The Monument of Liberty in Rousse

Rousse

Ruse is the fifth-largest city in Bulgaria. Ruse is situated in the northeastern part of the country, on the right bank of the Danube, opposite the Romanian city of Giurgiu, from the capital Sofia and from the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast...

, Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

, was built at the beginning of the 20th century by the Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 sculptor Arnoldo Zocchi

Arnoldo Zocchi

Arnoldo Zocchi was a noted Italian sculptor of the late 19th and early 20th century. He was born in Florence and died in Rome...

. As time went by, it gained significance as one of the city's symbols, and now forms a part of her coat of arms.

Design

The structure is a pyramidal one. The statue on top represents a female figure, who is holding a sword in her left hand, while pointing with her right hand to the direction from where the national liberators arrived. One of the two bronze lions at the base is tearing the yoke chains with his mouth, whilst the other defends the Shield of Freedom. There are relief

Relief

Relief is a sculptural technique. The term relief is from the Latin verb levo, to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is thus to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane...

s of resistance scenes on the pedestal

Pedestal

Pedestal is a term generally applied to the support of a statue or a vase....

. Two cannons are placed at the rear.

History

The exact year of opening is not known for certain — 1906, 1908, and 1909 have been suggested, based on labels, photographs, and the Encyclopedia of fine arts in Bulgaria . All sources cite the date 11 August, though. The booklet The revoulutionaries' monument in Rousse claims to have proven that the correct year is 1909.

The fundamental stone was put in 1890 in the Youth Park, where it was inaugurated by mitropolit Grigoriy in the presence of knyaz Ferdinand I

Ferdinand I of Bulgaria

Ferdinand , born Ferdinand Maximilian Karl Leopold Maria of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Koháry, was the ruler of Bulgaria from 1887 to 1918, first as knyaz and later as tsar...

. Five years later, the municipality and the organization of resistance heroes decided to move the place of the monument to the city garden, a former Turkish cemetery, which had been transformed into the city's new central square. At that time, the garden had an iron fence and used to be locked at night. The square was initially named Knyaz Boris after the recently-born successor of the throne. After the monument's construction was completed, it was renamed to Botev square, then after 9 September 1944, when the communists came to power, it became the Lenin square, and later finally got its present name — the Freedom square.

In the end of 1895, a contract was signed with Stoycho Raychev Kefsizov, a local enterpreneur and former revolutionary, to build the monument for 65,000 leva

Bulgarian lev

The lev is the currency of Bulgaria. It is divided in 100 stotinki . In archaic Bulgarian the word "lev" meant "lion".It is speculated that Bulgaria, as a member of the European Union will adopt the Euro in 2015 .- First lev, 1881–1952 :...

. Despite Kefsizov's energy and devotion, the money did not suffice and the remainder to the new cost of 150,000 leva had to be collected as voluntary donations from evening balls all over Bulgaria. The Simeonovi brothers (Ivan Simeonov and Stefan Simeonov), who were famous innovative bankers, rendered a decisive support of 50,000 leva.

The initial design by architect Simeon Zlatev featured a statue of the "Tsar Liberator" (Alexander II of Russia

Alexander II of Russia

Alexander II , also known as Alexander the Liberator was the Emperor of the Russian Empire from 3 March 1855 until his assassination in 1881...

) on top, and two statues of revolutionaries with guns at the base. In 1907 the Rousse society decided to replace the tsar's statue with a statue of a woman, symbolizing freedom, in order not to resemble the Monument to the Tsar Liberator

Monument to the Tsar Liberator

The Monument to the Tsar Liberator is an equestrian monument in the centre of Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. It was erected in honour of Russian Emperor Alexander II who liberated Bulgaria of Ottoman rule during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78....

 in Sofia, opened in the same year and also a work of Arnoldo Zocchi.

Ferdinand I, who had shortly been re-titled from a knyaz

Knyaz

Kniaz, knyaz or knez is a Slavic title found in most Slavic languages, denoting a royal nobility rank. It is usually translated into English as either Prince or less commonly as Duke....

 to a tsar

Tsar

Tsar is a title used to designate certain European Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, or Tsarism...

 after the Unification of Bulgaria, was asked to determine the monument's opening day. He didn't reply, so 11 August was chosen, as it was the climax date of the Battle of Shipka. The ceremony started three days earlier. It was attended by many former revolutionaries' from other Bulgarian cities, including Rayna Knyaginya

Rayna Knyaginya

Rayna Popgeorgieva Futekova , better known as Rayna Knyaginya was a Bulgarian teacher and revolutionary born in Panagyurishte who is famous for having sewn the flag of the April Uprising of 1876.-The flag and the uprising:...

, as well as by officials, such as the prime minister Aleksandar Malinov

Aleksandar Malinov

Aleksandar Pavlov Malinov was a leading Bulgarian politician who served as Prime Minister on three occasions. He was born in Pandakli, Bessarabia in a family of Bessarabian Bulgarians....

, the ministers of justice and of foreign affairs, military generals, religious leaders, and the Russian consul. Tsar Ferdinand I only sent a representative, possibly because of the difficult relations between Russia and the throne.

Sources