Monuments "Black Tulips" - memorials that began to be erected in the cities of the country after the end of hostilities in Afghanistan. Monuments that evoke strong feelings just by their name exist in Yekaterinburg, Norilsk, Petrozavodsk, Pyatigorsk, Khabarovsk.
But in fact, there was not a single settlement from where the guys who were going to military service in the army were not suddenly sent away from their country and made them participants in a foreign war. The fighters who did not return from Afghanistan have many different signs of memory installed in their homeland, but the authors of The Black Tulip in Yekaterinburg created a monument, standing in front of which it is impossible to honestly answer a simple question: “Why did they die in a foreign land in a peaceful country?”
Black tulips
These flowers are laid out in huge quantities, set, placed on all planes of the monument. The tulip itself is a very romantic and delicate flower, the black plant is just the result of selection, but the combination of these two words was the mostterrible in life for Russian mothers. They, waiting for at least some news from their sons from a distant country, feared more than anything that the long-awaited news would bring them a "black tulip".
An-12 aircraft
Heavenly long-liver, hard worker, the AN-12 aircraft, it would seem, over the 60-year period of its service, did not deserve the horror that Soviet women experienced towards it in the 80s of the last century. Reliable, unpretentious machine flew all over the world - from Africa to Antarctica.
Most of all, it was valued by the military - a powerful machine with excellent flight characteristics, delivered people and cargo to hard-to-reach places. In Afghanistan, it was simply indispensable, not every plane could land on a mountain plateau and boast of phenomenal survivability in the air.
He delivered the goods needed by our fighters: food, ammunition, participated in the transfer of troops, was used for landing. He returned home not empty, on board were coffins with the bodies of our dead guys, the so-called "cargo 200". For these return flights, the plane received its terrible nickname - "Black Tulip".
Creating a monument in Yekaterinburg
The memorial to the Ural soldiers-internationalists appeared in the city at the initiative of the Sverdlovsk Council of Afghanistan Veterans. A competition was announced in which 15 projects participated. We held several stages, as a result, the memorial by the sculptor Konstantin Grunberg and the architect Andrey Serov became the winner.
Money to createand the installation of the monument was collected by the whole city. Donations were made by enterprises, organizations, residents of Yekaterinburg. Significant funds were allocated from the regional and city budgets. The military of the Ural district also helped. Construction lasted for three years, and in 1995 the monument was unveiled.
Description of the Black Tulip monument in Yekaterinburg
If you stand in front of the composition, it seems that we have the fuselage of the "transporter" AN-12. Lateral metal pylons diverging with flower petals are its contours. There are 10 of them, according to the number of years during which Russia supported the government of Afghanistan. 24 names are written on each 10-meter slab-stele. These are the names of 240 guys who could not return home. Two black tulips at the bottom of each pylon - sorrow for them living in this city and country.
A soldier is sitting on the floor in the center of the plane. He is extremely tired. Probably from the war, from battles and hardships, but most likely from the numerous send-offs of friends who "fly away" to their homeland with this aircraft.
You can look at the guy's figure for a long time, noticing the details carefully worked out by the author. The man, with his head down, mournfully says goodbye to his friends, but his figure is not relaxed. The right hand firmly holds the machine gun, it is tense. With his left he leaned on a raised knee, she was stretched out in impotence to correct anything, to change. These thoughts will torment him for a long time, even when the war is over.
But the fighter is ready for a sudden battle, without discipline in the warnot survive. The sleeves of the tunic are wrapped up, the soldier's berets are carefully laced up, the trousers are tucked into boots. The guy's hands are big, powerful and reliable.
On the facade of the pedestal of the “Black Tulip” monument, the word “AFGHAN” is deeply carved in stone. So it bit into the memory and hearts of people who survived these years together with the guys who fought in that war. The letters cross out the weapons depicted on the pedestal.
The side walls of the monument are also very thoughtfully designed. On the bas-relief, two women, young and old, rush to the dying soldier, but they can no longer help him. Lying in the arms of his beloved, the soldier with the last of his strength put his hand on his mother's shoulder. With his body, he connects three figures into one composition, now they have one grief.
Chechen war
After the collapse of the USSR, the war began in Chechnya. Officially, it lasted more than 12 years, but in fact much longer. Again, young fighters were called to "restore the constitutional order." "Funerals" and "cargoes 200" flew to the families of the dead.
In 2003, the Black Tulip memorial was replenished with new names. On the newly installed plates under the general name "Chechnya" the names of the guys who died in the "hot spots" of Dagestan, Tajikistan and, of course, Chechnya were listed.
After 10 years, the memorial was reconstructed. In 2013, after its grand opening, new elements appeared. An alarm was installed in the center of the semicircular composition.a bell to which a black marble road leads. Forming a semicircle, new pylons with new names of the dead soldiers were installed nearby. There are 413 of them. Significantly more than before the Chechen events.
Monument today
In front of the memorial there is a large, beautiful square of the Soviet Army, in the middle of which the city fountain rises its jets. Opposite is the House of Officers.
Every year on August 2, former internationalist soldiers come here to remember their comrades, lay flowers at the Black Tulip monument in Yekaterinburg. Photos of such visits are collected in home albums. I really wish that the memorial would never again be replenished with black petals of mourning flowers.
