Monument on Prokhorovsky field: photo, history, description

After the victory of the Soviet people in the most terrible war, unleashed by fascist Germany, throughout the country began to rise memorial complexes and monuments that reflect the events of those years. Strange as it may seem, but even after five decades, only a modest museum and several tools that survived after the battle, replaced the monument on the Prokhorovsky Field, where the battle took place, a turning point in that war.

Grumbling of the public and mute reproach of the boundless field

In the early 90s a question about the opening of the memorial complex on the Prokhorov field was raised by a group of publicists of the Kursk and Belgorod regions, on the border of which the terrain is located, where that famous tank battle took place. The reason for this was an article in Pravda by a prominent statesman Nikolai Ryzhkov, who was indignant at the fact that there was no monument worthy of this event in the area. On the site of the death of thousands of Soviet soldiers it was proposed to build an Orthodox church. It was to some extent replace the monument that was not built by the Soviet soldiers on the Prokhorovsky field. Photo of the terrain on which only fragments of shells hidden in the ground reminded of the glorious battle served as a weighty argument for silent condemnation of descendants.

To the 50th anniversary of the Great Victory

Soon a fundraising was announced for the construction of the temple, and after a while, in November 1993, another article by Ryzhkov appeared in which he compared Prokhorov's battle, the Battle of Kulikovo on September 16, 1380, and the victory of Russian troops near Borodino on August 26, 1812, as three The most important events for Russian history. The thoughts expressed by the author of the article changed the plans of the public group for the erection of the temple: it was decided to erect a real memorial complex in the field near Prokhorovka in memory of the battle.

Acting head of the administration of the Belgorod region Evgeny Savchenko - one of the initiators of the construction of the complex - appealed to the Council of Ministers of the Russian Federation with a request to partially finance the project from the state treasury. From the idea to build a temple, the public did not refuse either - it should form part of the complex. Savchenko's request was heard, and money for construction was allocated, and a monument on the Prokhorovsky field Was to be erected to the 50th anniversary of the Victory. The project was commissioned to the famous sculptor, a native of the Kursk region, Vyacheslav Klykov.

At that time in the list of successful works Klykov already numbered about two hundred sculptures built on his sketches. One of them is a monument to Marshal Zhukov, established at the Historical Museum in Moscow. At that time, Vyacheslav Mikhailovich had been planning for several years to build a majestic monument on the Prokhorovsky Field. The history of the Fatherland, according to the author's intention, was to find its reflection in it. For the Memorial Complex, Klykov developed a project of a unique Belfry, which became both a monument to the great battle, and a symbol of three historical victories, about which Ryzhkov wrote.

Opening of the Victory Monument on the Prokhorovsky Field

Two kilometers from Prokhorovka, on a hill more than two hundred meters high, in memory of the battle that occurred on July 12, 1943, the Memorial Complex "Belfry" was erected. Its opening took place on May 3, 1995. Presidents of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus were personally present at the ceremony, thus attesting to how valuable to the three states the exploit of the Soviet soldiers and the monument erected by him on the Prokhorov field. The description of this important event appeared in many newspapers, not only in Russia. Lighting of the Bell of Unity on Belfry, crowned by the gilded figure of the Mother of God, was made by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II.

And opposite the Memorial complex was built, in a rather uncharacteristic style for Orthodoxy, a beautiful temple. All the walls in it, from floor to ceiling, are hung with signs on which the names of the soldiers killed in the tank battle near Prokhorovka are knocked out .

Four Pylon Pylons

The author of the majestic Belfry, Vyacheslav Klykov, considered it her best creation. It is difficult to disagree with his opinion. The monument on the Prokhorov field is the very Belfry, standing four pylons in some distance from each other, symbolizing the four years of the war. The pylons in the upper part are connected by a gilded dome, on which there is a statue of the Virgin.

Pylons Belfries are decorated with 24 bas-reliefs. Among the many compositions that tell this or that history of the Russian State, you can find images of Prince Dmitry Donskoy, and General-Field Marshal Kutuzov, and Marshal Zhukov - only about 130 historical images.

The first pylon, which marks the beginning of the war, is turned to the west, from where it came in 1941 to the Soviet land misfortune. The northern pylon is facing Kursk, where the Root Miracle-working icon of the Mother of God - intercession of Russia from the XII century - is installed. For 1942, the turning point of the war, the patronage of the power of the saints was of great importance.

The eastern pylon symbolizes liberation from enemies - it was from the East that the whole of 1943 went to the walls of the Reichstag, the army of liberators. In the southern pylon, the meaning of the Victory itself is embodied in the image of St. George the Victorious, who adorned the top of the pylon.

Three epochs in Prokhorovka

As already mentioned, Ryzhkov's idea to give Prokhorov's battle the value of the third battlefield in the history of Russia was liked by the organizers of the memorial complex and was realized not only in the bas-reliefs of Belfry. Under her dome, an alarm bell was hung at a weight of three and a half tons, which rings every 20 minutes for an hour. The first ringing reminds of those who died in the Battle of Kulikovo, the second - about those who died in the battle of Borodino. The third sounds in memory of those whose place of eternal rest was Prokhorovka.

In 2006, the sculptor Vyacheslav Klykov died, but his son Andrey continued the work of his father. In 2008, not far from Belfry, he installed three busts of great generals: Dmitry Donskoy, Mikhail Kutuzov and Georgy Zhukov. In the late 2000s, another monument was erected on the Prokhorovsky Field - Vyacheslav Klykov himself was working for A Shishkov. He stands at the foot of Belfry and as if admiring his best work.

The meaning of the Battle of Prokhorovka

Many battles of the Great Patriotic War are worthy of the memory of grateful descendants, like the one that began on the second day of the war and lasted a whole week at the Brody-Rivne-Lutsk section in Western Ukraine. And only the defeat of our troops did not bring him a worthy glory. Two years later, on July 12, 1943, the Battle of Kursk ended with our victory. In honor of her, a monument was erected on the Prokhorovsky Field. Pictures with which the pylons are painted Belfry, as if they tell a reliable story of that tank battle and other significant events. They can be studied as a textbook on the history of the State of Russia - in them the whole military glory of the Motherland.