Admiralty and Alexander Garden
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Bronze Horseman is a monument erected on the Decembrists' Square to honor the founder of Saint Petersburg, Emperor Peter the Great. This is one of the most prominent symbols of Saint Petersburg. The famous Bronze Horseman to Peter I is actually made of bronze, but it got its name due to a well- known poem by A.S. Pushkin "The Bronze Horseman". The sculpture was designated by sculptor Etienne Falconet, while the emperor's head was molded by his students Marie- Anne Collot. Falconet explained that he designed his sculpture as a monument to statesman and legislator that turned the tight of Russian history, rather than a successful military man (which obviously he was).
The rock of the Bronze Horseman was discovered by a peasant S. Vishnyakov who claimed it was stricken by a lighting, thus it got its nickname Grom- Kamen (Thunder Stone). Officials sent a large party to deliver this huge boulder. They had to drag Thunder Stone for several miles through Northern swamps, then loaded the stone on a huge barge and finally delivered it to Saint Petersburg.
The name of the Decembrist Square where it stands is dedicated to a secret Russian revolutionary Decembrists staged their failed coup in December 1825 after supposed death of Russian Emperor Alexander I. New emperor wasn't crowned yet and while two brother of the dead monarch, Nicholas (future Nicholas I) and Constantine were discussing the situation, several officers from prominent aristocratic families attempted to stage a revolt.
Although Communist government put them on the pedestal of martyrs current historians are less positive about this failed coup. It was badly planned and most of organizers didn't have a clear plan of actions if they did manage to succeed. Decembrists' rebellion turned into a mess with dozens of soldiers they led killed or wounded. Five Decembrists' were hanged. All others were exiled to Siberia. Communist government name the location of the coup in their honor.
The model of the equestrian
statue of Peter was made by the sculptor Etienne Falcone in
1768-1770. The head of the statue was sculpted by a student of this
sculptor, Marie Anne Collot. The snake was designed by Falcone and
sculpted by Fyodor Gordeev. The casting of the statue was carried
out under the direction of the foundry master Vasily Petrovich
Ekimov and was completed in 1778. Architectural and planning
decisions and General management were carried out by Yuri Felten.
In August 1766, the Russian envoy to Paris, Dmitry Golitsyn,
signed a contract with the French sculptor Falcone, recommended to
Catherine II by her correspondent, the enlightenment philosopher
Denis Diderot. Soon after Falcone's arrival in St. Petersburg, on
October 15 (26), 1766, work on the creation of the monument began in
full swing. The workshop was set up in the former Throne room of the
wooden Winter Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna. The stone building of
the former stables at the Palace was adapted for housing Falcone. At
the beginning of 1773, Felten was appointed to help Falcone: he was
to replace the dismissed captain de lascari, and, in addition, by
this time, the supervision of a professional architect for the
installation of the monument was needed.
The THUNDERSTONE was found in the vicinity of the village of Konnaya
Lakhta. After it was removed from the ground, the pit was filled
with water, and a reservoir was formed that has been preserved to
this day-Petrovsky pond (since 2011 — protected area). The path of
the stone to the place of loading was equal to 7855 meters.
The winter months were chosen for transporting the stone, when the
soil was frozen and could withstand the weight. This unique
operation lasted from 15 (26) November 1769 to 27 March (7 April)
1770. The stone was delivered to the shore of the Gulf of Finland,
where a special pier was built for its loading.
Transportation of the stone by water was carried out on a ship
specially built according to the drawing of the famous shipwright
Grigory Korchebnikov, and began only in the fall. A giant
"Thunder-stone" with a huge crowd of people arrived in St.
Petersburg on the Senate square on September 26 (October 7), 1770.
To unload the stone at the Bank of the Neva river, a technique
already used during loading was used: the ship was flooded and sat
on piles previously driven into the bottom of the river, which made
it possible to move the stone to the shore.
Work on the
pedestal was carried out during the movement of the stone, until
Catherine, who visited Lakhta to see the movement of the stone,
forbade its further processing, wanting the stone to arrive in St.
Petersburg in its" wild " form without loss of volume. The final
appearance of the stone has already acquired on the Senate square,
significantly losing its original size after processing. Part of the
rock remained on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, where the stone
was loaded onto a ship.
Completed in July 1769,
the plaster model of the monument, shown to the public for two weeks
the following year, was awaiting casting. Falcone, who had never
before had to perform such work himself, refused to make the casting
himself and waited for the arrival of the French master B. Ersman.
The caster, accompanied by three apprentices, arrived on may 11,
1772, with everything necessary to guarantee success: "earth, sand,
clay...". However, the long-awaited master was unable to fulfill the
requirements of the sculptor and soon, at Felten's insistence, was
dismissed. From that moment on, all the preparatory work for the
casting was carried out by Falcone himself.
The first casting
of the sculpture took place in the summer of 1775. According to
legend, during the work, the pipe burst, which was filled with
bronze, and only thanks to the efforts of the master Emelyan Khaylov
was able to save the lower part of the monument. In 1777, the upper
parts of the sculpture were made, which did not turn out at the
first casting.
In 1778, Falcone was forced to leave Russia.
When he left, he took all the drawings and technical calculations
with him. The completion of the monument was entrusted Velten. The
monument was inaugurated on August 7 (August 18), 1782. Ironically,
Falcone was never invited to its opening.
This was the
second equestrian monument to the Russian Tsar. In conventional
attire, on a rearing horse, Peter is depicted by Falcone as a
lawgiver and civilizer. Here is what Falcone himself wrote about
this: "my Monument will be simple… I will confine myself to the
statue of this hero, whom I do not treat as either a great General
or a conqueror, although he was, of course, both. Much higher is the
personality of the Creator-legislator... " the Sculptor depicted
Peter in an emphatically dynamic state, dressed him in simple and
light clothing, which, according to the sculptor, belongs to "all
Nations, all men and all ages; in a word, it is a heroic garment."
He replaced the rich saddle with a bearskin, which symbolizes a
nation civilized by the sovereign. The pedestal in the form of a
huge rock is a symbol of the difficulties overcome by Peter I, and
the snake introduced into the composition is a clever find in
solving the problem of ensuring the static stability of the
monument. Its appearance under the feet of a rearing horse is quite
convincingly explained by the fact that it depicts "hostile forces".
And only a wreath of Laurel crowning the head, and a sword hanging
from the belt, indicate the role of Peter as a victorious commander.
Catherine II, Diderot and Voltaire took part in the discussion
of the concept of the monument. The monument was supposed to
represent the victory of civilization, reason, and human will over
wild nature. The pedestal of the monument was intended to symbolize
nature, barbarism, and the fact that Falcone cut the grandiose
"Thunder-stone", polished it, caused outrage and criticism of
contemporaries.
On one of the folds of Peter I's cloak, the
sculptor left the inscription "Sculpted and cast by Etienne Falcone
Parisian of 1778".
The inscription on the pedestal reads: "To
PETER the great CATHERINE the second lтаta 1782. "on the one hand,
and" PETRO primo CATHARINA secunda MDCCLXXXII. " — on the other,
thus emphasizing the idea of the Empress: to establish a line of
succession, heritage between the deeds of Peter and his own
activities.
In 1976, cracks were found in the monument and
its restoration was carried out. An x-ray study was also conducted,
which revealed that the tail serves only as a balance beam, and the
frame itself passes only through the hind legs of the horse. The
reason for the cracks was the "burnout" of the metal, which probably
occurred during the re-casting of the top of the sculpture.
The monument to Peter I became the object of urban legends and
anecdotes at the end of the XVIII century, and at the beginning of
the XIX century — one of the most popular themes in Russian poetry.
During the Patriotic war of
1812, as a result of the retreat of Russian troops, there was a
threat of the capture of St. Petersburg by French troops. Concerned
about this prospect, Alexander I ordered the removal of particularly
valuable works of art from the city. In particular, state Secretary
Molchanov was instructed to take out a monument to Peter I to the
Vologda province, and several thousand rubles were released for
this. At this time, major Baturin obtained a meeting with the Tsar's
personal friend Prince Golitsyn and told him that he, Baturin, was
haunted by the same dream. He sees himself in the Senate square.
Peter's face turns. The horseman rides down from his rock and goes
along the streets of St. Petersburg to Kamenny island, where
Alexander I lived at that time. The rider enters the courtyard of
the Kamen-Ostrovsky Palace, from which the sovereign comes out to
meet him. "Young man, what you have brought my Russia to —" Peter
the Great says to him, " but as long as I am here, my city has
nothing to fear!» Then the rider turns back. Struck by Baturin's
story, Prince Golitsyn passed the dream to the Emperor. As a result,
Alexander I reversed his decision to evacuate the monument. The
monument remained in place.
There is an assumption that the
legend of major Baturin formed the basis of the plot of Pushkin's
poem "the Bronze horseman".
According to legend, one evening Pavel,
accompanied by his friend Prince Kurakin, was walking through the
streets of St. Petersburg. They met a stranger. Pavel turned to
Kurakin: "Someone is walking beside us." However, he did not see
anyone and tried to convince the Grand Duke of this. Suddenly the
ghost spoke: “Paul! Poor Pavel! I am the one who takes part in you."
Then the ghost went ahead of the travelers, as if leading them
along. Approaching the middle of the square, he indicated the place
for the future monument. "Farewell, Pavel," said the ghost, "you
will see me here again." And when, leaving, he raised his hat, Pavel
allegedly saw the face of Peter I.
Textual analysis of the
legend has established that it goes back to the memoirs of Baroness
von Oberkirch. The baroness described in detail the circumstances
under which Paul himself publicly, albeit against his will, told
this story. Von Oberkirch reported that a month and a half after the
memorable dinner, Pavel received a letter from St. Petersburg. The
letter informed about the grand opening of the monument to Peter the
Great, later known as the Bronze Horseman. According to G. von
Oberkirch, although the sovereign tried to smile while reading the
letter, a deathly pallor covered his face.
The Bronze Horseman and the "mystical Petersburg text"
The motif of the Bronze Horseman is placed by Russian literature at the
very center of the “mystical Petersburg text”, imbued with duality and
surrealism.
The Bronze Horseman owes its name to the work of the
same name by A. S. Pushkin. The official Eugene, who lost his beloved
Parasha in the flood of 1824, wanders unconsciously around St.
Petersburg. Having stumbled upon a monument to Peter the Great, the hero
realizes that it is the sovereign who is to blame for his disasters - he
founded the city on a place prone to floods and alien to humans. Eugene
threatens the monument, and the Bronze Horseman jumps off his pedestal
and rushes after the madman.
In the novel by F. M. Dostoevsky
“The Teenager”: “What, how will this fog scatter and go up, will this
whole rotten, slimy city go with it, rise with fog and disappear like
smoke, and the former Finnish swamp will remain , and in the middle of
it, perhaps for beauty, a bronze rider on a hot-breathing, driven horse?
In the novel Petersburg by Andrei Bely, one of the characters,
Alexander Ivanovich Dudkin, after a severe moral crisis, experiences
hallucinations in which the Bronze Horseman directs him to kill the head
of a terrorist organization and provocateur Lippanchenko. Dudkin stabs
Lippanchenko with nail scissors and transforms himself into a likeness
of the Bronze Horseman, sitting astride the body of the murdered man.
Daniil Andreev, describing one of the worlds in the Rose of the
World, reported that in infernal Petersburg the torch in the hand of the
Bronze Horseman is the only source of light, while Peter sits not on a
horse, but on a terrible dragon.
In 1988, the State Bank of the USSR issued a 5-ruble
commemorative coin depicting the Bronze Horseman monument in St.
Petersburg. The coin is made of copper-nickel alloy with a circulation
of 2 million copies and weighs 19.8 grams.
In 1990, the State Bank
issued a commemorative coin from the series "500th Anniversary of the
United Russian State" made of gold 900 with a face value of 100 rubles
with the image of a monument to Peter I.
At the beginning of the 21st century, acts of vandalism in relation to sculpture were recorded. According to the Director of the Hermitage Mikhail Piotrovsky, this is due to the attitude towards monuments as objects of domestic entertainment. Cadets of military schools have created a tradition of polishing a horse's scrotum.
The monument is depicted on the stamp of Russia in 1904 No. 58 (charitable issue).