The Monument to the Unknown Soldier ( bg, Паметник на Незнайния воин, ''Pametnik na Neznayniya voin'') is a monument in the centre of
Sofia
Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...
, the capital of
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...
, located just next to the 6th-century
Church of St Sophia, on 2 Paris Street. The monument commemorates the hundreds of thousands of Bulgarian soldiers who died in wars defending their homeland. Ceremonies involving the
President of Bulgaria
The president of the Republic of Bulgaria is the head of state
A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or ...
and foreign state leaders are often performed here.
The monument was designed by architect Nikola Nikolov and opened on September 22, 1981, the
1300th anniversary of establishment of the
Bulgarian state.
Sofia News Agency, "Sofia City Hall Guards Unknown Soldier Monument", May 4, 2010
Retrieved December 7, 2011
The Monument to the Unknown Soldier features an eternal flame
An eternal flame is a flame, lamp or torch that burns for an indefinite time. Most eternal flames are ignited and tended intentionally, but some are natural phenomena caused by natural gas leaks, peat fires and coal seam fires, all of which can ...
, turf from Stara Zagora
Stara Zagora ( bg, Стара Загора, ) is the sixth-largest city in Bulgaria, and the administrative capital of the homonymous Stara Zagora Province.
Name
The name comes from the Slavic root ''star'' ("old") and the name of the medieva ...
and Shipka Pass
Shipka Pass ( bg, Шипченски проход, ) (el. 1150 m./3820 ft.) is a scenic mountain pass through the Balkan Mountains in Bulgaria. It marks the border between Stara Zagora province and Gabrovo province. The pass connects the ...
, sites of two of the most important battles of the Russo-Turkish War of Liberation (the Battle of Stara Zagora
Stara Zagora ( bg, Стара Загора, ) is the sixth-largest city in Bulgaria, and the administrative capital of the homonymous Stara Zagora Province.
Name
The name comes from the Slavic root ''star'' ("old") and the name of the medieval ...
and the Battle of Shipka Pass
The Battle of Shipka Pass consisted of four battles that were fought between the Russian Empire, aided by Bulgarian volunteers known as opalchentsi, and the Ottoman Empire for control over the vital Shipka Pass during the Russo-Turkish War (1877 ...
), a sculpture of a lion
The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphi ...
(a national symbol of Bulgaria) by the noted sculptor Andrey Nikolov
Andrey, Andrej or Andrei (in Cyrillic script: Андрей, Андреј or Андрэй) is a form of Andreas/Ἀνδρέας in Slavic languages and Romanian. People with the name include:
*Andrei of Polotsk ( – 1399), Lithuanian nobleman
*An ...
, as well as a stone inscription of a stanza (part of ''The New Graveyard Above Slivnitsa'' 1885 poem) by the national writer Ivan Vazov
Ivan Minchov Vazov ( bg, Иван Минчов Вазов; – 22 September 1921) was a Bulgarian poet, novelist and playwright, often referred to as "the Patriarch of Bulgarian literature". He was born in Sopot, a town in the Rose Valley of ...
:
After the end of the First World War, a group of Bulgarians proposed building the monument. However, strong opposition to the building of this monument arose. Some Bulgarian intellectuals argued that a monument of an unknown soldier is unacceptable since it would imply that the names of the soldiers have been forgotten. "Not a single soldier shall be forgotten who gave his life in this war and in all other wars for the freedom of Bulgaria!".
The monument was designed but was not displayed because of the above-mentioned arguments. The lion itself was considered an abuse for a long time because it was sitting. The pose was considered a metaphor of surrender to the national ideas.
References
Buildings and structures in Sofia
Monuments and memorials in Bulgaria
Tourist attractions in Sofia
1981 sculptures
Tombs of Unknown Soldiers
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