Soldier monument

In 1934, in honour of the soldiers of First and Sixth infantry regiment, called “Sofia iron division” who died during the Serbian-Bulgarian (1885), Balkan (1912-13) and the First World War (1915-18) a large memorial was constructed. Both regiments manifested exceptional bravery and as a sign of honour for their feats, the heir knyaz Boris Tarnovski was included in their lists as sub-lieutenant. He personally opened it whereas in 1924 he had already taken the governance from his father and was called tsar Boris III.
The original monument was liked and highly respected by the Sofia citizens. Many soldiers are proud to present flowers, give their honour and take photos in front of it for a memory. The monument used to be a п-shaped composition of three high memorial walls and colonnades with 2929 names of the deceased soldiers inscribed on them. The lion used to stay in the centre, surrounded just like now, by a circular garden with flowers.
In 1944 during the Second World War, Sofia was bombarded. One of monument’s walls was destroyed, the other was impacted and later on was damaged. The plates that survived were dismantled. Thus, until 1979 the monument was not recovered, and during the construction of the National Palace of Culture it was eliminated, the plates with the deceased soldiers were brought to the archives of the Military-Historical Museum. And at its location, being a part of the National Palace of Culture complex, another monument was built and called “1300-anniversary of Bulgaria” that Sofia residents never got to love and got demolished for years, whereas recently it was fully dismantled. Back then the idea of recovering the old monument was born. 

Nowadays, after the recovery, only the lion is placed waiting for the construction of the rest of memorial.