Photo: lvivcentre.org
Lviv activists completed the dismantling of the Soviet monument, which was located at the military memorial Marsove Pole («Field of Mars») on the Mechnikova street, 7. The works lasted from October 25-27, after which the monument was brought to the Lviv museum «Territory of Terror». This information was reported on the Facebook pages of the patriotic movement «Society of the Future. Lviv« and the museum.
Read also: Hammer and sickle monument to be dismantled on Marsove Pole in Lviv
Volodymyr Lysak, the member of «Society of the future. Lviv», was the initiator of the dismantling who had appealed to the Lviv City Council for its completion.
«I am truly glad that this symbol of totalitarianism will finally be removed from the district in which I live. I hope that in the near future, similar stars will also be dismantled on Pasichna street», – Volodymyr Lysak commented.
The monument from Marsove Pole consists of the star with hammer and sickle, which were the traditional symbols of the Soviet Union. It is made of bronze and has the size of 3.6 x 3.6 metres, weighing one and a half tonnes. It was created in 1974-1976, during the reconstruction of Marsove Pole, which then became the cemetery for Soviet soldiers and the members of NKVD (the Soviet Union’s interior ministry). Before that, it had been the place of burial of Ukrainian Sich Riflemen (a Ukrainian legion of the Austro-Hungarian army), exhumed in the Soviet period. Also, during the first decade of Ukrainian Independence, 400 victims of Bolshevik terror were reburied in Marsove Pole.
The Lviv City Council made the decision on the dismantling in July this year, and on October 8, it announced the architectural contest to define the further development of this area. At the same time, the works were financed by the museum-reserve «Lychakiv cemetry», to which Marsove Pole belongs. After being removed, the monument became a sample in the museum of totalitarian regimes «Territory of Terror».
We will add that after Lviv’s decision in July, the Russian Ministry of External Affairs sent a note of protest to Kyiv, condemning the Ukrainian course for removing the Soviet monuments related to World War Two.
By Vitalii Holich
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