Do you love looking at candle fire? Probably few of us will say no. For some reason, the flame has a magical, bewitching effect on a person.
And the flame itself has been something magical since ancient times; one second we see the flame, the next it disappears, only to appear again. Therefore, the ancients believed that fire easily and simply unites the worlds.
When a person dies, the flame of his heart slowly fades away to be rekindled in another world. This is, of course, an image, but from it arose the tradition of lighting a fire in honor of the dead and dead.
To put it even more simply, fire is our memory, eternal fire is eternal memory.
Now, probably, in every city you can see a memorial or monument with an eternal flame.
For the older generation, this is not just a symbol of worship of a feat. This is an eternal connection with the dead, no matter how long ago it happened.
Fire has been considered a symbol of purification since ancient times. Do you think you just keep looking at the candle flame? No.
It turns out that our thoughts, passing through this flame, are also purified, everything superficial, everything unnecessary is burned, everything that remains is your truth. So it is very useful for a person to look at the fire from time to time.
Remember May 9... How the whole country freezes in mute silence, without taking its eyes off the flame of the eternal flame. This minute is a moment of strength for the whole country. At this moment there is an energetic unification of the entire family. Somewhere in some dimension, the gazes of the living and the dead meet.
This is just how they say that the gaze is unseeing..... What a seeing one, just not with an ordinary human eye, but rather with the soul.
In ancient times, when moving to a new house, it was a tradition to bring a pot of fire from the old house. This was done for a reason. This tradition had great meaning. With this fire, the connection with the ancestors, with the lineage of this family, was transferred to the new home.
Remember that a woman is a keeper family hearth? We're just used to thinking now that it's just a metaphor. And in ancient times, the fire in the house had to be constantly maintained, so the family connection was not lost.
It's like looking for someone in the dark with a flashlight. You'll find him faster if he also lights a flashlight, right?
We must always remember that certain traditions do not arise just like that. And if we don’t know something, it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist and never happened.
We are simply given this opportunity to forget. Sometimes this gift is useful, sometimes it is not. But we must remember and honor those who have passed on.
And we must not only remember those who gave their lives so that you and I could live and rejoice now. We must be worthy of them.
And when your gaze once again freezes on the flame of a burning fire, you mentally send gratitude and bow. You can rest assured that you will be seen and heard.
It seems to us that main role fire to warm our homes, make our lives more comfortable and cozy. It seems so to us...
And FIRE itself only smiles at human naivety. After all human knowledge Already at the “warm” level, but still far from “hot”.
I am always glad to see you on the pages of the site
For 50 years now, the flame of the Eternal Flame near the walls of the Kremlin has not been able to blow out the wind, cover the snow and pour in the rain. It is inextinguishable. However, this is not a miracle, but a complex technical device. On February 22, late in the evening, I was able to observe a unique moment - the ceremonial maintenance of the burner of the Sacred Flame, dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the Eternal Flame in the Alexander Garden.
A little educational history. The first in the USSR " Eternal Flame"was lit in the village of Pervomaisky, Shchekinsky district Tula region May 6, 1955 in memory of those who fell in the Great Patriotic War. However, the Eternal in every sense These words cannot be used to describe it, since its combustion regularly stopped. The first truly Eternal (never stopped burning) fire in the USSR was the fire lit on November 6, 1957 on the Field of Mars in Leningrad. Three Eternal Flames are currently burning in Moscow.
The eternal flame at the walls of the Kremlin was solemnly lit on May 8, 1967 by the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Leonid Brezhnev, who accepted the torch from the Hero Soviet Union military pilot Alexei Maresyev. Historical photo:
The MOSGAZ museum still preserves the portable gas torch with which Brezhnev lit the Eternal Flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The torch consists of a metal body, inside of which there is a liquefied gas cartridge and a burner. The torch is still operational.
In order to maintain the constant burning of the flame of the Eternal Flame, it is necessary to carry out preventive maintenance of the unique gas burner device. By the way, from the very first day of the lighting of the Eternal Flame at the walls of the Kremlin, for half a century now, the MOSGAZ company has been servicing it.
To prevent the flame from extinguishing during maintenance work, it was transferred to another burner using a special torch. The torch was carried by the developer of the Eternal Flame burner, Honored Inventor of the Russian Federation, Kirill Reader.
The temporary gas burner device is a smaller copy of the main burner. And it also has its own unique story, because it was thanks to him that in 2010 the sacred flame returned to the Alexander Garden after the reconstruction of the memorial from its temporary stay at Poklonnaya Hill.
Just in case of a fire, a candle is also lit nearby.
The star is lifted and taken to the side.
The star, by the way, is also not simple, but was created using space technologies at the country’s leading rocket enterprise - now RSC Energia named after Korolev.
Locksmiths are allowed to work highest category. They check the igniters, which are under high voltage.
In total, the burner design provides three igniters, which provide triple redundancy so that the Eternal Flame burns in any weather.
The burner of the Eternal Flame is supplied with ordinary natural gas, which is present in the homes of Muscovites. But it burns not with blue, but with bright yellow flames near the Kremlin wall, precisely because of the design of the burner.
I found an infographic on the Internet that clearly shows the burner design. Thanks AiF
After the procedure was completed, the entire structure was reassembled.
At the end, the flame of the Eternal Flame was lit by the head of MOSGAZ, Hasan Gasangadzhiev, and a veteran of the Great Patriotic War and the gas industry, Viktor Volkov.
The current inspection of all systems is special - timed to coincide with Defender of the Fatherland Day and the half-century anniversary of the monument itself, so all Russian federal television channels decided to capture this moment.
February 23, as always old tradition, at the Eternal Flame, Vladimir Putin honored the memory of the fallen soldiers by laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier...
The eternal flame symbolizes the courage and bravery of the soldiers who gave their lives for a brave cause. When the Nazi occupiers violated the non-aggression pact and treacherously invaded the territory of the Soviet Union, everyone, young and old, contributed as best they could to the Great Victory. Most of the boys and girls volunteered to go to the front to beat the enemy, those who did not go to the front stood behind the machines, making shells and tanks for the Soviet army, mostly these workers were children.
The first days and months of the war were very difficult and tense. With incredible courage and bravery soviet people defended their great Motherland. Volunteers were organized in Belarusian forests partisan detachments who by their actions tried to disrupt lightning plan to take over the Soviet Union by Adolf Hitler.
Opening of the first Eternal Flame of Glory
One of the first monuments to soldiers killed in battle was opened back in 1921. The memorial complex was built under Arc de Triomphe in the French capital - Paris.
In the collapsed Soviet Union, in Moscow, in honor of the celebration Great Victory in 1955, the Eternal Flame was solemnly lit at the monument. However, it is difficult to call it “eternal”, since it was lit periodically, only a few times a year:
- to celebrate Victory Day;
- on Armed Forces Day and Navy, later, since 2013, on Defender of the Fatherland Day;
- on the Day of Liberation of Shchekino.
The truly Eternal Flame is the fire in St. Petersburg ( former Leningrad), which was lit on November 6, 1957 on the Champ de Mars.
Today there are only three such memorial complexes in the capital. The first Eternal Flame was lit on February 9, 1961. Over time, the gas pipeline supplying gas wore out, and, starting in 2004, it was repair work were temporarily turned off, and by 2010 they were lit again.
Monuments and memorial complexes built in the 50-60s of the twentieth century have become fairly worn out by our time. Gas pipes leading to fire are especially affected. Therefore, the government annually allocates funds to reconstruct and replace pipes at many of the country's monuments as quickly as possible.
Photos of the memorial complex
The photo below shows the Eternal Flame at the Kremlin Wall, which was lit at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in 1967. The opening ceremony was chaired personally by Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev. In 2009, the fire was moved to Victory Park on Poklonnaya Hill. In 2010, it was returned again to the Kremlin wall.
Representatives of the Moscow Veterans Society made a proposal to open a memorial on Poklonnaya Hill. The public warmly supported this initiative, because such monuments symbolize eternal memory O fallen soldiers and teach modern youth not to forget the terrible pages of the history of their country.
The following remarkable and brave citizens were honored to light the Eternal Flame:
- Participant in combat operations during the defense of Moscow, honorary citizen, Chairman of the Council of War and Labor Veterans Vladimir Dolgikh.
- Hero of Russia Colonel Vyacheslav Sivko.
- Representative public organization Nikolai Zimogorodov.
After opening memorial complex this place has become the most visited in Russian capital. Not only Moscow residents come here, but also numerous tourists who want to see the sights of the hero city.
Is the Eternal Flame necessary?
Modern youth are less and less interested in history and those distant troubled days Great Patriotic War. There are fewer and fewer people left who passed through the fiery walls of hell in those years. But nevertheless, we must never forget about the feat that our fathers and grandfathers accomplished in the name of peace for future generations. One of these reminders are monuments and memorials with an eternal and unquenchable flame, reminiscent of heroic deeds soldiers on the battlefields.
When designing and restoring monuments, experts are thinking about how to make an Eternal Flame, but there are people and officials who are against this. They argue that they need extra material costs for installation and maintenance of gas exhaust pipes and burners. But it is very good that there are only a few such people, because the Eternal Flame symbolizes the eternal memory of the feat that people accomplished in the name of peace.
Where do veterans meet?
In many cities vast expanses Monuments and memorials with the Eternal Flame have been opened in Russia. These places have long become landmarks and calling cards of cities; they attract many people different ages, guests and tourists. For veterans, they serve as a meeting place and remembrance of distant war days and fallen comrades.
On the day of the celebration of the Great Victory over the Nazi occupiers, May 9, fresh flowers are brought to monuments and memorials and wreaths are laid. Here they very often set up a field kitchen for veterans with the mandatory one hundred grams of front-line food.
Eternal flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
During bloody battles huge amount soldiers and officers went missing. The remains of dead soldiers are still found on former places military operations. During the defense of Moscow back in 1941, a huge number of workers and soldiers were killed; in their honor, the monument “Tomb of the Unknown Soldier” was built in 1967. At its foot, pointed flames burst out from a bronze five-pointed star, symbolizing the unforgotten exploits of the heroes.
The Eternal Flame monument serves as a meeting place, because every day people bring fresh flowers to it, thereby honoring the memory of the soldiers who gave their lives for a bright future. It serves as a meeting place for students from Moscow (and not only) schools with war veterans. Each child then records what they see by creating a drawing. The eternal flame burns with a bright flame in young hearts.
Creating a drawing
How to draw the Eternal Flame? Before you start sketching, you need to look at it in person at least once. It is best to make a sketch without leaving the memorial, this way you can choose the most suitable angle. The monument should be photographed in order to complete the begun drawing at home.
On a piece of paper you need to sketch out the outline of the memorial. It is important to remember when creating a drawing: The eternal flame should not reach the edges of the sheet; two to three centimeters should be left. In this case, the image will turn out beautiful and voluminous. The sketch and the drawing itself should be done with a sharp pencil, drawing light lines.
Shutdown
The next step is to draw clearer outlines. Parents can give their children their advice on how to draw the Eternal Flame, but it is better to do it in the shape of a five-pointed star in the form of rays with all sides of the figure completed.
To add volume from each vertex of the star, we raise (lower) perpendicular lines relative to the entire picture and connect them parallel lines. The final moment will be connecting the center of the star with its vertices. After this, you should proceed directly to drawing the flame. It is better not to paint the tongues of fire in a flashy bright red color, but to make them orange-red.
Finally, use an eraser to remove all auxiliary lines and color the picture using colored pencils or watercolors.
Hero Cities
The inscription on the granite slab of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier memorial reads: your name unknown, your feat is immortal.” In continuation of the historical ensemble, parallel to the Kremlin wall, urns with soil taken from the hero cities were installed: Minsk and Leningrad, Sevastopol and Kyiv, Kerch and Volgograd, Brest and Smolensk, Tula and Murmansk.
As you can see in the photo, the “Eternal Flame” is a monument that is always crowded with people. The flame burns constantly, and the top of the memorial ensemble is decorated with a soldier's helmet cast in bronze, a laurel branch and a battle flag. On May 9, Victory Day, thousands of people come to look at the Eternal Flame, as well as veterans who take a minute of silence to honor the memory of the fallen soldiers who showed extraordinary courage and fortitude in the struggle for freedom during the Great Patriotic War.
Craft for Victory Day
The “Eternal Flame” craft, made with your own hands, will be the most beautiful and expensive gift that a schoolchild can give to his grandparents who fought. On the eve of the holiday, adults at school and at home should have a conversation with children about heroic deeds Soviet soldiers on the battlefields with the Nazi occupiers.
The craft is made from paper or other available materials. It should not be complicated so as not to discourage children from doing it. To make an Eternal Flame out of paper, a child will need perseverance, attentiveness, and the ability to use scissors and glue. Such crafts are best done by middle school students, fifth and sixth grade students. To make a gift you will need scissors, colored paper, glue, a simple pencil and a ruler. First you need to draw a star on the back of the colored paper, cut it out and glue it three-dimensional figure. You also need to do the same with the image of fire.
More possible in a simple way make the Eternal Flame with your own hands. To do this you will need the following ingredients: half a glass of flour, water and one tablespoon vegetable oil. Ask your elders or try to knead the dough yourself. From it, like from plasticine, mold a cake and press it down with something flat, such as a saucer or plate. From the resulting cake, cut out a five-pointed star with a knife. Make five small fire holes in the middle. To make flames you will need red colored paper. On back side you should draw the fire, then cut it out. There should be five flames. Having cut them out of paper, they need to be inserted into the holes made in the dough. The craft is ready, and you can give it to your grandparents!
The fire of Eternal Glory burns
Many representatives of the younger generation do not even know that their grandfathers and great-grandfathers once fought for the freedom of their Motherland. The primary task of teachers and parents is to work with children, aimed at ensuring that they do not lose the thin thread connecting the history of past glory and the realities of present life. Almost no one can answer the question of when the first Eternal Flame was lit; few can tell why it burns and what it symbolizes. Stories about war are an integral part in the upbringing and development of a child.
The eternal flame in Moscow and many cities in the vast expanses of the Motherland burns at the foot of memorial ensembles and monuments.
Memory is imperishable
In Cherkessk, during the celebration of Victory Day in 1967, a fire was solemnly lit at the memorial to the fallen liberating soldiers who gave their lives for the independence and freedom of Russia. From a conversation with the director of the local history center, S. Tverdokhlebov, it was possible to find out that he piece by piece collected information about the soldiers who died in the Great Patriotic War, defending the city of Cherkessk. Based on this material, a book was published and the memory of the heroes was immortalized in the form of a memorial complex with the Eternal Flame.
It is very important that the current generation never forgets about the terrible crimes against all humanity committed by the Nazi invaders, so that the horror of war that our grandfathers experienced is never repeated, especially since every year there are fewer and fewer living witnesses of those terrible and busy days.
The eternal flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the Alexander Garden has been burning for fifty years: it was lit on May 8, 1967. Why does it never go out? The answer is known to the person who participated in the development of the unquenchable burner.
“I can’t say about ‘never’,” smiles the inventor of the Eternal Flame burner, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Honored Inventor of Russia Kirill Reader,— but the resource will last for a long time!”
Half a century ago, a group of young employees of the Mosgazproekt research department received an important task from the Moscow City Council: within 2.5 months, to invent and construct a device that would become one of the symbols of Victory.
“We were “children of war,” recalls Kirill Fedorovich, “so for us this work meant special meaning. We survived the war too young and, due to our age, did not have time to do anything for Victory. Therefore, our contribution to it had to be the Eternal Flame, which, with our help, would perpetuate the memory of the heroes in the very center of Moscow. We had to come up with a burner that would work in any weather conditions, including rain, snow, strong wind loads. A whole series of samples were prepared, we compared, selected the best, spent a long time calculating, experimenting, and arguing. We were young, but well-trained and well-trained, and also hardworking: we came to work early morning, they were leaving - with the last tram. My mother called me “tenant” because I only came home to spend the night. There was a lot to do, but I always liked this lifestyle. He hasn't changed over time. My wife is not offended: she has long been accustomed to the fact that I am constantly at work...”
Kirill Reader and general manager Mosgaz OJSC Hasan Gasangadzhiev during the maintenance of the Eternal Flame burner in the Alexander Garden. Photo: RIA Novosti / Ilya Pitalev
How does this work
Fifty years ago, the conditions were difficult, the order was difficult, but young scientists managed, and now the fire can withstand winds of up to 18 meters per second. The secret of the “eternity” of the fire lies not only in the burner itself, but also in careful care of the device. Once a month, late in the evening, when the flow of tourists and walkers in the Alexander Garden dries up, a team of employees of JSC MOSGAZ comes to the Eternal Flame. They bring with them a temporary burner (a device the size of a household gas stove), onto which they transfer the fire from its main place with a special torch, and then stop the gas supply to the main burner. The eternal flame continues to burn, simply moving to another place, this does not harm it at all. Meanwhile, the main burner is inspected, thoroughly cleaned and all necessary technical manipulations are carried out. The whole procedure takes no more than 40 minutes, after which the gas supply is resumed, and the flame is transferred to a permanent “eternal” place using the same torch.
“This responsible attitude allows you to operate the burner without any unpleasant consequences,” says Reeder. — Sometimes we get calls from other cities: they say, help, what to do, the fire at the memorial goes out, and not even 10 years have passed! Of course, we help with advice and consult. But the main thing here is proper care. And this is precisely what is often missing.”
Reader invented and developed another famous Eternal Flame in Moscow: the one that burns today on Poklonnaya Hill. Wind loads there are much more serious, but the burner is ready to withstand gusts even up to 58 m/sec (this is already hurricane wind). So there is no doubt that the fire dedicated to warriors holy war, will never go out.
Guard of honor at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, 1982. Photo: RIA Novosti / Runov
The future of heating technology
The invention of the Eternal Flame burner is, of course, a very serious milestone in Kirill Fedorovich’s career, but not the only one. He begins to remember everything that he invented and developed in his life (boiler houses located on the roofs of multi-storey buildings, burners for burning biogas at aeration stations, devices for burning combinations natural gas and fuel oil), and considers each invention important and interesting. A man who has worked for many years at MosgazNIIproekt and is trying to make human life warmer in literally, and is now doing the same thing: trying to economically and safely heat as much as possible more people. Reader is the general director of the Ecoteplogaz enterprise. In his work book only two entries.
An interesting fact: at his dacha he installed a domestically produced heating boiler. “My neighbor comes to me and wonders why his foreign boiler, worth 30 thousand dollars, goes out every now and then, while mine, worth 9 thousand rubles, burns properly! — Kirill Fedorovich laughs. — But the fact is that imported units cannot withstand gas pressure drops in the networks, while ours tolerate them well. Changes occur during a sharp cold snap, when gas production increases significantly. Nothing can be done about this fact; these are the characteristics of our climate. Russian developers of heating equipment know this and provide for such a nuance in their products.”
According to Reeder, the future of thermal engineering lies in hydrogen fuel. Scientists have been working on the problem of burning hydrogen for many years, and sooner or later they will solve it. Reader has no plans to retire yet. His work experience has already spanned 55 years, but there is no talk of rest in the foreseeable future. “No, I won’t retire, it’s boring! - he says. — I get up in the morning with good mood, I always go to work with pleasure, which I love very much, and along the way I make plans for the day. In general, a lot makes me happy.”
This is " perpetual motion machine"The inventor of the Eternal Flame himself.
Eternal memory of someone or something. As a rule, it is included in the thematic
They always bring flowers to him, they come to bow, stand and be silent. It burns in any weather: winter and summer, at any time of the day: day and night, not allowing human memory to fade...
The eternal flame was lit in For example, in Ancient Greece, the Olympic flame burned without going out. In many temples it was supported by special priests as a shrine. Later this tradition migrated to ancient rome, where the eternal flame burned constantly in the Temple of Vesta. Before that, it was used by both the Babylonians and the Egyptians and Persians.
In modern times, the tradition began after the First World War, when a memorial was opened in Paris in 1921 unknown soldier- a monument, the Eternal Flame of which illuminates. In our country, for the first time it was solemnly lit not in the capital, but in the small village of Pervomaisky near Tula, at the monument to the heroes who fell in the Great Patriotic War. In Moscow today, three symbols of memory are burning at once: near and also on Poklonnaya Hill.
For many, military monuments are a sign of gratitude to those who were able to ward off the threat of fascism from the world, but the Eternal Flame is special. Sometimes it seems that the flame bursts out of the stone on its own, but this is not entirely true, since a person sees only the result of the work of very complex devices. The mechanism is a pipe through which gas is supplied to the device where a spark is created. This design requires periodic maintenance. Specialists regularly check the integrity of the pipeline, clean the mechanism that produces the spark from settling dust or carbon deposits, and update the outer lining, usually made of metal in the form of a torch or star.
Combustion inside the device occurs in a burner, where oxygen access is limited. The flame, coming out, flows around the cone through the holes in the crown. The eternal flame burns regardless of the weather: rain, snow or wind. Its design is thought out in such a way that it always remains protected. When there is no wind, the rain that falls into the cone is self-discharged through the drainage pipe, and the water that ends up at the bottom of the metal cylinder flows evenly out of the holes in it. And when there is a slanting downpour, the droplets, falling on a hot burner, immediately evaporate without reaching the core of the flame. The same thing happens with snow. Once inside the cone, it immediately melts as it comes out. At the bottom of the metal cylinder, the snow only surrounds the flame and cannot extinguish it in any way. And the teeth provided on the crown reflect gusts of wind, forming a kind of air barrier in front of the holes.
Memorials created in memory of fallen heroes, were installed in many cities former republics USSR. And almost everywhere they have been preserved, as evidenced by their numerous photographs. The eternal flame is a mandatory attribute of these memorials, remaining the holiest and most precious symbol of the memory of the feat.
