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Memorial to the soldiers killed in World War 2
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (Могила Неизвестного Солдата / मोगीला नेईझ्वेस्तनोगो सोल्दाता) is a war memorial, dedicated to the Soviet soldiers who died during World war 2 (called ‘The Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945′). It is located at the Kremlin Wall, just outside Red Square, in the Alexander Garden.
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier against the red Kremlin wall.
The centerpiece of the memorial is a platform, which consists of big plates made of polished red granite. In front of the tombstone, there is a five-pointed star in a square pit, which emanates the Eternal Flame of Glory from its center.
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier with the eternal flame
To the right of the tomb, there is a granite alley made of plates with encapsulated soils from the 10 hero cities which were recognised for outstanding heroism during the World War II. These cities are: Leningrad (St. Petersburg), Kiev, Stalingrad (Volgograd), Odessa, Sevastopol, Minsk, Kerch, Novorossiysk, Tula and Brest.
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| A Soldier on guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier | ||
3 soldiers continuously stand guard at the memorial all day, regardless of the rain and the wind. They stand like statues, keeping a watch on everyone, and will blow a whistle if someone is trying to cross the boundary line. It was nice to see the changing of guards too. 3 guards come marching from the Kremlin and replace the ones standing here, nothing great, but a cute little exchange.
Me at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
I went to the Red Square and the memorial on my last night in Russia too. There were no guards there at that time!
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Oh in rain and wind and winter, that must not be a popular duty in winter months!
Indeed! I wonder how they do it!! Atleast they don’t stand guard at nights, I don’t know if they did that during Soviet times… brutal!
Hey Priyank, those guards always amaze me, how still and disciplined they are during their guarding time. I saw similar thing in Greece, we practically walk up to them and look into eyes, and they wouldn’t even blink, then when we walked away we wonder if these guys were real, lol. Thanks for sharing your travel stories again. Anna
Hi Anna,
Thats amazing! I could never do such a job. I did see some soldiers looking around watching people, or silently smiling! It was very nice! Thanks!
So, even though it is called a tomb, there’s no actual human remains buried in there, I take it? Only soil from the ten different cities? Interesting. And, is that dark grey curtain really a curtain, or is it a statue made to look like a curtain?
Hi Jeuen,
I think there are some remains buried in the central pit. The soils from cities is on the path adjacent to the memorial. Oh its a metal curtain.
Very cool, I have a much greater appreciation of your travels now that I have completed one myself.
Thanks Bob!
The Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 ? Never heard that!
Well, the Chinese call WW2 the “anti-Japonese war” after all…
hehehhe…!!
They just stand there? Doing nothing? That must be really tough!
I know! Sucks to be them!!
Hey Priyank, long time no see! Reading RSS is just not the same as visitng blog
What’s up? Cool travels.
Hi Vidyut! Nice to hear from you too!! I’ll be visiting you shortly.
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Interesting…they stand all day through bad weather, but not at night!
LOL yeah, isn’t that strange…!
Hi Priyank,
The London guards are also the same rigid statues and the change of guards is such an elaborate fashion.
This seems typically Russian – frugal and utilitarian.
The Tomb must be like our India Gate and the eternal flame there. The WW2 saw Russia bear the brunt of German force. The maximum casualties were suffered by the Russians.
Cheers
Yeah the eternal flame is quite like that in India gate. WW2 was a bad chapter is Russian history, about half (or some crazy numbers like that) of the male population was wiped out…