Few people know that one of the most famous and tallest Soviet sculptures - "The Motherland Calls!", Which was installed in Volgograd on the Mamayev Kurgan, is only the second part of the composition, which consists of three elements at once. This triptych (a work of art, consisting of three parts and united by a common idea) also includes monuments: "Rear - Front", which is installed in Magnitogorsk and "Soldier-Liberator", located in Treptower Park in Berlin. All three sculptures have one common element - the Sword of Victory.
Two of the three monuments of the triptych - "The Warrior-Liberator" and "The Motherland Calls!" - belong to the hand of one master, monumental sculptor Evgeny Viktorovich Vuchetich, who three times in his work addressed the theme of the sword. The third monument to Vuchetich, which does not belong to this series, was erected in New York in front of the UN headquarters. The composition titled "Beat Swords into Plowshares" shows us a worker who bends a sword into a plow. The sculpture itself was supposed to symbolize the desire of all people in the world to fight for disarmament and the onset of the triumph of peace on Earth.
The first part of the trilogy "Rear to Front", located in Magnitogorsk, symbolizes the Soviet rear, which ensured the country's victory in that terrible war. On the sculpture, a worker hands over a sword to a Soviet soldier. It is understood that this is the Sword of Victory, which was forged and raised in the Urals, later it was raised by the "Motherland" in Stalingrad. The city in which a radical turning point in the war came, and Hitlerite Germany suffered one of its most significant defeats. The third monument in the "Liberator Warrior" series lowers the Sword of Victory in the very lair of the enemy - in Berlin.
The reasons why it was Magnitogorsk that had such an honor - to become the first Russian city in which a monument to home front workers was erected, should not surprise anyone. According to statistics, every second tank and every third shell during the war years was fired from Magnitogorsk steel. Hence the symbolism of this monument - an employee of a defense plant, standing in the East, hands over a forged sword to a front-line soldier who is sent to the West. Where the trouble came from.
Later, this sword forged in the rear will be carried up in Stalingrad on Mamayev Kurgan "Motherland". In the place where there was a turning point in the war. And already at the end of the composition "The Liberator Warrior" will lower the sword on the swastika in the very center of Germany, in Berlin, completing the defeat of the fascist regime. A beautiful, laconic and very logical composition that unites the three most famous Soviet monuments dedicated to the Great Patriotic War.
Despite the fact that the Sword of Victory began its journey in the Urals and finished it in Berlin, the monuments of the triptych were built in the reverse order. So the monument "Soldier-Liberator" was erected in Berlin in the spring of 1949, the construction of the monument "Motherland Calls!" ended in the fall of 1967. And the first monument of the series "Rear - Front" was ready only in the summer of 1979.
"Rear - to the front"
Monument "Rear - Front"
The authors of this monument are sculptor Lev Golovnitsky and architect Yakov Belopolsky. Two main materials were used to create the monument - granite and bronze. The height of the monument is 15 meters, while outwardly it looks much more impressive. This effect is created by the fact that the monument is located on a high hill. The central part of the monument is a composition that consists of two figures: a worker and a soldier. The worker is oriented to the east (in the direction where the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works was located), and the warrior looks to the west. There, where the main hostilities took place during the Great Patriotic War. The rest of the monument in Magnitogorsk is an eternal flame, which was made in the form of a star-flower made of granite.
An artificial hill was erected on the bank of the river for the installation of the monument, the height of which was 18 meters (the base of the hill was specially reinforced with reinforced concrete piles so that it could withstand the weight of the installed monument and did not collapse over time). The monument was made in Leningrad, and in 1979 it was installed on the spot. The monument was also supplemented by two human-height trapezoids, on which the names of residents of Magnitogorsk, who received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union during the war, were listed. In 2005, another part of the monument was opened. This time, the composition was supplemented with two triangles, on which you can read the names of all residents of Magnitogorsk who died during the hostilities in 1941-1945 (a little more than 14 thousand names are listed in total).
"Rear - to the front"
Monument "Motherland Calls!"
Monument "Motherland Calls!" is located in the city of Volgograd and is the compositional center of the monument-ensemble "To the Heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad", which is located on the Mamayev Kurgan. This statue is considered one of the tallest on the planet. Today it is ranked 11th in the Guinness Book of Records. At night, the monument is effectively illuminated by spotlights. This sculpture was designed by sculptor E. V. Vuchetich and engineer N. V. Nikitin. The sculpture on the Mamayev Kurgan represents the figure of a woman standing with a sword raised up. This monument is a collective allegorical image of the Motherland, which calls on everyone to unite in order to defeat the enemy.
Drawing some analogy, one can compare the statue "The Motherland Calls!" with the ancient goddess of victory Nika of Samothrace, who also called on her children to repel the forces of the invaders. Subsequently, the silhouette of the sculpture "The Motherland Calls!" was placed on the coat of arms and flag of the Volgograd region. It should be noted that the peak for the construction of the monument was created artificially. Prior to this, the highest point of the Mamaev Kurgan in Volgograd was the territory, which was located 200 meters from the current peak. Currently, there is the Church of All Saints.
"The Motherland Calls!"
The creation of the monument in Volgograd, excluding the pedestal, took 2,400 tons of metal structures and 5,500 tons of concrete. At the same time, the total height of the sculptural composition was 85 meters (according to other sources, 87 meters). Before starting the construction of the monument, a foundation was dug on the Mamayev Kurgan for a statue 16 meters deep, and a two-meter slab was installed on this foundation. The height of the 8000-ton statue itself was 52 meters. In order to provide the necessary rigidity of the frame of the statue, 99 metal cables were used, which are in constant tension. The thickness of the walls of the monument, made of reinforced concrete, does not exceed 30 cm, the inner surface of the monument consists of separate chambers that resemble the structures of a residential building.
The original 33-meter sword, which weighed 14 tons, was made of stainless steel with a titanium sheath. But the huge size of the statue led to a strong swing of the sword, especially in windy weather. As a result of such influences, the structure gradually deformed, the sheets of titanium cladding began to shift, and an unpleasant metallic rattle appeared when the structure swayed. To eliminate this phenomenon, the reconstruction of the monument was organized in 1972. During the work, the blade of the sword was replaced with another, which was made of fluorinated steel, with holes made in the upper part, which were supposed to reduce the effect of the windage of the structure.
"The Motherland Calls!"
Once the chief sculptor of the monument, Yevgeny Vuchetich, told Andrei Sakharov about his most famous sculpture "The Motherland Calls!" “My bosses often asked me why a woman’s mouth was open, it’s ugly,” Vuchetich said. The famous sculptor answered this question: "And she shouts - for the Motherland … your mother!"
Monument "Warrior-Liberator"
On May 8, 1949, on the eve of the fourth anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany, a grand opening of a monument to Soviet soldiers who died during the storming of the German capital took place in Berlin. The Liberator Warrior monument was erected in Berlin's Treptower Park. Its sculptor was E. V. Vuchetich, and the architect was Y. B. Belopolsky. The monument was opened on May 8, 1949, the height of the warrior's sculpture itself was 12 meters, its weight is 70 tons. This monument has become a symbol of the victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War, and it also personifies the liberation of all European peoples from fascism.
The sculpture of a soldier with a total weight of about 70 tons was produced in the spring of 1949 in Leningrad at the Monumental Sculpture plant, it consisted of 6 parts, which were then transported to Germany. Work on the creation of a memorial complex in Berlin was completed in May 1949. On May 8, 1949, the memorial was solemnly opened by the Soviet commandant of Berlin, Major General A. G. Kotikov. In September 1949, all responsibilities for the care and maintenance of the monument were transferred by the Soviet military commandant's office to the magistrate of Greater Berlin.
"Warrior-Liberator"
The center of the Berlin composition is a bronze figure of a Soviet soldier standing on the wreckage of a fascist swastika. In one hand he holds a lowered sword, and with the other hand he supports the saved German girl. It is assumed that the prototype for this sculpture was a real Soviet soldier Nikolai Maslov, a native of the village of Voznesenka, Tisulsky district, Kemerovo region. During the storming of the German capital in April 1945, he saved a German girl. Vuchetich himself created the "Warrior - Liberator" monument from the Soviet paratrooper Ivan Odarenko from Tambov. And for the girl, 3-year-old Svetlana Kotikova, who was the daughter of the commandant of the Soviet sector of Berlin, posed for the sculpture. It is curious that in the sketch of the monument the soldier was holding an automatic rifle in his free hand, but at the suggestion of Stalin, the sculptor Vuchetich replaced the automatic rifle with a sword.
The monument, like all three monuments of the triptych, is located on a bulk mound, a staircase leads to the pedestal. There is a round hall inside the pedestal. Its walls were decorated with mosaic panels (by the artist A. V. Gorpenko). The panel depicted representatives of various peoples, including the peoples of Central Asia and the Caucasus, laying wreaths at the grave of Soviet soldiers. Above their heads, in Russian and German, it is written: “Nowadays everyone recognizes that the Soviet people, by their selfless struggle, saved the civilization of Europe from the fascist pogromists. This is the great merit of the Soviet people to the history of mankind. In the center of the hall was a cube-shaped pedestal, made of polished black stone, on which a gold box with a parchment book in red morocco binding was installed. This book contains the names of the heroes who fell in the battles for the German capital and were buried in mass graves. The dome of the hall was decorated with a chandelier with a diameter of 2.5 meters, which is made of crystal and rubies, the chandelier reproduces the Order of Victory.
"Warrior-Liberator"
In the fall of 2003, the sculpture "Liberator Warrior" was dismantled and sent for restoration work. In the spring of 2004, the restored monument returned to its rightful place. Today this complex is the center of commemorative celebrations.
