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Putin attends ceremony to unveil monument to medieval Prince Alexander Nevsky

The monument is more than 20 meters tall and was built to mark the 800th anniversary since Alexander Nevsky’s birth

SAMOLVA VILLAGE /Pskov Region/, September 12. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday attended a ceremony to unveil a monument to Russian medieval prince and saint Alexander Nevsky in northwestern Russia’s Pskov Region on Saturday.

"Today we are unveiling a majestic memorial complex to honor defenders of the Russian land. Here, at Lake Chudskoe, Prince Alexander Nevsky and his retinue defeated foreign invaders, defended Novgorod and Pskov and, in fact, the entire Ancient Rus as well. This victory became a symbol of Russia’s military glory," Putin said.

The ceremony was also attended by Russian presidential aide and chairman of the Russian Military-Historical Society Vladimir Medinsky, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill and Pskov Region Governor Mikhail Vedernikov.

The monument, named Prince Alexander Nevsky and his Retinue, is more than 20 meters tall and was built in the village of Samolva in the Pskov Region to mark the 800th anniversary since Alexander Nevsky’s birth. The structure is centered around a 50-tonne sculptural composition comprising the figures of the prince and his knights and above them - a bannerol and two banners featuring faces of the saints. The back of the memorial, facing the presumed site of the 1242 battle, consists of a mosaic frieze.