Eternal flame. Eternal flame in hero cities Image of the eternal flame

Last Friday, the second Eternal Flame of the summer went out in Volgograd. The first to close for reconstruction was the memorial on the Square of Fallen Fighters, then it was the turn of the Fire on Mamayev Kurgan. This year, a major reconstruction is being carried out at the main height of Russia - since May, work has been going on to repair the Lake of Tears on Heroes Square, and the Hall of Military Glory is being renovated. The workers of the Battle of Stalingrad Museum-Reserve announced long ago that the Eternal Flame would have to be extinguished: the mosaic covering in the Hall of Military Glory will be thoroughly restored, in addition, the floor will be opened up and work will be carried out on the gas pipeline. It is quite logical for works of this volume to extinguish the Eternal Flame. For the first time in the 47 years of the memorial's existence. So the procedure was arranged quite solemnly.

The fire was supposed to go out, but they decided to keep a piece of it in the lamp so that after the completion of the repair work, they would again “return the fire to its place.” Thus the fire had to be preserved as truly “Eternal”.

The procedure for “selecting” a particle of the Eternal Fire is quite standard - using a long pole, a small torch is set on fire from the burning Fire, a torch is raised, which is then lowered down and a lamp is lit from it. This procedure was carried out on Mamayev Kurgan more than once.

The veteran was entrusted to light the fire in the lamp from the torch lowered down:

The fire in the lamp is lit, and to the music the Eternal Flame is turned off:

Now the lamp will be handed over to the Honor Guard company, whose soldiers will solemnly carry a piece of the Eternal Flame across the top of Mamayev Kurgan to the office premises of the museum-reserve, where it should be stored during the entire period of repair.

The fire makes a circle around the Hall of Military Glory...

Overlooks the Square of Sorrow...

This is how the extinguishing of the Eternal Flame was arranged solemnly and with honor. Several hundred people gathered to watch the ceremony - Volgograd residents, tourists. Everything seemed to be good and correct. That's just...

Something is not going well in Russia with fire. Less than a year had passed since Zippo built its advertising campaign at the Olympic Games. Here, too, a lighter could not be avoided. I don’t know how it happened, but people were involved in the procedure, it seemed like they were holding a kerosene lamp in their hands for the first time. How they were going to light its fuse directly from the torch is unknown to me. Well, there’s no way the torch will fit through the small gap under the raised glass:

As a result of persistent “poking”, the torch finally went out, and then the lighter came to the rescue again, though not a “Zippo”, but a yellowish noname, sold in abundance in retail chains and kiosks. The lighter caused the wick of the kerosene stove to flare up, because before, even during manipulations with the burning torch, the wick of the lamp had been unscrewed as far as it could go, and the flame turned out to be very sour.

How this could happen is difficult to understand, because, as mentioned above, this was not the first time that the procedure of lighting a lamp from the Eternal Flame took place on Mamayev Kurgan. Literally a year ago, a similar procedure took place without a single glitch - no one stuck a torch into the lamp, but used a pre-prepared thin candle, which easily penetrated the inside of the lamp. In a word, the “children” (students, of course, but still) coped

Further more. After lighting the wick, no one lowered the glass of the lamp (although the people around him suggested). The natural consequence of this, as soon as the procession left the room into the fresh air, was that the fire was blown out by the first gust of wind (yes, there is wind on Mamayev Kurgan). Next, the soldiers of the Honor Guard marched along Kurgan with a smoked, extinguished lamp:

Of course, no one stopped the procession, because the show must go on... And now this lamp lies somewhere in the back room and is waiting in the wings, when they will light it again with a lighter and solemnly bring it out into the public eye - they say, that’s the one An ETERNAL fire that will never go out.

I remember when renovations were taking place at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the Alexander Garden in Moscow, a special “reserve” memorial was built on Poklonnaya Hill so that everyone could see - the fire is ETERNAL, just as memory is eternal. Well, Volgograd has its own patriotism.

That’s how, on that day, hundreds of people who gathered on Mamayev Kurgan were able to watch how once again real affairs were replaced by a show. How can we call such an irresponsible attitude towards the memory of the heroes who fell in the Battle of Stalingrad, if not blasphemy?

The highest degree of distinction - the title "Hero City" - is awarded to cities of the Soviet Union whose workers showed massive heroism and courage in defending the Motherland in the Great Patriotic War of 1941 - 1945.

This title was awarded to 12 cities and 1 fortress.

Hero City Moscow

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow, Russia

("Your name is unknown, your feat is immortal")

On December 3, 1966, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the defeat of German troops near Moscow, the ashes of the unknown soldier were transferred from the mass grave at the 41st kilometer of the Leningradskoye Highway (at the entrance to the city of Zelenograd) and solemnly buried in the Alexander Garden. The eternal flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was lit from the fire on the Campus Martius on May 8, 1967

Hero City Leningrad (now St. Petersburg)

Eternal Flame on the Champ de Mars in St. Petersburg, Russia

The Field of Mars is a square in the center of St. Petersburg, at different times called “Amusing Field”, “Tsaritsyn Meadow”, “Square of the Victims of the Revolution”

The memorial was created in 1917-1919 and was inaugurated on November 7, 1919. Those killed in the February Revolution were the first to be buried on the Champ de Mars. Until 1933, Soviet and party workers continued to be buried.

In October 1957, the Eternal Flame was lit in the center of the memorial.

The torch for the opening of the memorial was lit by steelmaker Zhukovsky from the open-hearth furnace No. 1 of the Kirov Plant (formerly Putilovsky Plant, Krasny Putilovets).

This was the first Eternal Flame in the USSR. It was he who became the source of flame for most of the war memorials opened in the cities of the USSR.

Hero City Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad)

Eternal flame on Mamayev Kurgan in Volgograd, Russia

According to rough estimates, at least 34 thousand soldiers are buried on Mamayev Kurgan.

A monument-ensemble “To the Heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad” was created on Mamayev Kurgan. In the center of the Hall of Military Glory stands a hand clutching the torch of the Eternal Flame. On the torch is inscribed: "Glory, glory, glory."

Hero City Sevastopol

Defensive tower on Malakhov Kurgan in Sevastopol, Crimea, Russia

The eternal flame on the Malakhov Kurgan in Sevastopol was lit on February 22, 1958, on the eve of the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Soviet Army. The torch was delivered from Leningrad, from the Field of Mars.

Later, eternal flames were lit from the fire on the Malakhov Kurgan at the memorials of Sapun Mountain (Sevastopol), Kerch, Odessa and Novorossiysk.

Eternal flame on Sapun Mountain in Sevastopol, Crimea, Russia

In the vicinity of the monument there is a Park of Glory

Hero City Kerch

Eternal flame on Mount Mithridates in Kerch, Crimea, Russia

The eternal flame was lit on Mount Mithridates on May 9, 1959. The flaming torch was delivered from Sevastopol, from the Malakhov Kurgan.

Eternal flame in the Square of Glory in Kerch, Crimea, Russia

On April 10, 2008, on the anniversary of the liberation of Kerch from the Nazis, the Eternal Flame was lowered from the mountain into the Square of Glory.

Hero City Novorossiysk

Eternal flame on Heroes Square in Novorossiysk, Russia

From this place the city began to be built and developed. Since the 60s of the 19th century it has been Trade Square, since 1926 - Primorsky Boulevard, since November 19, 1943 - Heroes Square.

On the square there are monuments, obelisks, and a mass grave.

The flame of eternal glory was lit on the square in 1958

Hero City of Tula

Eternal flame on Victory Square in Tula, Russia

The eternal flame is located in the center of the obelisk in the form of three bayonets. It was lit from the eternal flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow.

Hero City Murmansk

Eternal flame at the memorial to the Defenders of the Soviet Arctic in Murmansk, Russia

Local residents affectionately call the giant statue of the complex Alyosha.

On May 9, 1975, a ceremonial reburial of the remains of the Unknown Soldier took place in the memorial complex and the Eternal Flame was lit, transferred to the foot of Alyosha from the monument to the 6th Heroic Battery.

Hero City Smolensk

Eternal flame in the Square of Memory of Heroes in Smolensk, Russia

In the Park of Memory of Heroes near the fortress wall, the heroes who defended Smolensk during the Great Patriotic War are buried.

The eternal flame was lit on September 28, 1968, during the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the liberation of the Smolensk region from the Nazi invaders.

The fire was brought from Moscow from the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Hero City Minsk

Eternal flame on Victory Square in Minsk, Belarus

The former name of the square was Round.

On July 3, 1961, on the 17th anniversary of the liberation of the city of Minsk, honorary citizen of Minsk, Hero of the Soviet Union, Colonel General A. S. Burdeyny lit the eternal flame.

Hero-Fortress Brest

Eternal flame in the Brest Fortress, Belarus

"We fought to the death. Glory to the heroes!"

The grand opening of the Brest Hero Fortress memorial complex took place on September 25, 1971. The eternal flame was delivered from Leningrad, from the Field of Mars.

Hero City Kyiv

Eternal flame on the territory of the National Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War in Kyiv, Ukraine

Does not burn.

Eternal flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Kyiv, Ukraine

Hero City Odessa

Eternal flame in front of the monument to the Unknown Sailor in Odessa, Ukraine.

The monument is located in the Central Park of Culture and Leisure named after Taras Shevchenko. Heroes of the defense of Odessa are buried on the Walk of Fame next to the monument.

After February 2014, there was nothing sacred left in Ukraine except fascism.

The eternal flame has long become a symbol of memory and sorrow for those who died and did not return from that war. Every city, every regional center has its own Eternal Flame.
In provincial Taganrog there were already four of them! Now two are on. And it was to the Eternal Flame in the city park on the day of the 70th anniversary of the Victory that people carried and carried flowers...

They say that you can look at a burning fire and flowing water endlessly... By the way, why the Eternal Flame, and not, say, an eternal waterfall? The history of the appearance of the Eternal Flames is quite interesting...

Myths about the origin of fire are among the most widespread, especially among backward peoples, for whom the production and use of fire is the most obvious and universal sign of the separation of man from the animal kingdom.
In the most primitive cultures, fire was the demiurge arising from the sun and its earthly representative. Therefore, it correlates, on the one hand, with the ray of the sun and lightning, and on the other with gold.
The fire of temples, graves of unknown soldiers, torches of the Olympic Games, etc. are evidence of the eternity of the energetic basis of the essential power of the Creator.

By and large, the communists should not have canonized this symbol in their coordinate system, maybe that’s why the first Eternal Flame appeared in the USSR only after Stalin’s death, already in 1955?

In recent history, the eternal flame was first lit in Paris at the Arc de Triomphe at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, in which the remains of a French soldier who died in the battles of the First World War were buried. The fire in the memorial appeared two years after its opening. In 1921, the French sculptor Grégoire Calvet put forward a proposal: to equip the monument with a special gas burner, which would allow illumination of the tomb at night.

On November 11, 1923 at 18.00, French Minister of War Andre Maginot in a solemn ceremony lit the flame of the memorial flame for the first time. From this day on, the flame at the memorial is lit every day at 18.30, and veterans of the Second World War participate in the ceremony.

The tradition was adopted by many states, which created national and city monuments in memory of the soldiers who died in the First World War. The eternal flame was lit in Belgium, Portugal, Romania, and the Czech Republic in the 1930s and 1940s.
Note that at the same time, in Soviet Russia, numerous monuments to the fighters of the revolution were erected, but nowhere was this spectacular symbol of memory used.

And after World War II, the USSR was not the first... On May 8, 1946, the eternal flame was lit in Warsaw on Marshal Jozef Pilsudski Square. The honor of conducting this ceremony was given to the division general, the mayor of Warsaw, Marian Spychalski. A guard of honor from the Representative Battalion of the Polish Army was posted near the memorial.

The eternal flame in memory of those killed in World War II was lit in many countries in Europe, Asia, as well as in Canada and the USA.
And only in October 1957 in Leningrad on the Field of Mars at the monument to the “Fighters of the Revolution” the first Eternal Flame was lit.

But, it must be said that even earlier, in May 1955, the Eternal Flame was lit in the village. Pervomaisky, Shchekinsky district, Tula region. True, they lit it only a few times a year....
The eternal flame was illuminated at night using two large spotlights. The improvement of the memorial took place in 1955, at which time the eternal flame was lit. The mass grave was assigned to the Shchekino gas plant, and the maintenance of the “eternal flame” was assigned to the Shchekino linear production and dispatch station - now the management of main gas pipelines.

In the 90s, the fire was disconnected from the main gas pipeline in accordance with federal law. Since then, it has been lit on May holidays using liquefied gas.
But, in 2013, the fire was lit on a permanent basis. However, on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the Victory, it had to be extinguished for the sake of a beautiful PR campaign by Russian motorcyclists Alexander Zaldostanov. Bikers organized a large-scale event "Eternal Flame Relay". They traveled with a torch, lit from the Moscow Eternal Flame, around the cities and towns of Russia, and lit local “fires” from the torch.

We planned to come to Taganrog. The administration requested 300 thousand rubles for the meeting of bikers. But something didn’t work out. I would say it got away...

But, let’s go back to the time of the appearance of the first “Eternal Flame” memorials...

On February 22, 1958, in honor of the 40th anniversary of the Soviet Army and Navy, the eternal flame was lit on the Malakhov Kurgan in Sevastopol.

And 9 years later there was a breakthrough:

On May 8, 1967, 5 months after the opening of the memorial itself, a fire was lit at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the Alexander Garden in Moscow. The torch with fire was delivered from Leningrad in just one day by relay race. At Manezhnaya Square, the famous pilot, Hero of the USSR Alexei Maresyev accepted the valuable cargo, and the lighting ceremony itself was conducted by the General Secretary of the CPSU Leonid Brezhnev.

The torch and unique burner of the eternal flame in the Alexander Garden were made according to the design of the Mosgazniiproekt Institute on a special order at the famous rocket and space enterprise named after S.P. Korolev (now - JSC RSC Energia named after S.P. Korolev).

After this, the triumphal procession of the Eternal Flame began through the cities and villages of our country. It seems there is not a single settlement left that is not covered by the newest canonical symbol.

In Taganrog, the first Eternal Flame was lit in 1965, on the anniversary of the 20th anniversary of the victory, at the burial of Red Army soldiers in the city cemetery. Several thousand soldiers are buried here...

It must be said that most of those buried were military personnel who died in hospitals during the German occupation. Which, however, in no way detracts from our gratitude to the soldiers who died for the Victory.
The picture was taken today, the fire is not burning. But perhaps it was lit on Victory Day. We could fork out for three days. But, apparently, our Gaspros is very poor, he can’t afford it...

Once upon a time, bronze figures of a soldier and a traffic controller stood to the right and left of the Eternal Flame. I remember them well, but they disappeared in the early 90s. His Majesty Tsvetmet, yes...(

In 1973, a fire also broke out in the Taganrog city park. And here I must say about an interesting metamorphosis. If initially the fire was only an addition to the monument, part of the composition of the memorial, a kind of lamp in front of the image, now these lights began to be built using the conveyor method without caring about the semantic load. Fire and fire. And so everything is clear.
However, in the same Taganrog, an unnamed eternal flame burns in close proximity to the place where the Germans, during the occupation, built a military cemetery for their soldiers. However, the pedestal is made in the shape of a star...

Kids warming their hands)

There is also an Eternal Flame near the Metallurgical Plant - it is operational.
But the one that belonged to the Taganrog combine harvester, which died in the gods, has not burned for a long time...

And recently, in the city of Kolchugino, Vladimir region, drunk teenagers burned a man on the Eternal Flame...

This is how total savagery takes us back to ancient times, when the cult of fire was just emerging. Sadly.
But thanks to the past anniversary, something is changing for the better.

And, perhaps, even in the regions, Gazprom will understand that not everything is measured in rubles, and the faded memory will once again be illuminated by the light of dancing fire...

“The Great Patriotic War” - B.S. Ugarov “Leningrad (1941)”, 1961. A.A. Deineka “Defense of Sevastopol”, 1942. P.A. Krivonogov “Victory” 1945-1947. S.N. Prisekin “Marshals of the Soviet Union Mr. K. Zhukov and K. K. Rokossovsky on Red Square on June 24, 1945” (fragment), 1985. M.I. Samsonov “Sister” (fragment), 1954. Visually - didactic manual, Mosaika-Sintez publishing house.

“The Great Patriotic War of 1941” - Mothers often do not sleep at night - mothers are waiting for their sons. A. Of course, in leadership of the military. Poetry. Great Patriotic WarGreat Patriotic WarSiege of Leningrad. How many heroes did the partisan movement give birth to? The family demanded salvation, demanded support. And in technical terms, the Soviet troops were seriously inferior to the Germans.

“The Home Front during the Second World War” - ? More than a thousand writers went to the front. The intensification of the national movement caused a tightening of the national policy of the country's leadership. National policy during the Second World War. Hitler believed that the multinational Soviet power would collapse from the very beginning of the war. Ioffe A. - radars, S. Chaplygin - new models of aircraft.

“Death camps” - Salaspils - a death camp in the territory of Latvia occupied by the Nazis during World War II and intended for the mass extermination of people. According to eyewitness accounts, more than 100,000 people were killed in the camp. )