Gallery: Renovations to Bronze Soldier monument completed
The first stages of renovations to the monument known as the Bronze Soldier and Red Army tombstones in the Defence Forces cemetery in Tallinn have been completed.
The Bronze Soldier or the Monument to the Fallen in the Second World War at the Defence Forces Cemetery was repaired on the orders of the Russian Embassy.
Russian Ambassador Alexander Petrov told ERR's Russian-language news: "The Liberator Monument was restored."
In addition, the tombstones of 50 Red Army soldiers who died in the Second World War were restored. This was the first stage of the renovation works, and the remaining tombstones will be restored in the future.
Approximately 1,200 Soviet soldiers were buried in the cemetery between 1944 and 1992. "It is our direct duty to protect their memory," said Ambassador Petrov.
The monument, created by Enn Roos and Arnold Alas, was originally erected on Tõnismäe and opened on September 21, 1947. In the early 2000s, the Russian monument began to be used for Soviet propaganda, and the Estonian government decided to move it.
Early in the morning of April 27, 2007, it was taken from Tõnismäe to the Defense Forces Cemetery on Filtri Road in Tallinn. The relocation of the monument was accompanied by street riots.
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Editor: Helen Wright