Monument without a head. As General Totleben stood with two caps.

Hi, Steemians…

I already wrote in one of the previous posts, my city turned out to be so rich in historical events that I had enough of them for many years. Half of the city’s monuments are devoted to the defense of the city during the Crimean Military Company of 1853-1855.

One of the heroes of this war was Edward Totleben, who led the engineering defense of Sevastopol .In addition to building fortifications, in his subordination were detachments of soldiers and sailors who dug underground passages and laid powerful mines there.

This strategy was used by both sides of the military conflict. - Russian troops from one side and coalition troops from Turkey, France and Great Britain. As contemporaries of this war believed, it was Totleben's talent that helped the city hold a siege for almost two years.

n honor of all his military achievements, in 1909 a monument was opened to him. It was made according to sketches by amateur artist General Alexander Bilderling and cast in bronze with a scleptor Ivan Schroeder. This is an impressive monument with a height of 14 meters, surrounded by six figures.

These figures depict soldiers and sailors of six types of troops involved in the defense. Among them is the sapper's figure in the underground gallery. This figure is the least visible, but for our story it is the main one. Because after almost a hundred years, the Second World War began and our city again fell on the defensive of 1941-1942.

According to one version, at the very end of the defense, Totleben's head was blown off the monument with a blast wave. Soon after, German troops entered the city. The city was almost completely destroyed and no one began to restore it. But they decided to repair the monument to Totleben, because it was originally German. .

But the question arose - where to get the bronze head? And then they decided to cut off the head of the sapper and attach it to Totleben's body. So did.

In the process of installing the head, they did not take into account that Totleben at the monument holds his cap in his hand. So the architectural phenomenon appeared. A general with a strange head in a soldier's cap holds an officer's cap in his hand.

They say that this photo below is the only one that confirms this version. Although it can not figure out almost anything

Immediately after the liberation of the city in May 1944, Totleben's new head was cast by special order. She was brought and installed, and the sapper got his back.

Now no one can say for sure where the truth is in this story with the head of the sapper, and where is the lie ...

But if you come closer to the monument and look closely at the neck of the sapcra, then the weld will be immediately noticeable.

Thank you all for reading and support!
Good luck everyone!