Location: Moskovskaya Square
Stela "City of Military Glory" was built in October- December 2011 to commemorate federal award of the honorary title of "City of Military Glory". It marked bravery residents of Tver showed during various battles in Russian history. Granite Doric column is headed by two- headed eagle, coat of arms of Russia. It measures 11 meters in height and diameter of 0.85 meters. Pylons are placed in corners of Mosckovskaya Square marking battles that were marked by the federal award. This includes battle of Bortenevo in 1317 when residents of Tver under leadership of Prince Michael of Tver defeated Mongol invaders for the first time. Other notable military achievements include liberation of Tver from Polish- Lithuanian invaders in the early 17th century, Patriotic War of 1812 against Napoleon Bonaparte and his coalition and finally liberation of Kalinin (former Soviet name for Tver) from Nazi troops. The opening ceremony was held on December 16th, 2011, the day when last Nazi troops left the city in 1941.
Description
The memorial stele is a granite
column of the Doric order, crowned with the coat of arms of Russia,
installed on a pedestal in the center of a square square. On the
front of the pedestal there is a cartouche with the text of the
President's decree on awarding Tver the title "City of Military
Glory", on the back of the pedestal there is a cartouche with the
coat of arms of Tver. In the corners of the square there are four
pylons with sculptural bas-reliefs depicting events in connection
with which the city was awarded the honorary title of the Russian
Federation "City of Military Glory": the Battle of Bortenevskaya,
the liberation of Tver from the Polish-Lithuanian invaders, the
Patriotic War of 1812, the liberation of Kalinin from the German
occupation ...
The height of the stele is 11 m, the diameter
is 0.85 m. Each side of the square area is 17 m. The height of each
pylon is 2 m, the width is 1.2 m.
History of the monument
The design of the monument began after the issuance of the decree of
the President of the Russian Federation dated November 4, 2010 No.
1335 "on awarding the city of Tver the honorary title of the Russian
Federation" City of Military Glory "". Several possible options for
placing the stele were discussed: on Lenin Square, Pushkin Square,
Glory Square, near the Humpbacked Bridge. By the decision of the
Governor of the Tver Region A.V. Shevelev, Pushkin Square was chosen
as the site for the monument. The draft design for linking the
monument to the area and landscaping was carried out by the
architect L. Komissarova. The general contractor was the Moscow
Stone Processing Plant. The sketches of the bas-reliefs were made by
the sculptor E. A. Antonov.
On July 22, 2011, the Governor of
the Tver Region A. Shevelev, the head of Tver V. Babichev and the
city manager V. Toloko laid the symbolic "Starting point". Work on
the construction of the stele began in October 2011 and was
completed in early December.
The grand opening of the
monument took place at 12:00 on December 16, 2011, on the day of the
70th anniversary of the liberation of the city of Kalinin from the
Nazi troops. The opening ceremony was attended by soldiers of the
Presidential Regiment, who laid a garland of memory on the stele;
Governor A. Shevelev, Head of Tver V. Babichev, city manager V.
Toloko, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly A. Epishin, Archbishop
Victor, participant in the liberation of Kalinin S. A Sychev.
Despite the pouring rain, about 1,500 people attended the opening
ceremony.