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 h ...

, 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 Macedo ...

, 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 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, sites of two of the most important battles of the Russo-Turkish War of Liberation (the Battle of Stara Zagora 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 (18 ...

), a sculpture of a

lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large 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 dimorphic; adu ...

(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 *A ...

, as well as a stone inscription of a stanza (part of ''The New Graveyard Above Slivnitsa'' 1885 poem) by the national writer Ivan Vazov: Unknown-soldier-sofia-3-lion

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 {{bulgaria-struct-stub