In the Alexandrovsky Gardens by the Kremlin wall, not far from the Corner Arsenal Tower, is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a memorial to heroes who perished in the Second World War. The ashes were brought from a communal grave just outside Moscow (at the 41st kilometre along Leningrad Highway where there was fierce fighting) and buried here in a ceremony at the beginning of December 1966, on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the defeat of Hitler's army outside Moscow. On 8 May, 1967 on the eve of Victory Day, the anniversary of the Soviet people's victory over Nazi Germany, the Eternal Flame of Glory was lit on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It was brought from the Field of Mars in Leningrad, where the Eternal Flame burns in memory of the heroes of the Great October Socialist Revolution.

The Eternal Flame on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

      The tongues of flame rise from the centre of a five-pointed bronze star set in polished granite. Next to the star is the inscription: "Your name is unknown. Your feat is immortal." In the background, near the Kremlin wall, is a tombstone of polished red granite with a sculptural composition showing a military banner with heavy folds lying on a slab, and a soldier's helmet and laurel wreath, the symbol of grief and glory, resting on the banner. A granite pylon to the left of the tomb is engraved with the words: "1941. To those who perished for their Motherland. 1945." On the right set in the Kremlin wall are monumental blocks of red porphyry containing capsules of earth from hero-cities. The honorary title of Hero-City has been awarded to Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev, Minsk, Volgograd, Sevastopol, Odessa, Novorossiisk, Kerch, Tula, the Brest Fortress, Murmansk and Smolensk, towns renowned for their heroic defence during World War II. Each block bears the name of the town and a chased representation of the Gold Star medal.
      The monument was designed by the architects Dmitry Burdin, Vladimir Klimov and Yuri Rabayev and the sculptor Nikolai Tomsky. They solved the complex task of inserting a modern memorial structure into the historical ensemble of the Kremlin with great tact. The monument is compositionally linked with the symmetrical row of merlons on the Kremlin walls. Unity of colour treatment enhances the impression of complete harmony.
      Nearby is a Memorial Obelisk to outstanding thinkers and fighters for the emancipation of the working people. It was set up in 1918, on the eve of the first anniversary of the October Socialist Revolution. The four-sided column of grey granite tapering at the top stands on a cube-shaped stone base. For this new revolutionary monument the architect Nikolai Vsevolozhsky made use of an old obelisk set up in 1913 to commemorate the tercentenary of the tsarist Romanov Dynasty, which was overthrown in February 1917.
      The obelisk, one of the first monuments of Soviet Russia, bears nineteen names: Karl Marx (1818-83) and Frie-drich Engels (1820-95), Wilhelm Liebknecht (1826-1900), Ferdinand Lassalle (1825-64), August Bebel (1840-1913), Tommaso Campanella (1568-1639), Jean Meslier (1664-1729), Gerrard Winstanley (1609-52), Thomas More (1478-1535), Clod Henri Saint-Simon (1760-1825), Edouard Vaillant (1840-1915), Charles Fourier (1772-1837), jean Jaures (1859-1914), Pierre Joseph Proud-hon (1809-65), Mikhail Bakunin (1814-76), Nikolai Chernyshevsky (1828-89), Pyotr Lavrov (1823-1900), Nikolai Mikhailovsky (1824-1904) and Georgi Plekhanov (1856-1918).
      In 1967, in connection with the setting up of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier memorial, the obelisk was moved closer to the Middle Arsenal Tower of the Kremlin. Here, in the Alexandrovsky Gardens, by these cherished memorials, begins the path leading to Red Square and the Lenin Mausoleum, a place of pilgrimage for the Soviet peoples.