History
In honor of the victory in the Russo-Turkish War, 1877-1878, when the Russians liberated Bulgaria from a Turkish invasion, a memorial column was constructed in 1886 in front of the northern facade of the Trinity Cathedral. Its foundation was 140 trophy cannon barrels used to beat back the Turks during the liberation of Bulgaria. The monument stood eight meters high, and was crowned with the winged figure of victory with a wreath made of oak leaves in one hand and palm branches in the other. An iron spiral staircase was located inside. Ten cannons surrounded the outside of the monument. In 1929, the monument was dismantled and sold by the Soviet Government to Germany for cash.
In 2004 the monument was restored using the original blueprints of the project. The foundation of the column is built out of exact replicas of 128 Turkish cannons cast by the Novolipetsk Steel company. The cannons and other metal parts of the column were given to Saint Petersburg as a gift to its 300th anniversary.
Read more about this topic: Column Of Glory
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The second day of July 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more”
—John Adams (1735–1826)
“We aspire to be something more than stupid and timid chattels, pretending to read history and our Bibles, but desecrating every house and every day we breathe in.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The custard is setting; meanwhile
I not only have my own history to worry about
But am forced to fret over insufficient details related to large
Unfinished concepts that can never bring themselves to the point
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—John Ashbery (b. 1927)