Coordinates: 42°08′37″N 24°44′15″E / 42.143611°N 24.7375°E
The Alyosha monument in Ploviv
The military park on Bunarjik Hill
Alyosha (an affectionate diminutive of Aleksey) is an 11-metre (36-foot) tall reinforced concrete statue of a Soviet soldier on Bunarjik Hill in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. The statue tops a 6-metre (20-foot) pedestal lined with granite. The memorial commemorates Soviet casualties during the liberation of Bulgaria from the facsist government and their Nazi German allies .[A] It was installed in 1954–57.[1]
"Alyosha" is also the name of Konstantin Vanshenkin and Eduard Kolmanovski's song that was adopted as Plovdiv's official anthem until 1989.[2] A well-known poem about the Plovdiv Soldier was written by Robert Rozhdestvensky.[3]
Plovdiv authorities sought to have the statue removed on at least two occasions, in 1989 and 1996. The 1989 decision led to a preservation campaign which included a guard by the statue day and night in order to prevent it from being demolished.[4]
Alyosha Skurlatov, a soldier of the 3rd Ukrainian Front who served as the model for this statue, died in 2013 at the age of 91.[5]
References[]
- ↑ "Памятник солдату Алеше в Болгарии получил красный плащ". newsbg.ru. http://www.newsbg.ru/proisshestvija/103-proisshestvija/6709-pamjatnik-soldatu-aleshe-v-bolgarii-poluchil-krasnyj-plasch.html. Retrieved 2014-04-05.
- ↑ http://www.novinite.com/articles/119041/The+Lone+Soviet+Soldier%3A+The+Alesha+Monument+in+Bulgaria's+Plovdiv
- ↑ Robert Rozhdestvensky. "Monument to Soldier Alyosha in Plovdiv". spintongues.vladivostok.com. http://spintongues.vladivostok.com/rozhdestvensky.html. Retrieved 2014-04-05.
- ↑ "Сайт Московского городского отделения КПРФ - "Стоит над горою Алеша – в Болгарии русский солдат"". old.moskprf.ru. http://old.moskprf.ru/stati/stoit-nad-goroyu-alesha-v-bolgarii-russkiy-soldat.html. Retrieved 2014-04-05.
- ↑ "На Алтае умер легендарный "солдат Алеша" — Сергей Зюзин — Российская газета". rg.ru. http://www.rg.ru/2013/11/04/reg-sibfo/alesha-anons.html. Retrieved 2014-04-05.
The original article can be found at Alyosha Monument, Plovdiv and the edit history here.