Cape Khrustalny, which is the southern edge of Sevastopol Bay, is considered one of the «guardians» protecting the entrance to the hero-city. This Crimean version of Scylla and Harbida. Standing on the cape, a tourist can simultaneously see the Black Sea, stretching all the way to the Turkish shores, and the historical center of the favorite base of Russian and Ukrainian sailors. Clearly opposite the southern shore is the so-called North side of Sevastopol Bay. It is adorned by the Konstantinovsky Ravelin, one of the most powerful fortifications of the southeastern edge of the Crimean Peninsula.
But, in 2007 on Cape Khrustalnoye appeared a construction that overshadowed the glory of even the Konstantinovsky battery. This is the so-called Victory Memorial, the time of construction of which exceeded all reasonable terms and is second only to the period spent on the construction of the Cologne Cathedral. Although, according to legend, the German city should fall when the temple is finished. That is why the locals are in no hurry to «surrender» the cathedral.
The construction of the Victory Memorial began in 1977. The place was chosen symbolically — in 1945, it was from this cape that the salute that marked the Victory was given. First of all, the rocks of Khrustalny were crowned with the Obelisk. Its height is equal to 40 meters. It is like a folded sail leaning on a giant bayonet. In addition, it is clearly visible to all who follow the city along the fairway of Sevastopol Bay. According to the idea of the creators, the Obelisk should symbolize the unity of the army and navy, without which the Victory would have been impossible. The author of the construction is a team of Kiev architects — employees of the capital’s design institute. They are artists Belostotsky, Suprun, Petroshevich and military engineer Umansky. Zharikov led the team. The cost of the project amounted to 6 million Soviet rubles.
According to the idea, the local Victory Memorial was to become one of the largest structures in the former Soviet Union, carrying the memory of the events of World War II into the future. For example, on the scale of Volgograd’s Mamaev Kurgan, Kiev’s Motherland or Moscow’s Victory Park.
When the Obelisk rose above the city, work on the construction of the next components of the memorial stalled. The reason for the delays is attributed to a lack of funding. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, at the session of the city council more than once there were proposals to demolish the entire complex. Once the deputies even tried to put the territory «with construction materials» on auction. But they were unable to cope with the opposition to their idea from the veterans’ union and the Russian Society of Sevastopol.
By the way, it was veterans who demanded in 2004 that Sergei Kunitsyn, former Sevastopol mayor and current Chairman of the Crimean Council of Ministers, complete the construction of the Victory Memorial. The unfinished complex was called a «shameful spectacle» and the pain of the surviving defenders of the city and relatives of fallen soldiers.
Six years of work and 20 million hryvnias made it possible for the second part of the complex to appear. It is a giant sculptural group depicting a Sailor and a Soldier rising to the attack. The chemical composition of the material from which both figures are made is still a secret. Only the height of the heroic tandem is known — 41 meters. «Soldier and Sailor» attack the enemy, moving on a giant podium lined with granite. The total area of Cape Khrustalny, which has undergone facing with granite, marble and cultural landscaping, is equal to 15 thousand square meters.
According to the idea, these sights of Sevastopol were supposed to become the main architectural dominant of the hero-city. According to the beautiful idea of the Kiev authors, it was the Obelisk with the «Soldier and Sailor» that should have been the first to meet the ships coming to Sevastopol Bay. But, the general impression is a little spoiled by the hotel, erected between the sea and the Obelisk. According to unverified rumors, it belongs to the same Kunitsyn. And in order for the hotel to appear on the front facade of Sevastopol, the Crimean «herostrat» destroyed the ancient customs building.