of Jerusalem sandstone.

Its tiers represent the hard, difficult steps "the righteous of the world" had to take to reach the apex. The black-and-white granite indicates the dark and bright side of humanity, Nakhodkin said.

According to a brochure, the monument is not dedicated to specific individuals, but to all righteous persons throughout history, especially to those who helped save Jews from Nazi persecution during World War II.

When he started the project, Nakhodkin envisioned the monument in San Francisco sitting in or near United Nations Plaza in the Civic Center area.

Now, he said, city officials are suggesting two other sites: near the War Memorial Performing Arts Center or on the grounds of the Palace of the Legion of Honor.

"It is only the start of the negotiations," Nakhodkin said. "But I am sure it'll happen because people support us, all people."

Nakhodkin said San Francisco philanthropist Richard Goldman talked him out of the U.N. Plaza because the site wouldn't be appropriate for a pyramid measuring 52-by-52 feet at the base and 23 feet at its apex.

"When I began thinking about the monument, I didn't know that Mihail Chemiakin would create such a big monument," Nakhodkin said.

Moreover, as it is planned, the monument will be surrounded by a wall made of "Jewish stones" from Russia's Ural Mountains. Nakhodkin said the stones have markings that resemble Hebrew letters. "It's amazing," he said. "People can't believe it when they see it."

On that wall, Nakhodkin said the names of "the righteous of the world" will be inscribed.

Nakhodkin said he particularly wants to build a monument in San Francisco because it is where the United Nations began in the 1940s.

Most of the money that he has raised so far went to pay the artist and cover the costs of the prototype. Although he has collected little money toward building the monuments themselves, Nakhodkin asserts that fund-raising will go smoothly once locations are secured.

"We are looking for money, but we cannot raise it until we have a place," Nakhodkin said. "Receiving permission in San Francisco for the monument will be a more difficult process than finding enough money."