Monument to Motherland - Mother (Kiev)

Monument Motherland in Kiev

Monument to Motherland - the mother rises on the right bank of the Dnieper, being the highest monument in Ukraine and one of the highest in the world.

Motherland is visible almost everywhere from the left bank of the Dnieper, 102 meters of stone and stainless steel, so grandiose monumental structure does not remain unnoticed by anyone, and is one of the most popular monuments of Kiev (For example, the statue of freedom in New York rises only 93 m ).

The sculpture of Motherland without a pedestal reaches a height of 62 meters, the base is 40 meters, inside of which there is a museum of the history of the Second World War.

The weight of this colossus is 450 tons, the whole construction stands on a pedestal resembling a barrel of reinforced concrete with a diameter of 34 meters and a depth of 17.8 meters.

The iron structure was lined with sheets of stainless steel measuring 50 x 50 cm and a thickness of 1.5 mm. The sheets were produced at the Kiev plant "The name of the Paris Commune", they gave recommendations for the manufacture and welding of the whole structure of the specialists of the Paton Electric Welding Institute.

Collected the monument in large blocks of 20-30 tons, the length of all welds about 30 kilometers.

For comparison: the shield, which is held in the hand Motherland 13 х 8 meters, weighs about 13 tons, and 16-meter sword weighs 9 tons.

And annually about 750 thousand people visit the memorial complex of the Great Patriotic War.

Inside the monument there are two elevators, one vertical rises to the head, the other rises at an angle of 75 degrees.

On the sword there is an observation deck, just in the shield at an altitude of 92 meters.

In 2002, they allowed the lifting of excursions to observation platforms, but in 2003, after an accident, the young man fell and crashed, deciding to break his life accounts, access was banned, later allowed in 2010, a viewing platform in the shield, equipped with a protective grille, And tourists go through face control, pregnant women, elderly people, and children under 12 years are not allowed, as part of the way must be climbed up the stairs.

Designers assure that the Motherland - the mother will stay at least 150 years old, and be able to withstand seismological and dynamic loads.

For example, earthquakes of 9 points, the monument must be well maintained, and to stabilize not only seismological but also against strong gusts of wind, a nine-ton pendulum stabilizer is installed in the sword.

According to his example, a similar one was installed in the monument of Independence of Ukraine.

History

Organize a museum dedicated to the participation of the Ukrainian people in the Second World War, arose even during the war, on 12 June 1942, the Politburo of the Communist Party of Ukraine approved the decision to create a museum of the history of participation of the Ukrainian people in the Second World War, until Ukraine was freed from the Nazis, the exposition was planned to be located in Moscow, in the museum Lenin. But from twelve directions of the museum's compositions, 3 sounded like this: Stalin is a friend of the Ukrainian people, brotherly help of the Russian people, the Bolshevik party is the inspirer ... Ie. The whole idea was turned almost to the wrong side, and showed, "who in the house is the master." And for a long time they forgot about the museum, but not only did not remember about it, but purposefully let people forget about the consequences of the totalitarian regime during the war.

For example, after the parade in 1945, in Kiev for almost 20 years it was not, and May 9 was a working day. Only after the change of the pleiad of communist leaders, under Shcherbytsky, in 1974, was created a museum of liberation of Ukraine from the Nazis, located in Klovskom palace.

The museum became so popular that, for material reasons, it was decided to build a memorial complex dedicated to the participation of the Ukrainian people in the Second World War. And it was allocated 7 million rubles.

Work on designing was given to "Moscow senior comrades". The main architect was Yevgeny Voutechich, the author of Motherland in Volgograd on the Mamayev Kurgan and memorial to the liberators in the Treptow Park in Berlin.

A project was developed, the main monument was a huge stela (made of iron, the previous work of his mother's mother calls, had big problems because it was made of concrete, and almost immediately began to crack) from the stela as if the head and arms with the extended Forward with a sword and a shield, down from the 30-meter height, as far as the Dnipro would flow a waterfall, along the sides of the composition, the crossing of the Dnieper, the families of the troops, guerrillas and loggers, as well as a tunnel of fear dedicated to the excesses committed in the hos-colleges. And the entire main sculpture is covered with gold leaf.

Entrance to the complex was planned from the side of the Dnieper (I, like the Kievite, do not imagine saba how to ascend to such a height, especially elderly veterans) But Evgeny Vutechich died shortly, and Moscow sculptors did not want to go to the province, the main sculptor of the Motherland was Vasily Boroday, co-author With Vasily Vinaikin, Frad Sagonyan, with architects Victor Elizarov, Nikolai Feshchenko, Georgy Kislym.

The Beard greatly changed the design, making it more peaceful, now it was not protected by a shield, and threatened with a sword, but raised its hands upwards, showing a triumph.

We started the construction with the arrangement of the hill, part of it was dug, and the ravines fell asleep. The entrance was decided to be made from the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, the sculpture was not covered with gold, but even refused to execute it from a light and durable but expensive titanium.

The budget was unusually high, at the republican level, it was allowed to approve estimates of no more than 3 million rubles, for the whole complex of the World War II memorial had to approve estimates in parts, for each part of its own.

But the motherland itself was the mother of 12 million rubles, the budget was claimed in Moscow, and Geidar Aliyev, the future president of Azerbaijan, signed it.

For the erection of the motherland, a 100-meter crane (the largest in the Republic) was specially brought in, the sculpture was assembled in parts at the Paris Municipal Plant, with the expectation that they would be placed under bridges during transportation.

The Kran-giants could not make out the opening of the monument to the opening of the monument, and then it was decided to simply cut it into pieces by an autogen, and parts of the crane were thrown into the Dnieper, where they rust to this day.

Alpinist brigades were used for welding. They worked in three shifts, and for the failure of the contractors' schedule they threatened to expel from the party, according to N. Feshchenko, sometimes by the morning they found the necessary materials.

As a model of the face of the sculpture, Motherland's mother in Kiev, Borodai portrayed his colleague, the sculptor Galina Kalchenko, talented and beautiful, but early departed from life. Employees of the museum still call her gently - Galya.

Initially, the sword was planned to be made flat, let's talk about the true, but bitter experience of Motherland in Volgograd, she had to replace the concrete sword with titanium, because of the intolerance to the loads created by the wind.

The Kiev sculpture was converted into a three-dimensional sword - a diamond-shaped sword. And for stability, inwardly installed a specially designed pendulum, suppressing oscillatory processes.

The whole story, overgrown with legends, concerns the height of the whole monument. There were rumors that the Metropolitan of Kiev was negotiating with the Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine Shcherbitsky, that the monument would not be higher than the bell tower in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.

In fact, the height of the bell tower is 96, 5 meters, but due to the fact that it stands above the sea level, the geographical position of the bell is higher than that of Motherland.

The entire memorial complex is located more than 10 hectares, it includes: a monument with a museum at the bottom Motherland, a square with an alley of hero cities, sculptural compositions The crossing of the Dnieper, Transfer of weapons, a gallery of heroes of the front and rear, an exhibition of military equipment, a bowl with eternal fire , The exposition of another's war and the tragedy and valor of Afgan.

It is in this place every year on May 9 that war veterans gather.

Interesting Facts

• Sword of the Motherland - the mother after the approved project, it was decided to do another three meters shorter, after research in a wind tunnel, at the Central Aerohydrodynamics Institute in Moscow.
• Motherland - a mother in Kiev could hold in her hands less warlike items, options were developed: with a child in her arms, with a bowl, with a laurel wreath. In total, 11 options were developed. But when the drafts brought Shcherbitsky for approval, he said "Why should we have a woman with a broom." And left the option, the one we are now seeing.
• After the installation of the sculpture, the Motherland in Kiev, it turned out that she was lying with her back to the monument of Lesya Ukrainka (the Pecherskaya metro), and that, in turn, also stood with her back to her. Acute Kiev languages ​​immediately dubbed one of the most prestigious areas between these monuments "between the mountains". Here, by the way, is the CEC of Ukraine!
• After the completion of the construction, the sculpture "made a plastic surgery" to increase the nose, ie, from the bottom it did not look proportionate. Just noticed that the right breast is smaller than the left, but Boroday said, this is a physiological process, when a woman raises her arm up the chest is stretched and becomes visually less.
• After the death of Vuchetich, the whole complex of the memorial of the history of the Great Patriotic War was radically changed, but the architect's wife was paid a huge fee of 40 thousand rubles.
• Sculpture Motherland mother, is one of the ten highest statues in the world.

When you see how many forces, physical and spiritual our compatriots have invested in this creation, you involuntarily think over the past, making an undeniable conclusion - that it is not in vain that such monuments are left to the next generations, that our children would understand how hard and painful it is to survive wars and future generations Did not make mistakes of their ancestors.

If you liked the article, or have your thoughts and additions, leave a comment, showing your attitude to the past mistakes of mankind.

Layout of the Museum of the Great Patriotic War

The memorial complex of the history of the Great Patriotic War is a colossal building with a museum fund of over 300,000 exhibits, exhibitions of military equipment during the Second World War and the post-war period. The sculpture is the Motherland 102 meters high and the sixth highest sculpture in the world. This place is visited by thousands of people, not indifferent to the memory of people who shed blood and sweat, and even gave their lives for our future. Below are the layout of the museum of the Second World War, the first and second floors.

If you want to learn more about the contents of the museum's expositions, the WWII museum plan will help you.

How to get there, map

Address - Kiev, st. Lavrskaya, 24 .

Official site - warmuseum.kiev.ua

We must go to Lavrskaya Street 44, there is an entrance to the Memorial of the Great Patriotic War.

You can get to the Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War, bus number 24, or Trolleybus number 38, from the metro station "Arsenalnaya". To the final ride: metro station "Arsenalnaya", bus number 24 or trolleybus number 38 - "Museum of the history of the Second World War".

We recommend that you follow the specified route on the map on foot. On the way from Arsenalnaya metro station you will see: The building of the Arsenal factory with shelled walls during the revolution, walk through the "Glory" park after seeing a beautiful view of the Dnieper and the left bank of the capital. You will see the monument to Leonid Bykov, visit the most important historical monument of Kiev - the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, and finally you will reach the memorial complex of the Great Patriotic War. This is an excursion for the whole day, if you want and the remaining reserve of forces, you can go down to the monument to the "Founders of Kiev". But do not forget, you will have to climb back