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Putin to attend ceremony to unveil Monument to Heroes of WWI on Poklonnaya Hill in Moscow

The overall weigh of the Monument together with the pedestal is about 100 tonnes

MOSCOW, August 01, 1:13 /ITAR-TASS/. Russia's President Vladimir Putin will attend a ceremony Friday to unveil a Monument to the Heroes of the First World War, the Kremlin press service reported.

The Monument unveiling ceremony will be one of key events dedicated to the centenary of the outbreak of WWI. The idea of erecting such a monument was suggested by the Russian Ministry of Culture. The Monument was made by scupltors Andrey Kovalchuk, P. Lyubimov, V. Yusupov, and architects Mikhail Korsi and S. Shlyonkina.

A decision to erect the Monument in a place between the Arch of Triumph and the Museum of the Great Patriotic War was made in April 2013. An open contest for the best design of the monument was held with the backing of the Culture Ministry and the Russian Miliary History Society. A drive was also organized to collect money for the creation of the Monument, which consists of two elements: the figure of a Russian soldier, who went through the war and became a holder of St George Cross medals, and a multifigure composition embodying the flag of Russia. The soldier is shown wearing an overcoat roll and his chest bemedalled with St. George Crosses

The overall weigh of the Monument together with the pedestal is about 100 tonnes.

The Moscow city authorities allocated 74 million roubles for the erection of the Monument.

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