Plevna Chapel

The chapel on a 19th-century photochrom postcard
The chapel in 2017

The Plevna Chapel is a public subscription monument to the Russian Grenadiers who died during the Siege of Plevna. It was opened on a square outside the Ilyinka Gate of the Walled City in Moscow on the 10th anniversary of the taking of Pleven (1887), in the presence of Field Marshal Nikolai Nikolayevich.[1] The monument was designed by Vladimir Sherwood. Each side is decorated with a high relief plaque illustrating the exploits of the Grenadiers. The interior, now empty, once housed a set of bronze plaques listing 18 Grenadier officers and 542 soldiers who died at Plevna. An annual memorial service is held in front of the chapel on March 3 (the day of Bulgaria's liberation). In the Perestroika years, the surrounding park used to be notorious as a gay cruising ground.[2]

  1. ^ "Достопримечательности Москвы. Часовня-памятник гренадёрам, павшим под Плевной. Китай-город".
  2. ^ "Московских геев лишают места сбора".