Danube-Black Sea Canal, Romania: The Monument of Youth

Well, this certainly jumps out at the visitor to the Danube-Black Sea Canal in Romania. It almost looks like someone received a giant award or something, since it towers above the river.

It is an award, of sorts. It is dedicated to the Union of Communist Youth, which was the young people's organization in Romania. The organization dates back to 1922, and it had to go underground for a couple of decades until the Communists took control around the end of World War II. By the way, famed dictator Nicolae Ceausescu was the First Secretary of the group in 1944-45.

The structure is supposed to represent a flame, which is supposed to represent a fallen angel. Got that? Some bronze plates originally covered the base, but they were stolen after the 1989 Revolution. One of them read, "Future generations know that we have sacrificed ourselves for the ascension of the Fatherland."