Poklon Mountain, Victory Park

Poklonnaya mountain is a gentle hill in the west of Moscow, between the rivers Setun and Filka. Once Poklonnaya mountain was far beyond Moscow, and from its top opened a panorama of the city. Travelers often stopped here to look at Moscow and worship it - hence the name of the mountain. For the first time Poklonsky mountain is mentioned in documents of the 16th century. At that time it was called a little differently - Poklonnaya mountain on the Smolensk road. It was on Poklonnaya Hill that Napoleon in 1812 waited in vain for the keys to Moscow, through it during the Great Patriotic War soldiers went to the front to defend the Motherland. The first project of the Victory Memorial on Poklonnaya Hill was proposed in 1942, but then it was, of course, impossible to implement. A memorial sign with the inscription "Here will be built a monument to the Victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945" was installed on Poklonnaya Hill on February 23, 1958. Victory Park was laid around the sign. The design and construction of the memorial complex on Poklonnaya Hill was delayed for many years. Its grand opening, timed to the 50th anniversary of the victory over fascism, took place on May 9, 1995. The memorial complex, located on 135 hectares, includes the Central Museum of the Great Patriotic War, the Victory Monument and three churches of three denominations, built in memory of those killed in the war. The temple of St. St. George the Victorious was built in 1995, the Memorial Mosque was built in 1997 and the Memorial Synagogue in 1998. The Central Museum of the Great Patriotic War is located on the round square of the Winners, to which the central alley of the Victory Park leads from Kutuzovsky Prospect. The museum, established in 1986, houses about 50,000 exhibits on military history. In special windows there are Books of Memory - 385 volumes in which the names of people who died in the war are inscribed. The museum, among other exhibits, houses the Victory Banner, a red banner hoisted on April 30, 1945, over the Reichstag building in Berlin. There is a permanent exhibition of military equipment near the museum. In the middle of the Winners Square stands an obelisk 141.8 meters high. It symbolizes 1418 days and nights of the Great Patriotic War. At the hundred-meter mark is fixed bronze figure of the goddess of Victory - Niki. At the foot of the obelisk, on the granite podium, there is a statue of St. George the Victorious, who strikes a snake with a spear - a symbol of evil. Both sculptures were made by Z. Tsereteli. In 2003, a chapel was opened on the territory of the Memorial, erected in memory of the Spanish volunteers who died in the Great Patriotic War.