Alyosha Monument, Soviet Army monument on Bunardzhik Hill, Plovdiv, Bulgaria

Alyosha is a 10.5-metre reinforced-concrete figure of a Soviet soldier on a 6-metre pedestal clad in syenite and granite, set on Bunardzhik Hill above Plovdiv. The soldier faces east and holds a PPSh submachine gun pointed at the ground. Two bas-reliefs wrap the pedestal: "The Soviet Army Defeats the Enemy" and "The People Welcome the Soviet Soldiers". A wide staircase of one hundred steps leads up to the monument.

The idea of a monument on Bunardzhik Hill dates to 1948, when a city committee led by General Asen Grekov was formed and a symbolic foundation laid on 9 May. A national competition followed; the winning project, "Red Bogatyr" under Vasil Radoslavov, was approved in June 1950 after the planned three-figure composition was reduced to the soldier alone. The monument was built in 1954–1957 and unveiled on 5 November 1957.

Locals call the soldier Alyosha after the Russian nickname and link it to personal memories spanning several political eras. Families with children now walk up to the hill and use the area as a lookout over the entire city.

The walk from the city center to the hill takes around 20 minutes on foot through paved and unpaved sections with uphill bends. Once at the top you find seating and several platforms from which views stretch across Plovdiv.

Unlike many comparable monuments in Eastern Europe, Alyosha remained in its original place after 1989 and was neither dismantled nor relocated. The pedestal repeatedly becomes the target of artistic interventions where layers of paint are applied and reignite debate about memory culture.