The Monument to the Heroes of the Military Engineers' Army (Romanian: Monumentul Eroilor din Arma Geniului; often called Leul - "the Lion") in Bucharest, Romania is dedicated to the heroism and sacrifice of the military engineers who fought in the Romanian Army during World War I, of whom nearly a thousand were killed in action and many more wounded.
Unveiled in June 1929, it is located at the intersection of Bulevardul Geniului and Bulevardul Iuliu Maniu, across the street from Cotroceni Palace. One of Bucharest's most recognisable monuments, it was financed entirely through donations from veteran officers of the Military Engineers' Army and executed by Spiridon Georgescu.
Set into the pyramidal base are bronze reliefs depicting the engineers in action. Four life-sized bronze statues represent troops from the Military Engineers' Army — a sapper, a pontoon bridge builder, a Signal Corps engineer and a Căile Ferate Române soldier.
But the monument's chief component is a statue of a lion, which stands atop the pedestal. With his front paws he tramples upon the barrel of a cannon (upon which sits a Pickelhaube); a flag flows downward. The lion symbolises the endurance, daring and bravery shown by Romanian troops between 1916 and 1918, especially at the dramatic battles during the summer of 1917 — Mărăşti, Oituz and Mărăşeşti.
Carved into the pedestal in relief is the inscription, "Spuneţi generaţiilor viitoare că noi am făcut suprema jertfă pe câmpurile de bătaie pentru întregirea neamului" - "Tell succeeding generations that we made the supreme sacrifice on the fields of battle for the union of the people". A medallion on the steps at the bottom reads, "" - "To the heroes of the Military Engineers' Army 1916-1919".
Famous quotes containing the words monument to, monument, heroes, military and/or army:
“It is remarkable that the dead lie everywhere under stones.... Why should the monument be so much more enduring than the fame which it is designed to perpetuate,—a stone to a bone? “Here lies,”M”Here lies”;Mwhy do they not sometimes write, There rises? Is it a monument to the body only that is intended?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“It is remarkable that the dead lie everywhere under stones.... Why should the monument be so much more enduring than the fame which it is designed to perpetuate,—a stone to a bone? “Here lies,”M”Here lies”;Mwhy do they not sometimes write, There rises? Is it a monument to the body only that is intended?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“To have no heroes is to have no aspiration, to live on the momentum of the past, to be thrown back upon routine, sensuality, and the narrow self.”
—Charles Horton Cooley (1864–1929)
““My ancestors were all famous for military genius.”
My Lady smiled graciously. “It often runs in families,” she remarked: “just as a love for pastry does.””
—Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (1832–1898)
“He could jazz up the map-reading class by having a full-size color photograph of Betty Grable in a bathing suit, with a co- ordinate grid system laid over it. The instructor could point to different parts of her and say, “Give me the co-ordinates.”... The Major could see every unit in the Army using his idea.... Hot dog!”
—Norman Mailer (b. 1923)