Inside the Motherland

Author: Volgograd I took advantage of the unique offer to the press service of the governor of the Volgograd region [info] Anatoly Brovko and rose to the head of the famous statue "Motherland Calls". It is said that the top rises only a few people a year. Under the cut, I will show that inside her ...





The monument "The Motherland Calls" - one of the tallest statues in the world - is a part of the historical-memorial complex "To Heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad" on Mamayev Kurgan.



To it are 200 steps - it lasted many days the Battle of Stalingrad. As conceived by the architect Eugene Vucetic staircase had to go to the Volga, but, as usual, did not have enough money. Now there is talk about how to complete the construction.

We started our ascent to the Mamayev Kurgan area with "standing death", which leads to the alley of Lombardy poplars, and beyond that begins the "Walls-ruins." In the center the figure of a soldier set-defenders of Stalingrad. According to the architect Eugene Vucetic, "is an allegorical image of the Soviet people, a warrior, fight to the death, ready to inflict irreversible blow to the enemy. His figure grows out of the earth heaved, as if turned into a rock - the invincible bulwark against fascism. Warrior merged with mother earth, as if drawing new strength from it ».



On the rock scratched inscriptions: "Stand to Death," "Beyond the Volga there is no land for us", "Not one step back!" "Every house - a fortress," "Do not disgrace the sacred memory»:

The walls, the ruins are impressive and they can be considered for hours. This peculiar ruins of buildings destroyed by long-lasting shelling, countless bombings, isscherblennyh direct hit shells and gunfire. Subject left wall - "Not one step back!", The right wall - "Just go!".



The figure of the famous sniper Vasily Zaitsev, destroyed during the war, 225 German soldiers and officers, the top of the left wall seems to be very little, but in fact it is made as a man:

On the walls are many inscriptions, among which there is a quote from the collection of one of the Komsomol organizations of Stalingrad:



Discussed: The behavior of the Young Communists in combat.
Resolved: better to die in the trenches, but not to leave in disgrace. And not only I myself will not go away, but to do so, and the neighbor is not gone.
Questions to the speakers: Are there good reasons for leaving the firing position?
Answer: Of all the reasons for acquittal, only one will be taken into account - the death ».

Staircase, passing the ruins of the walls, leads to Heroes' Square with pool "Lake of Tears" in the middle. To the left of the pool is wall-banner on which is inscribed: "Iron wind was blowing in their faces, but they still went ahead, and again the feeling of superstitious fear of the enemy covered: whether people were going to attack, whether they are mortal?".



From here you can get in a round building - "Hall of Military Glory»:

In the center is a monument with an eternal flame, and on the walls depict thirty four symbolic banner, carved with the names of 7,200 of the heroic defenders of Stalingrad. In total, the Battle of Stalingrad killed about 3 million people:



After a huge hole in the roof of the hall is visible Motherland. The architect Vucetich said Andrei Sakharov: "I asked the authorities why she opened her mouth, it's ugly. The answer is: She screams - for the homeland ... your mother! - Shut up »:





Every day from 9 am to 7 pm in the Hall of Military Glory is a guard of honor:



In our country, only 2 of the city, where there is a guard of honor - it's Moscow and Volgograd:







The output from the Hall of Military Glory leads to the square of the Tribulation. Here is the figure of a grieving mother, which died at the hands of a warrior:



With an area of ​​Tribulation begins ascent to the main monument of Mamayev Kurgan:



Statue weighing 8000 tons not attached to the foundation. She stands quietly on it, like a chess piece on the board:



The height of the statue of Motherland - 52 meters. In her right hand she holds a sword with a length of 33 meters and weighs 14 tons. The monument stands on a 16-meter base. The total height of the sculpture - 85 meters:



To get into the monument through a small door at the bottom. Double door. For the first hidden staircase:



Inside the statue reminds famous lithograph "Relativity" Maurits Escher:





We have tried to estimate the number of steps leading to the top. It turned 187:



Inside the statue permeate tension cables weighing 60 tons each:





During their stretch monitored by special sensors. When the tension is weakened - they pull:







This room can be called the heart of the Motherland. It is located at chest level, and there are fixed ropes on the left and right hands of the statue. The room itself is also blown down ropes to the monument did not break under the weight of hands:



Fastening of the left hand (without sword):



This entry in the right hand (with a sword):



Further upward at an angle is the ladder. I was not allowed to, they said that my complexion I climbed:



Bottom left - the entrance to the cape, and on the right of the valve - the entrance in the left hand:



On the walls periodically come across inscriptions. Apparently, some builders have decided to perpetuate themselves:



Entrance to the head as narrow as in the rest of the body:



The child was easier to all and I squeeze into a backpack could not - I had to take it off:



The room in my head. There are comfortable benches on which to sit and rest. At the top of the hatch opens, through which we protrude outwards:



Nikita profits that organized the tour for us, got out first. In his blog, have a report on how we climbed the monument:



Below you can see the Church of All Saints:





On hand at the many statues "tattoos" left by climbers:



After the construction of the statue in 67 riveting first began to crack the sword, and the sword vibrated with a terrible sound, so in '72 it was replaced by more modern systems with vibration damping:



Garda, each side has a sunroof. We got through the same:







And this is the famous "Dancing Bridge". Remember the fake web video, which traveled around the internet, and even "got into the TV", where the bridge vibrated terribly:









Source: sergeydolya.livejournal.com