The Alyosha monument — a 17-metre statue of a Soviet soldier holding a submachine gun — stands on the highest of Plovdiv's hills, visible from much of the city. It was built to commemorate the Soviet soldiers who died liberating Bulgaria from German occupation in 1944, and the figure's gaze points northwest, toward Soviet Russia.
Whatever your views on the politics of the monument, the hilltop location is genuinely worth the climb for the panorama it offers. The view from the base of the statue extends across Plovdiv in all directions — the Rhodope Mountains to the south, the Balkan range to the north, the flat Thracian Plain stretching east toward Stara Zagora and the Black Sea coast. The hill itself (Bunardjik) is a public park.