Alyosha (monument, Plovdiv)

The monument is an 11.5-meter reinforced concrete sculpture of a Soviet soldier looking east. In his hand - PCA , directed to the ground.

Sculptors : Vasil Radoslavov, Lyubomir Dalchev, Todor Bosilkov and Alexander Kovachev; architects N. Marangozov and others. The monument was erected in 1954, opened on November 5, 1957.

The sculpture is erected on a 6-meter pedestal, lined with syenite and granite . The pedestal is decorated with bas-reliefs “The Soviet Army Beats the Enemy” (author Georgy Kotsev) and “The People Meet Soviet Warriors” (author Alexander Zankov ).

A wide staircase of one hundred steps leads to the monument, standing in the middle of a large observation deck (the authors of the architectural-planning solution are Boris Markov, Nikolai Marangozov, Peter Tsvetkov). The monument can be seen from almost anywhere in the city.

The idea to build a monument on the Bunardzhik hill in honor of the Soviet soldiers-liberators was born among the inhabitants of Plovdiv in 1948. The initiative came entirely from below, from the people, without any recommendation from above. On May 9, 1948, the Citywide Initiative Committee for the Construction of the Monument to Soviet Soldiers was created, which included public figures, architects, artists, writers and teachers. It was headed by the head of the Plovdiv military garrison, General Asen Grekov. On the same day, a symbolic laying of the base of the monument was made.

A year later, the all-Bulgarian contest of monument projects was announced, in which ten creative teams took part. The commission settled on two options: “Red Athlete” and “Victory”, the authors of which were given a year for revision. In 1950, the commission opted for the Red Bogatyr project, created by a team led by Vasil Radoslavov. When erecting a model on the site of the future monument, certain shortcomings were revealed. According to the authors, the monument was supposed to consist of three elements, however, against the sky they merged, and the composition lost its beauty. Therefore, it was decided to leave only the warrior. In June 1950, this option was approved.

The prototype of the monument is the ordinary consolidated company of the 3rd Ukrainian Front Aleksey Ivanovich Skurlatov , a former shooter of the 10th separate ski battalion of 922 rifle regiment, who was transferred to signalmen because of a serious wound. In 1944, he restored the telephone line Plovdiv - Sofia . In Plovdiv, Aleksey Ivanovich made friends with a telephone exchange worker, Metodi Vitanov, a member of the Bulgarian Resistance. Methodi Vitanov handed the photograph of Alexei to the sculptor Vasil Rodoslavov, and he created a monument based on this image ^[1] .

The first attempt to demolish the monument "as a symbol of the Soviet occupation" was made by the Plovdiv Community Council in 1989. However, residents of Plovdiv organized measures to protect the monument, including round-the-clock duty at "Alyosha"; local women wove a giant martenitsa , a symbol of health and longevity, around the neck of the "Russian soldier" of red and white threads ^[1] .

The next attempt was made in 1993, when the mayor (kmet) of Plovdiv decided to dismantle the monument. Dozens of Bulgarian public organizations opposed this decision, and a group of Russian veterans living in Bulgaria even threatened with an act of public self-immolation if the monument was destroyed.

In 1996, the Plovdiv Community Council again decided to demolish the monument. This decision was quashed by the district court. The final point was set in the same year by the Supreme Court of Bulgaria, which ruled that the monument is a monument of the Second World War and cannot be destroyed.

In 1966, the poet Konstantin Vanshenkin and composer Eduard Kolmanovsky wrote a song dedicated to the Plovdiv monument, which was called “Alyosha” . Until 1989, this song was the official anthem of the city of Plovdiv.

The poet Robert Rozhdestvensky also dedicated his poems to the monument - “Monument to the soldier Alyosha in Plovdiv”.

On November 5, 2007 in Plovdiv, a solemn ceremony dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the creation of the monument "Alyosha" took place. On this occasion, a jubilee stamp was issued in a small edition of 650 copies and a postal card . The stamp and card were redeemed with a special stamp . The cancellation ceremony was attended by the chairman of the State Agency for Information Technology and Communications Plamen Vachkov and the head of the Plovdiv administration Todor Petkov.

• Alyosha (song)

• Monument to the Soviet Army (Sofia)
• List of monuments to Russians in Bulgaria
• Alyosha (monument, Murmansk)
• Liberator warrior

• Pavlova T. Alyosha // Communist. - May 7, 2007
• Teplyakov S. Bulgarian Alyosha lives in Altai // Izvestia. - April 18, 2007
• Syromyatnikov A. The award found a veteran - the prototype of "Alyosha" after 70 years // KP. - August 20, 2012

• 250 Bobruisk Red Banner Order of Suvorov, II degree, Infantry Division
• Pokrov D. History of Alyosha
• Robert Christmas. Monument to soldier Alyosha in Plovdiv
• Stands over the Alyosha River
• Validiraha Poschenska brand "Alosha" (video) (inaccessible link) (Bulgarian)
• Anniversary of Poschenska brand "Alosha" in Plovdiv (inaccessible link) (Bulgarian)
• 1000 said "Happy Birthday, Alyosha" (Bulgarian)
• “Let the monument stand, but I'll take a walk!”