Monument to the Sanitary Heroes, Bucharest, Historic monument in central Bucharest, Romania.

The Monument to the Sanitary Heroes, by Italian sculptor Raffaello Romanelli, stands in Piața Operei, at the junction of Splaiul Independenței and Bulevardul Eroilor Sanitari, near the National Opera and the Faculty of Medicine. Its white-yellowish marble base has high overlapping steps; the third level carries a frieze of high reliefs showing stretcher-bearers, surgeons operating, a nurse dressing a wound and a field hospital. Four columns rise from that step to support a marble platform with a bronze group: a fallen naked hero, a symbolic female figure holding a sword and a wreath, and a medical orderly awaiting the mark of glory.

The monument was erected in 1932, during the mayoralty of Dem. I. Dobrescu, to honour the doctors, medical orderlies and volunteer nurses who saved lives on the fronts of the First World War. It is inscribed on the historic monuments list at position 2284, code B-III-m-B-19955. Building the first section of the Bucharest metro required its dismantling; it was rebuilt in 1981 on the same spot and in its original form.

The bronze bas-reliefs on the pedestal show Queen Marie in a nurse's uniform, Prince Nicholas as a cadet and Princess Elisabeth as a nurse, a scene from 1917. They survived the communist period because no names are inscribed on them, so officials took them for a generic war scene. On the main face a travertine plaque reads "EROILOR SANITARI - 1916-1920".

The monument sits on a central public plaza that is walkable and accessible from multiple nearby transit stops. You can view it from all sides and find good photo angles from the surrounding plaza area throughout the day.

The bronze bas-reliefs survived the communist period because they carry no names: officials took them for generic war scenes. One panel shows Queen Marie as a nurse, Prince Nicholas as a cadet and Princess Elisabeth as a nurse in a 1917 hospital scene.