For centuries, wars have been going on in the world, soldiers are dying, giving their lives for their homeland, whose names very often remain unknown.
Out of respect for their feat, almost every country has Cenotaph, where those whose descendants do not know where their graves come to bow, who simply honor the memory of the soldiers who gave their lives for our peaceful life.
There are many such monuments in Russia, and the most famous one is Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is a memorial in Moscow near the Kremlin.
Important words are written there. Your name is unknown, your feat is immortal. There is an eternal flame burning.
They say that the first monument to the unknown soldier was erected in London, back in 1920, where the remains of those soldiers whose names could not be established were buried.
There are similar monuments in Bulgaria,
in Australia, in Argentina, in Italy, in the Crimea, in Lithuania. and other countries.
One of the famous monuments to the unknown Russian soldier who saved the German girl is this monument in Berlin in Treptow Park.
The first monument to the Unknown Soldier appeared in the middle of the 19th century. There may have been earlier, but no information has been preserved. This monument was erected in the Danish city of Fredericia in 1858 in memory of those killed during the Danish-Prussian war that took place nine years earlier. The monument bears the name of the Unknown Infantryman.
A little later in the USA a similar monument was opened in Biloxi. But a fairly large establishment of monuments of this direction took place in the 20s of the last century after the end of the First World War. In 1920, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers appeared in France and Great Britain when the bodies of unknown soldiers were buried. This ritual of memory was then adopted by many countries (Belgium, Italy, Portugal, etc.) and similar memorials were also opened at home.
In Russia a similar tradition began in 1919, when a memorial to the victims of both revolutions and the Civil War (1917-1922) was opened on the Field of Mars. The use of the Eternal Flame on such memorials originated in 1965 in Veliky Novgorod, when the reburial of unknown soldiers who fell in the battles of World War II was held there.
Most our famous monument-memorial to the Unknown Soldier, this is, of course, near Red Square. Opened on the 25th anniversary of the Victory, it became a symbol of heroism and exploits of soldiers who gave their lives in the name of Victory. For reference: Under this memorial, an unknown soldier from the Panfilov Rifle Division, who defended the approaches to Moscow at the station. Kryukovo.
My opinion that any monument dedicated to wars and military operations, whether it be a tank, a stella, a memorial plaque or a memorial sign, these are all monuments for the Unknown Soldier.
Practically in every settlement (and we are no exception) there are monuments with the names of the dead fellow villagers engraved, but these are only the names, because most of these people are Unknown Soldiers ... they still rest there - on the battlefields.
Yes, after the Great Patriotic War, there are such monuments in almost all cities where there is a memorial of glory, since there were so many victims on the eastern front that it was simply impossible to identify everyone. Therefore, in order to give memory of the wars of that war, on a comprehensive scale, such monuments were created.
This is how it looks in the city of Tiraspol, where I live, where it is located at the very end of the memorial, near the wall.
The Second World War for our country is still the most tragic and great event in our history. The memory of those who died during these years is immortalized in many monuments and monuments, which are located in all cities of Russia. A lot of unidentified soldiers were buried during the war. To honor their feat, a monument to the Unknown Soldier is erected on such graves. There is such a memorial in Moscow - in the Alexander Garden near
The meaning of such monuments
All over the world, monuments to those who died in the war are erected so that people remember what the soldiers gave their lives for. The graves of soldiers are often unmarked, and before they did not come to honor their memory. But after one of the bloodiest wars - the First World War - a tradition was formed to perpetuate the memory of such warriors in monuments. Usually they are installed at the burial site. So the descendants express their gratitude and respect to the soldiers who died in battle. The first monument to the Unknown Soldier was erected in 1920. Something similar was created in Russia at the same time, however, this memorial symbolized the memory of the heroes who died for the revolution.
History of the Monument to the Unknown Soldier
In the Soviet Union, large-scale celebrations of the victory in the Great Patriotic War began only in 1965. At that time, our capital, like many other cities, was given the status of a hero city, and May 9 became a national holiday. On the eve of the anniversary of the great battle for Moscow, the government of the country thought about how to create a monument that could perpetuate the feat of the defenders of the city. It was supposed to be a memorial of national importance. Therefore, they settled on erecting a monument to the unknown soldier.
Moscow was an ideal place for this, because thousands of soldiers died in the battles for the city, and a lot of them were not identified. A competition was announced for the creation of the monument. The project of the architect V. A. Klimov was recognized as the best. He believed that it should be necessarily located in the park so that a person could sit next to him and think. The best place for it was chosen near the Kremlin wall - a symbol of Russia's invincibility. And in 1966, work began on the monument. It was created by architects V.A. Klimov, D. I. Burdin, and Yu. R. Rabaev. The most famous writers and poets were involved in creating the inscription on the monument. The words of S. Mikhalkov were recognized as the best: "Your name is unknown, your feat is immortal." The grand opening of the monument took place on the eve of Victory Day in 1967. In subsequent years, it was repeatedly supplemented with new elements and restored. To this day, the Monument to the Unknown Soldier remains in the Great Patriotic War.
How was the burial of the ashes of a warrior
Before the creation of the memorial, they thought for a long time who to bury in the grave under the monument. After all, it must be an unidentified warrior who died in the battles for Moscow. And in 1966, forty kilometers from the city, in Zelenograd, a mass grave was discovered. A soldier was chosen in it, who was wearing a well-preserved uniform. Specialists guaranteed that he was not a deserter, otherwise he would not have been wearing a belt. This warrior could not have been a prisoner either, since there was no fascist occupation in this place. On December 2, the soldier was transferred to a coffin entwined with a St. George ribbon. A soldier's time was placed on the lid. Until the morning, young soldiers and veterans of the war stood next to him in the guard of honor. On the morning of December 3, the coffin was taken to Moscow along the Leningrad Highway as part of a funeral procession. In front of the Alexander Garden, the coffin was transferred to an artillery carriage. The entire procession was accompanied by a guard of honor, alongside, to the sounds of a funeral march, war veterans walked and carried unfurled battle banners.
How the monument was created
After the burial of the ashes of the unknown soldier - a month later - they began to create the memorial itself. At that time it did not look like it does now, then the composition was supplemented several times. At first, the memorial was, with the words of S. Mikhalkov, a tombstone over the grave and a bronze star with the Eternal Flame. A granite wall was made next to the monument, on which the names of all hero cities are immortalized. The opening of the monument took place in a solemn atmosphere: the national anthem was played and fireworks thundered. The Eternal Flame was also lit, which was brought from Leningrad. The memorial was supplemented in 1975 with a bronze composition - a soldier's helmet on an unfolded banner.
What is the monument now
Modern youth may not even answer what kind of monument it is and what its significance is. But this war still remains the Great Patriotic War for most people, and until now the monument to the unknown soldier is a place for laying wreaths on holidays, it is visited by foreign delegations. There are always people around him who came to honor the memory of the dead. Since 1997, Post No. 1 has been located next to the monument. The soldiers of the Presidential Regiment replace each other every hour. In 2009, the reconstruction of the complex began. At this time, the Eternal Flame was moved to Poklonnaya Gora, and after the opening of the renovated monument in 2010, it was returned back. During the restoration, a ten-meter stele was added to the memorial, perpetuating the memory of
Description of the monument to the unknown soldier
The memorial is located in the Alexander Garden under the Kremlin wall. Every person who comes to Moscow considers it his duty to visit the monument to the unknown soldier. His photo can be found in all books devoted to the Great Patriotic War, in newspapers and on the Internet. But it's still better to see it in reality. The composition is made of brilliant red granite and black labradorite. On the tombstone is a bronze soldier's helmet lying on an unfolded banner. In the center of a square of mirror-polished black stone is a bronze star. Eternal flame bursts out of it. On the right lies a low stele 10 meters long, on which the names of cities of military glory are engraved. And the memory of the cities of heroes is immortalized on a granite alley from
This memorial is known all over the world and is now one of the sights of Moscow. People come here not only on Victory Day, but simply to honor the memory of the fallen and pay tribute to the feat of the defenders of the Motherland.
- a monument-symbol in honor of the soldiers who died in battles. The first Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was built in Paris in memory of the victims of the First World War. The ceremony of its opening and lighting of the Eternal Flame took place on November 11, 1920. In Soviet Russia, the first memorial building in memory of the heroes who fell in armed struggle against enemies during the February and October revolutions and the Civil War was opened in the center of the Field of Mars in Petrograd (now St. Petersburg) on November 7, 1919 (since 1957 it has been burning Eternal flame).
The memory of the heroism of Soviet soldiers during the Great Patriotic War is immortalized by many memorial structures, including the graves of the Unknown Soldier in a number of cities across the country. In Moscow, the memorial Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was built in the Alexander Garden near the Kremlin wall. The ashes of the Unknown Soldier were brought here on the days of the 25th anniversary of the defeat of the Nazi troops near Moscow in 1966 from a mass grave from the 41st kilometer of the Leningradskoye Highway - the place of bloody battles.
On May 8, 1967, the memorial architectural ensemble "Tomb of the Unknown Soldier" was opened at this place and the Eternal Flame of Glory was lit, which breaks out from the middle of a bronze star placed in the center of a mirror-polished black square of labrador, framed by a platform of red granite. The torch was delivered from Leningrad, where it was lit from the Eternal Flame on the Field of Mars.
On the granite slab of the tombstone is inscribed: "Your name is unknown, your feat is immortal."
To the left of the tombstone is a wall of crimson quartzite with the inscription: "To those who fell for the Motherland. 1941-1945."
On the right - a granite alley, where blocks of dark red porphyry are located with capsules immured in them with the earth of hero cities: Leningrad (taken from the Piskarevsky cemetery), Kyiv (from the foot of the Obelisk to the participants in the defense of the city), Volgograd (from Mamaev Kurgan), Odessa (from the defense lines), Sevastopol (from the Malakhov Kurgan), Minsk, Kerch, Novorossiysk, Tula (the land was taken from the advanced defense lines of these cities) and the hero-fortress Brest (the land from the foot of the walls).
On each block there is the name of the city and a chased image of the Gold Star medal.
According to the order of Russian President Vladimir Putin, on the stone parapet near the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the word "Volgograd" was replaced with "Stalingrad".
Further from the alley of hero cities in honor of the cities of military glory, opened in 2010. The monument is a block about 10 meters long, made of red granite. There are inscriptions on it - "Cities of military glory" and a list of names of the cities themselves.
The tombstone of the grave-monument is crowned with a three-dimensional bronze composition - a soldier's helmet and a laurel branch lying on a battle banner (installed in 1975).
By decree of the President of the Russian Federation of December 8, 1997, a permanent guard of honor from the Presidential Regiment was established at the Eternal Flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow. According to the document, the changing of the guard at the post takes place daily every hour from 8 am to 8 pm. In exceptional cases, by decision of the head of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, the guard of honor may be posted at another time.
By decree of the President of Russia, in order to preserve the historical and cultural heritage of the peoples of the Russian Federation, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier memorial was given the status of a National Memorial of Military Glory. It was included in the State code of especially valuable objects of cultural heritage of the peoples of Russia.
In the same year, the reconstruction of the memorial began. In connection with the work, the Eternal Flame was moved to Poklonnaya Gora in Victory Park on December 27, 2009. On February 23, 2010, after the completion of repair work, it was returned to the Kremlin wall.
On May 8, 2010, the National Memorial of Military Glory was solemnly opened after reconstruction.
Wreaths and flowers are laid at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in memory of those who died for Russia on the battlefields. Here, heads of delegations of foreign states pay tribute to the heroes during their visits to Russia.
In recent years, a tradition has been born: in the early morning on Victory Day, at Post No. 1, veterans of the Patriotic War and young people gather for a memorial watch with lighted candles in their hands.
The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources
On December 3, 1966, the remains of the Unknown Soldier were buried near the Kremlin wall in Moscow.
He was buried in the globe of the earth,
And he was just a soldier
In total, friends, a simple soldier,
Without titles and awards.
The earth is like a mausoleum to him -
For a million centuries
And the Milky Ways are dusty
Around him from the sides.
Clouds sleep on the red slopes,
Snowstorms are sweeping,
Heavy thunder rumbles
The winds are taking off.
The battle is long over...
By the hands of all friends
The guy is put in the globe of the earth,
It's like being in a mausoleum...
This poem was written by a veteran poet Sergei Orlov in June 1944, many years before the tomb of the Unknown Soldier appeared in Moscow. However, the poet was able to express the main essence and meaning of what has become one of the greatest shrines of our Fatherland, personifying the memory of the fallen on the path to Victory.
Military trick of Nikolai Egorychev
The idea of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier first appeared in France after the end of the First World War, where they decided to honor the memory of all the fallen heroes of the Fatherland in this way. In the Soviet Union, a similar idea appeared 20 years after the Great Patriotic War, when May 9 was declared a day off, and state celebrations in honor of Victory Day became regular.
In December 1966, Moscow was preparing to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the battle under the walls of the capital. At the First Secretary of the Moscow City Party Committee Nikolay Egorychev the idea of creating a monument to ordinary soldiers who fell in the battle for Moscow appeared. Gradually, the head of the capital came to the conclusion that the monument should be dedicated not only to the heroes of the battle for Moscow, but also to all those who fell during the Great Patriotic War.
It was then that Yegorychev remembered the tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Paris. While he was thinking about the possibility of creating an analogue of this memorial in Moscow, he was approached by the head of government Alexey Kosygin. As it turned out, Kosygin was worried about the same question. He asked why there is a similar memorial in Poland, but not in the USSR?
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Paris. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
Enlisting the support of Kosygin, Yegorychev turned to the specialists who created the first sketches of the monument.
The final "go-ahead" was to be given by the leader of the country, Leonid Brezhnev. However, he did not like the original project. He considered that the Alexander Garden was not suitable for such a memorial, and suggested finding another place.
The problem was also that where the Eternal Flame is now located, there was an obelisk dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty, which then became a monument to revolutionary thinkers. To carry out the project, the obelisk had to be moved.
Egorychev turned out to be a decisive person - he carried out the transfer of the obelisk with his own power. Then, seeing that Brezhnev was not making a decision on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, he went for a tactical maneuver. Before the solemn meeting in the Kremlin on November 6, 1966, dedicated to the anniversary of the October Revolution, he placed all the sketches and models of the monument in the rest room of the Politburo members. When the members of the Politburo got acquainted with the project and approved it, Yegorychev actually put Brezhnev in a position where he could no longer refuse to give the go-ahead. As a result, the project of the Moscow tomb of the Unknown Soldier was approved.
The hero was found near Zelenograd
But there was one more important question - where to look for the remains of a fighter who was forever to become the Unknown Soldier?
Fate decided everything for Yegorychev. At that moment, during construction in Zelenograd near Moscow, workers stumbled upon a mass grave of soldiers who died in battles near Moscow.
Transfer of the ashes of the unknown soldier, Moscow, December 3, 1966. Photographer Boris Vdovenko, Commons.wikimedia.org
The requirements were strict, excluding any possibility of chance. The grave, chosen in order to take the ashes from it, was in a place where the Germans did not reach, which means that the soldiers definitely did not die in captivity. On one of the fighters, the uniform with the insignia of a private was well preserved - the Unknown Soldier was supposed to be a simple fighter. Another subtle point - the deceased should not have been a deserter or a person who committed another military crime, and was shot for him. But before the execution, the belt was removed from the criminal, and on the fighter from the grave near Zelenograd the belt was in place.
The chosen soldier had no documents and nothing that could indicate his identity - he fell like an unknown hero. Now he became the Unknown Soldier for the whole big country.
On December 2, 1966, at 2:30 p.m., the remains of a soldier were placed in a coffin, which had a military guard that changed every two hours. On December 3, at 11:45 a.m., the coffin was placed on a gun carriage, after which the procession headed for Moscow.
Thousands of Muscovites, who lined up along the streets along which the procession moved, saw off the Unknown Soldier on his last journey.
A funeral meeting was held on Manezhnaya Square, after which party leaders and Marshal Rokossovsky carried the coffin in their arms to the burial place. Under artillery salvos, the Unknown Soldier found peace in the Alexander Garden.
One for all
The architectural ensemble "Tomb of the Unknown Soldier", designed by architects Dmitry Burdin, Vladimir Klimov, Yuri Rabaev and sculptor Nicholas of Tomsk, was opened on May 8, 1967. The author of the famous epitaph "Your name is unknown, your feat is immortal" Sergei Mikhalkov.
On the opening day of the memorial, a fire was delivered to Moscow on an armored personnel carrier, lit in Leningrad from the memorial on the Field of Mars. He took over the solemn and mourning relay race of the torch, who handed it over to the head of the USSR Leonid Brezhnev. The Soviet General Secretary, himself a veteran of the war, lit the Eternal Flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
On December 12, 1997, by decree of the President of Russia, the guard of honor number 1 was installed at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
The eternal flame at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier was extinguished only once, in 2009, when the memorial was being reconstructed. At this time, the Eternal Flame was moved to Poklonnaya Hill, to the Museum of the Great Patriotic War. On February 23, 2010, after the reconstruction was completed, the Eternal Flame returned to its rightful place.
An unknown soldier will never have a first and last name. For all those whose loved ones fell on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, for all those who never found out where their brothers, fathers, grandfathers laid down their lives, the Unknown Soldier will forever remain that very dear person who sacrificed his life for the future of his descendants, for the future of their homeland.
He gave his life, he lost his name, but became native to everyone who lives and will live in our vast country.
Your name is unknown, your deed is immortal.
Oh great soldier! Will remember you
All living things from birth to feast,
You gave your health and life for the victory,
But he did not give the Fatherland to the Nazis!
From the site http://www.inpearls.ru/
Unknown Soldier.
In foreign lands, in squares and parks,
Where there were battles, near foreign mountains and rivers,
They stand - fallen in attacks,
They stand - resurrected forever!
Behind them are granite banners,
And on the hands and children, and flowers ..
And remember all the fallen by name,
They stand - like memory posts
And they will not leave either by day or by night,
They will not leave the post under the snow and rain! ..
Hold on Alyosha! The fight isn't over yet
Wait, Brother - we are coming to You!
Everything is more beautiful life in the countries they saved,
And everything is meaner than speech and wreaths ...
Just yesterday - loved and desired,
Already today - as if enemies! ..
Let memorable dates not be erased,
Crashing into the world with an alarming line!
They are standing, Soviet soldiers -
A. Skoryukov
France. Paris.
The first monument to the unknown soldier appeared in London in 1920. Typically, such monuments are placed on the grave, which contains the remains of a deceased soldier, whose identity is unknown and it is considered impossible to establish it. During the burial, numerous studies are carried out in order to make sure that the soldier really died in battle or died of wounds, was not a deserter or prisoner, belongs to the appropriate army, etc.
* * *
Here Alenka collects flowers. The best collected bouquet
And with a question, he runs up to his mother: “Mom, what is a monument?”
Mother and daughter walk along the park alley along the huge silent slabs,
And on them the wreaths are burning hot: "Hush, people, let the soldier sleep.
He went through a lot under the bullets so that the earth was in bloom again ... "
Inscriptions ... About what? - Read it to me, mom. - Listen, daughter, I will read to you: "We have not heard groans, screams for a long time.
A terrible war broke out
But times have no power over our great feat."
Silence fell on the granite slabs. The sun is a ray on every petal.
“Here is a soldier,” Alenka whispered, “he is holding a girl on his arm.
Mom, is this girl dead? - Not. - How was she saved?
He fell, covering her without a cry, the bullet did not reach her.
- Mom, is this uncle her dad?
No, he's not her father or brother.
He once gave his life for her. I only know that he is a soldier.
Bow, Alenka, to both of them, put a wreath at the foot.
He did not come from the battlefield then, but for us he did everything he could.
Miroslava Inshenina
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is a memorial architectural ensemble in Moscow, in the Alexander Garden, near the walls of the Kremlin.
Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Moscow. Alexander Garden.
On May 8, 1967, the memorial architectural ensemble "Tomb of the Unknown Soldier" was opened at the burial site, designed by architects D. I. Burdin, V. A. Klimov, Yu. R. Rabaev and sculptor N. V. Tomsky. The Eternal Flame was lit by L.I. Brezhnev, who accepted the torch from the Hero of the Soviet Union A.P. Maresyev. The eternal flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was lit from the fire on the Field of Mars.
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Reburial of the remains
Changing of the Guard
On October 24, 2014, the State Duma of the Russian Federation declared December 3 a memorable date in Russia - the Day of the Unknown Soldier. The date was established in honor of the memory of all the unknown soldiers who died during the Great Patriotic War and coincides with the day when the ashes of the unknown soldier were transferred from the mass grave at the 41st kilometer of the Leningradskoye Highway and solemnly buried in the Alexander Garden
The laying of wreaths.
Every year, on the days of remembrance dedicated to the Great Patriotic War, a wreath-laying ceremony is held at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, in which statesmen, delegations, heads of foreign states and governments, veterans of the Great Patriotic War, students of pre-university educational institutions of the Ministry of Defense take part. Traditionally, the memorial is place for tourists and honeymooners..jpg)
MONUMENT
It was in May, at dawn.
There was a battle at the walls of the Reichstag.
I noticed a German girl
Our soldier on the dusty pavement.
At the pillar, trembling, she stood,
There was fear in his blue eyes.
And pieces of whistling metal
Death and torment sowed around.
Then he remembered how saying goodbye in the summer
He kissed his daughter.
Maybe the girl's father
He shot his own daughter.
But then, in Berlin, under fire
A fighter crawled, and shielding his body
Girl in a short white dress
Carefully removed from the fire.
And, stroking with a gentle hand,
He dropped her to the ground.
They say that in the morning Marshal Konev
Stalin reported this.
How many children have their childhood returned
Gave joy and spring
Privates of the Soviet Army
The people who won the war!
And in Berlin, on a festive date,
Was erected to stand for centuries,
Monument to the Soviet soldier
With a rescued girl in her arms.
It stands as a symbol of our glory,
Like a beacon glowing in the dark.
It is he, the soldier of my state,
Protects peace throughout the earth.
G. Rublev
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia#.D0.9B.D0.B8.D1.86.D0.B5.D0.BD.D0.B7.D0.B8.D1.8F_.D1.82 .D0.B5.D0.BA.D1.81.D1.82.D0.BE.D0.B2_.D0.92.D0.B8.D0.BA.D0.B8.D0.BF.D0.B5.D0 .B4.D0.B8.D0.B8.2C_.D0.BC.D0.B5.D0.B4.D0.B8.D0.B0.D1.84.D0.B0.D0.B9.D0.BB.D0 .BE.D0.B2_.D0.BA_.D1.81.D1.82.D0.B0.D1.82.D1.8C.D1.8F.D0.BC_.D0.92.D0.B8.D0.BA .D0.B8.D0.BF.D0.B5.D0.B4.D0.B8.D0.B8
