Monument to the Unknown Soldier

The Monument to the Unknown Soldier is a monument in Sofia, Bulgaria’s capital, situated on 2 Paris Street, right near to the 6th-century Church of St Sophia. The monument honors the hundreds of thousands of Bulgarian soldiers who died protecting their motherland in conflicts. Ceremonies featuring the President of Bulgaria and foreign heads of state are often held here. The monument was built by architect Nikola Nikolov and dedicated on September 22, 1981, the 1300th anniversary of Bulgaria’s founding.

The Monument to the Unknown Soldier includes an everlasting flame, turf from the battles of Stara Zagora and Shipka Pass during the Russo-Turkish War of Liberation, a lion sculpture by acclaimed artist Andrey Nikolov, and a stone inscription of a poem by national writer Ivan Vazov.

Following the conclusion of World War I, a group of Bulgarians advocated erecting the memorial. However, there was tremendous resistance to the construction of this monument. Some Bulgarian academics stated that a monument to an unknown soldier is improper since it implies that the soldiers’ names have been forgotten. “Not a single soldier shall be forgotten who gave his life in this war and in all other wars for the freedom of Bulgaria!”.