His Holiness Patriarch Kirill lays a wreath at the monument to Tsar Liberator Alexander II in Sofia

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill lays a wreath at the monument to Tsar Liberator Alexander II in Sofia

On 29 April 2012, after the divine service at the Cathedral of St. Alexander Nevsky, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and members of the delegation that accompanied him laid a wreath and flowers at the monument to the Emperor Alexander II on National Assembly Square in Sofia.

The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church was joined in honouring the memory of the Tsar Liberator by Metropolitan Dometian of Vidin, Bishop Tikhon of Tiberiopol, Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Bulgaria: Yu. Isakov of Russia, V. Kachanov of Belarus, N. Baltaji of Ukraine, and residents of the capital of Bulgaria.

They sang Memory Eternal and troparion of the Resurrection of Christ.

The monument was erected in honour of Russian Emperor Alexander II who liberated Bulgaria from the Ottoman rule during the Russo-=Turkish War of 1877-78.
The inauguration of the memorial, which is considered one of the best pieces of an Italian sculptor Arnoldo Zocchi, took place on 30 August 1907.

The main bronze-relief in the middle part depicts a group of Russian and Bulgarian soldiers, and the equestrian sculpture of Alexander II is atop.

Source: mospat.ru