The Bronze Soldier is a Soviet-era war memorial — a bronze figure of a grieving soldier — that has become the most politically charged monument in Estonia. Originally erected in 1947 at Tõnismägi in the city centre, it marked a Soviet war grave and was the focus of Russian-speaking communities' commemorations.
When Estonia moved it to the Tallinn Military Cemetery in 2007, it sparked one of the most significant geopolitical incidents in post-Soviet Baltic history. Today the statue stands among the graves of Soviet soldiers in the military cemetery south of the city, surrounded by both Russian and Estonian national flowers left by separate groups of mourners. The cemetery itself is peaceful and dignified.