The Monument of Glory (Russian: Монумент славы, Monument slavy) is the focal point of Slavy Square in Samara (former Kuybyshev), Russia, overlooking the Volga river to the north-west. It is dedicated to the Kuybyshev workers of aircraft industry, who were working hard during and following the Great Patriotic War. The monument is one of the most prominent symbols of Samara. Moscow sculptors Pavel Bondarenko, Oleg Kiryuhin and architect A. Samsonov created a design of the thirteen-meter-tall figure, made from high alloy steel with wings raised over his head and forty-meter pedestal. The pedestal symbolizes ray of light rising to the sky.[1]
The monument was erected between 1968 and 1971 for donations of Kuybyshev workers and other staff members of production plants. Every worker could donate only one rouble. Kuybyshev mayor's office chose a place for the monument in the city centre in the Leninsky district. The opening ceremony took place on 5 November 1971.[2]
Historical background
Kuybyshev was major aircraft-industry center of the Soviet Union during the Second World War. 28,000 Ilyushin Il-2 and Ilyushin Il-10 ground-attack aircraft was made in Kuybyshev's factories No. 1 and No. 18., representing 80 per cent of inventory.[3]
Stara Zagora is a town in Southern Bulgaria, one of the main economic centers in the country, as well as the main transport hub of Southern Bulgaria. It is the center of the homonymous municipality, district and regional association of municipalities RAW Trakia. The city is the sixth largest in the country. According to GRAO data, as of June 15, 2023, 135,252 people live in Stara Zagora at the current address and 154,649 people at the permanent address.[3] It forms the fifth largest urban agglomeration in Bulgaria with a population of 213,444 inhabitants (as of September 2007),[4] as well as the center of the 5th largest district in Bulgaria with a population as of December 31, 2016 of 321,377 people.[5] The stable economic development of the region gives it second place in GDP[6] per capita in the country.
The town is the oldest Bulgarian theater in Thrace - Drama Theater "Geo Milev", the ancient Forum of Augusta Trayana, and 14 km from the city center is located the national balneological resort Stara Zagora Mineral Baths. In 1925 the second after Sofia opera in the country was opened – the South Bulgarian Opera (today the State Opera Stara Zagora), and in 1895 – the first European type urban park in Bulgaria – Ayazmoto. The Museum of Religions and the Neolithic Dwellings Museum are also located in the city.
The town is situated in the Stara Zagora field – the eastern part of the Upper Thracian Plain – between Sarnena Sredna Gora, the Svetilii Heights, the Monastery Heights, the Sakar Mountain and the Chirpan Heights, along the Bedechka River with an average altitude of 196 m. It is located 209 km on an asphalt road and 250 km on a railway from Sofia.
The city is divided into separate neighborhoods around its central part. Before World War II, neighborhoods of refugees from the Thracian and Macedonian Bulgarian lands were formed on the outskirts of the town. Most of the neighborhoods were built after World War II, after the region's rural population moved to the city to provide labor for the new industrial facilities. Several neighborhoods are annexed villages.
According to the cadastral map, the neighborhoods of the city are: Ayazmoto, Bedechka-Gradini, Vasil Levski, Vazrazhdane, Geo Milev, Golesh, Dabrava, Zheleznik, Zora, Industria, Kazanski, Kolyu Ganchev, Lozenets, Makedonski, Metropolitan Metodiy Kusev, Opalchenski, Samara 1, Samara 2, Samara 3, Slaveykov, Studentski grad, Tri spouts, Tri spouts-north, Tri spouts – south, Atyuren, APC and the Central part of Stara Zagora.
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