Volgograd is a millionaire city and a major industrial center that has changed three names (Tsaritsyn, Stalingrad, Volgograd), but has never changed the principles of honest work, courage and patriotism.
Sad and tragic was the fate of Stalingrad, which did not spare the architectural monuments, the ancient buildings of the city. People don't go to Volgograd to stroll along the ancient streets, wander through medieval castles, or to visit ancient monasteries and temples, they come here to feel the atmosphere of the tragic events of the Great Patriotic War, they go for Memory.
Volgograd squares
Stalingrad during the war was almost completely destroyed as a result of enemy bombing and street fighting. Many buildings, including historical ones, turned into ruins. The main attractions of the city are associated with the defense of Stalingrad, which turned the tide of the war. The memory of these heroic events is embodied in numerous memorial complexes and monuments of the city: Mamaev Kurgan, Gerhardt's Mill, Replica of the Barmaley fountain, Pavlov's House.
Catastrophic in terms of the scale of destruction, during street fighting, destroyed almost the entire residential area of the city, the ruins weremore than 90% of buildings in Stalingrad have been converted.
In the post-war period, large-scale construction work began. The city is gradually being restored. In its buildings, the layout of parks, squares, alleys, squares, the style of "Stalinist architecture" prevails. Three new squares were restored and built in the city, the largest and currently the squares of Volgograd: the Square of the fallen fighters, the Lenin Square and the Chekist Square.
Square of Fallen Fighters
The central city square, one of the largest in the territory, the place where all the city's significant festive events, parades, rallies take place - this is the Square of the Fallen Fighters of Volgograd. Part of it passes into the square, and then into the Alley of Heroes.
Its original name is Alexandrovskaya (in honor of the deceased Emperor Alexander ΙΙ). In its place was a spontaneous peasant market, which was later replaced by shops, taverns and taverns. In 1916, the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral was built on the territory of the square, in honor of the rescue of the imperial family in a railway accident (the cathedral was blown up in 1930).
During the Revolution, the city was captured by Wrangel's troops. There were fierce battles, in 1920, 55 people were buried in the square in a mass grave, the citizens who died during the Civil War. In the same year, in memory of them, the square in Volgograd was renamed the Square of Fallen Fighters and a monument was erected at their burial place.
During the Stalingrad defense, the central square of the city became a place of bloodshed andfierce battles. In the basement of the TSUM building, Field Marshal Paulus of the German army was captured. On February 4, 1943, a Victory rally in the Battle of Stalingrad was held on the square. Near the grave of the fallen fighters, those who died in the Battle of Stalingrad were buried. In their honor, the Eternal Flame was lit on the square in 1963.
In 2003, in honor of the 60th anniversary of the Great Victory, the Memory Museum was opened in the historic basement of the Central Department Store in Volgograd. In the basement room where Friedrich Paulus was captured, the interior of those historical times has been restored.
There is another attraction on the square, a living witness of the Stalingrad hell - a poplar, on the trunk of which there are numerous scars from the hostilities taking place on this territory.
Lenin Square
Square, the only one in the city that was renamed very often (Balkanskaya, Nikolskaya, Internationalnaya, Ploshchad January 9, Lenin Square).
Until the end of the 19th century, it was called Balkanskaya (by the name of the region). It was an undeveloped place where carts with fish stopped, which were brought from Astrakhan to the capital and other cities.
In 1899, the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was consecrated on the square, and it was renamed Nikolskaya. In 1917, it was again renamed International, and 3 years later, it was named January 9 Square, in memory of Bloody Sunday.
In the 1930s, the temple was blown up and residential buildings were erected in its place, the square is being completely transformed.
During the Battle of Stalingrad, the mostbloody battles, the building was completely destroyed. The defense of one of the residential buildings, in which there was a group of Soviet soldiers, was tragic and bloody, they were commanded by Lieutenant Afanasiev (Sergeant Pavlov was one of the group, he heroically and courageously defended the fortification and after the war the house was named after him - Pavlov's House). The group held the defense of the house for 58 days. After the war, in memory of the heroic events in this area, the square was renamed Defense Square.
In the post-war years, the territory was rebuilt, only Pavlov's House remained of the old buildings. In 1960, a monument to V. I. Lenin, in honor of the 90th anniversary of his birth, and it was again renamed the Lenin Square of Volgograd.
Chekist Square and the monument to Chekists
The name of the square is also intertwined with the tragic events of the Battle of Stalingrad.
In 1942, in Stalingrad, the 10th Infantry Division of the NKVD troops, together with the militia and police, were the first to take on the blows of the enemy, who sought to break through to the Volga. For courage and heroic performance of combat missions, the entire division was awarded the Order of Lenin, 20 Chekists were awarded the title of Hero of the USSR.
After the end of the war in 1947, a monument to the Chekists was erected on the square in Volgograd, the height of which is 22 meters. And exactly 20 years later, the square will be named Chekist Square in Volgograd, in honor of the courage, stamina and bravery of the soldiers who defended the city.
