The Alyosha Monument, also called the Plovdiv Soldier, crowns Bunarjik Hill in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. It is a reinforced concrete statue of a Soviet soldier, 36 feet (11 meters) tall, on a granite-lined pedestal of 20 feet (6 meters). It was installed between 1954 and 1957.
The monument honors Soviet casualties from the German occupation of Bulgaria in World War II. Alyosha Skurlatov, a soldier of the 3rd Ukrainian Front, served as the model. He died in 2013 at age 91. A song called "Alyosha" was the official anthem of Plovdiv until 1989.
The statue has been controversial. City authorities tried to remove it in 1989 and again in 1996. The 1989 decision set off a preservation campaign, and a guard stood by the statue day and night to prevent its demolition.
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