Description of the attraction
On the central square of the city of Togliatti, since October 26, 1958, there has been a monument to the Fighters for Freedom. The author of the four-sided stele depicting outstanding Stavropol personalities was the chief architect of the city - Mikhail Sorokin.
In 1957, landscaping a new city square, young workers of the Strommashiny plant decided to build a monument at their own expense, collected by handing over scrap metal, waste paper, etc. The winner of the project competition was the monument to M. Sorokin with bas-reliefs of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War: infantryman V. I. Zhilin, pilot V. P. Nosov, sailor E. A. Nikonov and the first Stavropol city executive committee chairman V. V. Banykin (killed in 1918 year). Since November 1958, the area around the monument began to be called Freedom Square, festive demonstrations and city celebrations were held here, and the nearby boulevard became Youth.
In April 1975, in preparation for the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the victory in the Patriotic War, the obelisk of Glory was modified and reconstructed, removing decorative stone balls and chains around the edges, and also replacing the bas-reliefs of the heroes with bronze medallions with a profile, eventually revealing the monument with granite. On November 3, 1978, the Eternal Flame was delivered from the Samara Obelisk of Glory by a solemn column on an armored personnel carrier and lit at the foot of the monument to the Fighters for Freedom.
Nowadays, Freedom Square with the monument to the heroes of Togliatti is a landmark in the central part of the city, where newlyweds traditionally walk and city events are held.
