Poklonnaja Mountain - A Significant War Memorial

The establishment of the Poklonnaja Mountain in Moscow took place on 23 February 1958, and the granite sign reads: “Here there will be a monument to the Victory of Soviet people in Great Patriotic War”. The opening of the Memorial of Victory was held on 9 May 1995. The war memorial was completed in three years, after raising 194 million roubles and allocating 135 hectares to the project. The construction of Poklonnaja Mountain was supervised by L.M. Luzhkov, the Major of Moscow. The Poklannaja Mountain, as the granite sign indicates, was resurrected in the memory of the soldiers and civilians that gave and lost their lives in the Great Patriotic War.

The name Great Patriotic War was given by the Russians to describe the war that started in 1941 and ended in 1945, otherwise known as World War II. While the Nazi’s fought on many fronts, the Russian states made up the Eastern Front of World War II. The Great Patriotic War took the lives of 25 million, and the Soviet army was involved in six major battles and approximately 40 offensives. Their effort and dedication assisted greatly in defeating the enemy and bringing the Nazi regime to its knees. Many monuments such as Poklonnaja Mountain pay tribute to the Soviet soldiers that fought the war, and to families that lost their loved ones one the battlefields.

The Stele of the Poklonnaja Mountain stands at a height of 122 meters and is held down by a 25 ton figure of the Goddess of Victory, Nike. She holds a laurel wreath and is flanked by two trumpet sounding Glories. Nike represented Victory in Ancient Greek, and is therefore symbolic to the Soviet victory in the war. Around the granite sign, trees were planted and the area surrounded by the trees was named Victory Park. Within Victory Park is the Central Museum which exhibits approximately 50 000 items of military history, and on Winners Square is a tall obelisk that symbolizes that duration and length of the Patriotic War.

The Poklonnaja Mountain is the most significant memorial that was erected in honor and in memory of the war and countless lives that were lost. Many tourists climb the mountain for its spectacular view point, but visitors should never forget the reason it stands there today.


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