On 9 December 2020, a staff member of the Department of Guided Tours Organization of Bolgar Museum-Reserve Ahundov N. O. held for the staff of the museum an event on “Heroes do not die” devoted to the Day of Heroes of the Fatherland.
The Day of Heroes of the Fatherland is a memorable date celebrated in Russia on 9 December every year. In the Russian Empire, until the October Revolution of 1917, this memorable day was marked as the Day of Knights of St. George. It was celebrated on 26 November on old style (on new style – on 9 December) because on that day in 1769, the Russian Empress Catherine the Great established the Imperial Military Order of St. George the Great Martyr and Conqueror – the highest military award of the empire.
Bolsheviks cancelled this holiday and abolished the Order, as all honors system of the old regime. In 1943, Order of Glory was established, the status of which was close to the Order of St. George. The status of the order was restored only in 2000. The first Knight of St. George of the Russian Federation in 2008 became colonel-general Sergey Makarov.
On 25 January 2007, the day before the consideration of the bill, Chairman of the State Duma of RF Boris Gryzlov explained in his interview to journalists that “it is about the restoration of the holiday, which existed in pre-revolutionary Russia – the Day of Knights of St. George celebrated on 9 December. This date will be also reserved for the Day of Heroes of the Fatherland because heroes are worthy of their own holiday”.
The State Duma of RF set the memorable date “the Day of Heroes of the Fatherland” on 26 January 2007. The Council of the Federation approved the initiative of deputies. On 28 February 2007, the President of RF Vladimir Putin approved it.
Our Fatherland is rich in heroes. Their names are preserved in perpetuity in the documents of archives, in the directories and encyclopedias, in photo albums. They are on the marble of monuments, on the pages of memories, in the museum expositions. But the heroic relay always was passed on from generation to generation.
During the event, the guests became familiar with the history of emergence of the holiday and heard the names of outstanding people of our country – pilots, cosmonauts, officers who showed special courage and heroism.

Share on social networks