Monument to Aviator ( Swede. Flygarmonumentet ) - a monument erected in honor of the Swedish aviators, pioneers of aeronautics who died on expeditions to the North Pole in 1898-1917.
| Monument | |
| Monument to Aviator | |
|---|---|
| Swede. Flygarmonumentet | |
 | |
| A country |  Sweden |
| Stockholm | |
| Sculptor | Carl milles |
| Founder | |
| Founding date | |
| Date of construction | 1931 |
| Height | 1.85 m |
| Material | bronze, diabase, marble |
Located in the center of the Swedish capital city of Stockholm on Karlaplan Square.
The author of the monument is the famous Swedish sculptor Carl Milles . Monument "Aviator" was installed in 1931 at the initiative of the Royal Swedish Aeroclub.
The monument is a sculpture of a large eagle with outstretched wings, about to take off. Height - 1.85 m, the width of the wingspan - almost a meter. On the basement, on which stands a bronze statue, are the reliefs of Icarus , aeronauts, the first combat airplanes and two informational tables. Inside the monument there is an urn in which the medals of all the dead Swedish pilots are placed. The base and pedestal are made of polished diabase , the information is on white marble , created in 1927-1931.
The opening of the monument took place on May 15, 1931. It was opened by Prince Charles of Sweden, Duke of Vestergötland .
Initially, the monument was conceived in order to perpetuate the memory of aviation pioneers, such as Andre Salomon , woman pilot Elsa Andersson, Knut Frenkel, Nils Strindberg. So that people remember them, remember their contribution to the development of the air force. Today, the stone eagle is perceived a little differently, rather as a tribute to the memory of all those who died in the sky. The monument has always been at the center of scandals.
After the monument was opened to an aviator, some believed that the monument was a tribute to Carl Milles' fascination with the ideas of Nazism . The outstretched wings and the rigid external fork of the eagle very much resembled the symbol of the National Socialist German Workers' Party . However, the author of the monument itself did not deny its admiration for Adolf Hitler . In one of the letters to his wife, he even expressed the hope that Hitler had enough health and strength to continue his “excellent” work.
In the 1940s, young Swedish Nazis used the monument as a meeting and gathering place. At this place they celebrated the Nazi holidays. At the same time, young socialists, protesting against the Nazis, covered a monument to graffiti , in the past, even the threat to set fire to the square was often heard. The Swedish Air Force used the monument as a venue for wreath-laying ceremonies.
The author of the monument in one of the interviews said: “We will never reach a universal understanding of history, with which absolutely everyone will agree. There will never be an agreement between history and memory, nationalists and Holocaust survivors. Therefore, an agreement will never be reached on what the monument actually symbolizes. ”
The author of the monument in one of the interviews noted:
“We will never reach a universal understanding of history, which absolutely everyone will agree with. There will never be an agreement between history and memory, nationalists and Holocaust survivors. Therefore, an agreement will never be reached on what the monument actually symbolizes. ”
During the construction of the Karlaplan subway station, the aamyatnik was dismantled and re-installed in its former place in 1967.