Under the walls of Poltava 275 years ago, the fate of the Fatherland was decided. In this city, many things remind of the famous battle, lovingly preserved monuments of antiquity. The most precious relics stolen by the enemy during the Nazi occupation were found, and much of what was barbarously destroyed by the Nazis in 1941-1943 was restored. Of the 176 historical and cultural monuments of the city, 1 22 monuments relate to the Battle of Poltava. Their past is of considerable interest. The first monument to this battle was a high hill, popularly called the Swedish Grave, with a wooden cross at the top. Here, on June 28, 1709, the day after the battle, 1,345 Russian soldiers were buried. On their grave, Peter I placed a cross with the inscription: "Pious soldiers, who were crowned with blood for their piety, died from the incarnation of God the Word 1709, June 27 of the day" 2. And on July 27 of the same year, the tsar gave instructions to the Monastery order "as a sign and eternal reminder of that glorious Victoria on the very place where he the battle was, namely, not far from Poltava, to build a monastery for men and a stone church in it... And before the church to make a stone pyramid with the image on it of the person of his sovereign in perfect age on a horse, cast out of yellow copper, and under it a battle of the kindest art, and on the sides of that pyramid, on the same copper boards, arrange an inscription declaring all the benefits from the entry into Ukraine of that King of Sweden battles " 3 . However, Peter's order was not carried out. In the 1730s, Poltava residents placed a wooden post with a quatrain carved on it in the place indicated by them.: "On these fields Peter had a battle with Charles, and the Swedes were scattered like dust by a stormy wind, the universe was terrified by the Russian power, and he went back with victory and glory" 4 . After standing for several decades, the pillar collapsed. In 1778, the mayor of the Poltava magistrate P. ... Read more