Small monument, great history

The marble head of the soldier, located next to the church of God's Wisdom (Agia Sofia), belongs to a memorial that was destroyed during the Bulgarian occupation of the city. The size of the original sculpture was larger but its history is even greater.

In 1940 the monument to the Unknown Soldier was completed and inaugurated in Xanthi. It represented a soldier killed in battle. A year later, Bulgarian troops, allied with the Germans, occupied Thrace. Then the statue was destroyed. After the end of the occupation, the head of the statue was found during works in the port of Porto Lagos, and since 2014 it has been in this place.

The sculpture was created by the sculptor Kostas Georgakas. A copy of the statue is located in the settlement of Sidirokastro in the municipality of Trifyllia, Messinia, the artist's birthplace. 

A short distance away there is a newer monument to the Unknown Soldier.