The Alyosha Monument, Plovdiv's Soldier on Bunardzhik Hill
The Alyosha Monument is a Soviet soldier more than ten metres tall on top of Bunardzhik Hill in Plovdiv, raised on a pedestal about six metres high. Opened in 1957, it commemorates Soviet soldiers who died in the Second World War and can be seen from almost anywhere in the city. A wide stairway of a hundred steps leads up to its viewing platform.
The face of this giant soldier belongs to a real sergeant who once repaired a phone line near Plovdiv. In 1989 the city's residents stood guard day and night to keep him standing.
The history of the Alyosha Monument
The idea of a monument to Soviet soldiers on Bunardzhik Hill dates from 1948. On 9 May of that year a city-wide initiative committee was formed, headed by the commander of the Plovdiv garrison, General Asen Grekov, and a symbolic foundation stone was laid the same day. A year later a nationwide design competition drew ten teams. The jury shortlisted two projects, “Red Bogatyr” and “Victory”, and in 1950 it chose the first, by a team led by the sculptor Vasil Radoslavov.
A full-size test model on the hilltop revealed a flaw: the three elements of the original plan blended into one another against the sky and the composition lost its force. The authors therefore kept only the soldier, and the revised design was approved in June 1950. The statue was installed between 1954 and 1957, to plans by the architects Boris Markov, Nikolay Marangozov and Petar Tsvetkov, with several sculptors involved. It stands on a pedestal about six metres high, lined with stone and decorated with two reliefs, and it was unveiled on 5 November 1957 with an inscription glorifying the Soviet army as liberator.
The soldier has a real prototype. Sources name him as Aleksey Ivanovich Skurlatov, a sergeant who served on the 3rd Ukrainian Front. In 1944 he repaired the phone line between Plovdiv and Sofia, and in Plovdiv he became friends with Metodi Vitanov, a phone-exchange worker and member of the Bulgarian resistance. Vitanov passed a photograph of him to the sculptor, who modelled the statue on it. Skurlatov travelled to Plovdiv in 2007 for the monument's fiftieth anniversary and died in 2013, aged 91.
The monument also entered popular culture. In 1966 the poet Konstantin Vanshenkin and the composer Eduard Kolmanovsky wrote a song called “Alyosha”, which served as the official anthem of Plovdiv until 1989, and the poet Robert Rozhdestvensky dedicated a well-known poem to the soldier. In 2007 an anniversary stamp was issued in a small print run.
After 1989 the statue became a subject of political dispute. The city council tried to remove it in 1989, which prompted a preservation campaign with residents standing guard day and night, and again in 1996. A court overturned the second decision, and the Supreme Court ruled that it is a monument of the Second World War and cannot be demolished. In 2013 the statue was dressed in a long red cape in a protest action, and it has been defaced more than once since.
Curious facts about the Alyosha Monument
- “Alyosha” is an affectionate diminutive of the name Aleksey, which is why a statue of an unnamed soldier carries a first name.
- According to the Bulgarian Wikipedia, the soldier's head weighs about seven tons and his submachine gun about two tons.
- The designers dropped two of the three planned elements after a test model showed they merged into one another against the sky.
- During the 1989 campaign to save the statue, local women are said to have made a giant martenitsa of red and white thread for its neck.
- A stamp showing a stylised image of the monument was validated at the Balabanov House in Plovdiv on 5 November 2007.
- The soldier stands in the middle of a large viewing platform and can be seen from almost anywhere in the city.
Tours near Alyosha Monument
Experiences in the area that you can book online with Viator:
Food Walk: Bulgarian Food and Culture Tour in Plovdiv
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Plovdiv, Asen's Fortress and Bachkovo Monastery small group tour with pickup
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E-Motorcycle Tour in Rhodope Mountains to a Beautiful Canyon View
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Plovdiv Full-Day Small-Group Tour from Sofia with Pickup
See details ›Visiting the Alyosha Monument: what to expect
- The monument stands in the middle of a large viewing platform on top of Bunardzhik Hill, reached by a wide stairway of a hundred steps.
- Look at the two reliefs on the pedestal, “The Soviet Army Strikes the Enemy” and “The People Greet the Soviet Soldiers”, and at the inscription on the stone.
- Because the hill is high, the platform gives a broad view over Plovdiv, and the statue itself is visible from most of the city.
- The Roman stadium, the Bishop's Basilica, the Dzhumaya Mosque and Nebet Tepe are all about a kilometre away, so the hill fits easily into a walking day in the city.
- The monument is a memorial to Soviet war dead and a debated piece of 20th-century history; treat it with the usual respect shown at a memorial.
Opening hours, access and conditions can change. Check before you go.
Map: where Alyosha Monument is
Photos of Alyosha Monument
Questions
What is the Alyosha Monument in Plovdiv?
It is a statue of a Soviet soldier, more than ten metres tall, on a pedestal on Bunardzhik Hill. It commemorates Soviet casualties of the Second World War and was unveiled on 5 November 1957.
Where is the Alyosha Monument?
It stands on Bunardzhik Hill in the city of Plovdiv in southern Bulgaria, and can be seen from almost anywhere in the city.
Who was the model for Alyosha?
Sources name Aleksey Ivanovich Skurlatov, a Soviet sergeant of the 3rd Ukrainian Front, as the prototype. A photograph of him was given to the sculptor Vasil Radoslavov.
Why is the Alyosha Monument controversial?
Some residents have seen it as a symbol of the Soviet era, and the city council tried to remove it in 1989 and 1996. Other residents defended it, and the Supreme Court ruled that it is a Second World War monument that cannot be demolished.
How many steps lead up to the Alyosha Monument?
A wide stairway of a hundred steps leads up to the monument and its viewing platform.
What else is worth seeing near the Alyosha Monument?
The Roman stadium, the Bishop's Basilica of Philippopolis, the Dzhumaya Mosque and Nebet Tepe all lie about a kilometre away in Plovdiv.
Also nearby
Plovdiv Roman Stadium
Plovdiv · a 30,000-seat Roman stadium under the main street
950 m away
Dzhumaya Mosque
Plovdiv · early Ottoman mosque with a disputed birth date
1 km away
Bishop's Basilica of Philippopolis
Plovdiv · giant 4th-century church with exotic-bird mosaics
1.5 km away
Nebet Tepe
Plovdiv · prehistoric hill fortress with a secret Roman tunnel
1.5 km away