Who is depicted on the copper monument. Monument Millennium of Russia

The initiative to create a monument to Peter I belongs to Catherine II. It was on her orders that Prince Alexander Mikhailovich Golitsyn turned to the professors of the Paris Academy of Painting and Sculpture Diderot and Voltaire, whose opinion Catherine II fully trusted. Notable masters recommended for this work Etienne-Maurice Falconet, who worked at that time as the chief sculptor at porcelain factory. “There is an abyss of fine taste, intelligence and delicacy in him, and at the same time he is uncouth, stern, does not believe in anything. .. He does not know self-interest,” Diderot wrote about Falcon.

Etienne-Maurice Falcone has always dreamed of monumental art and received an offer to create equestrian statue colossal size, agreed without hesitation. On September 6, 1766, he signed a contract in which the remuneration for the work was determined in the amount of 200 thousand livres, which was a fairly modest amount - other masters asked for much more. The 50-year-old master came to Russia with 17-year-old assistant Marie-Anne Collot.

Opinions about the appearance of the future sculpture were very different. Thus, Ivan Ivanovich Belskoy, President of the Imperial Academy of Arts, who supervised the creation of the monument, presented a sculpture of Peter I, standing in full height with a wand in hand. Catherine II saw the emperor sitting on a horse with a rod or scepter, and there were other suggestions. So, Diderot conceived a monument in the form of a fountain with allegorical figures, and the State Councilor Shtelin sent Belsky detailed description of his project, according to which Peter I was to appear surrounded by allegorical statues of Prudence and Diligence, Justice and Victory, which prop up the vices of Ignorance and Sloth, Deception and Envy. Falcone rejected the traditional image of the victorious monarch and refused to depict allegories. “My monument will be simple. There will be no Barbarism, no Love of the peoples, no personification of the People ... I will limit myself only to the statue of this hero, whom I do not interpret as either a great commander or a winner, although he, of course, was both. The personality of the creator, legislator, benefactor of his country is much higher, and this is what people need to show,” he wrote to Diderot.

Work on the monument to Peter I - The Bronze Horseman

Falcone created a sculpture model on the territory of the former temporary Winter Palace Elizabeth Petrovna from 1768 to 1770. From the imperial stables, two horses of the Oryol breed Kapriz and Brilliant were taken. Falcone made sketches, watching as a guards officer took off on a horse to the platform and put it on its hind legs. Falcone reworked the model of the head of Peter I several times, but never got the approval of Catherine II and, as a result, the head Bronze Horseman successfully sculpted by Marie-Anne Collot. The face of Peter I turned out to be courageous and strong-willed, with a wide open eyes and illumined by deep thought. For this work, the girl was accepted as a member Russian Academy arts and Catherine II appointed her a lifetime pension of 10,000 livres. The snake under the horse's feet was made by the Russian sculptor Fyodor Gordeev.

A plaster model of the Bronze Horseman was made by 1778 and opinions about the work were mixed. If Diderot was satisfied, Catherine II did not like the arbitrarily chosen appearance of the monument.

Casting the Bronze Horseman

The sculpture was conceived on a colossal scale and the casters did not undertake this hard work. Foreign craftsmen demanded a lot of money for casting, and some frankly said that the casting would not succeed. Finally, a caster, a cannon maker Yemelyan Khailov, was found, who took up the casting of the Bronze Horseman. Together with Falcone, they selected the composition of the alloy and made samples. The difficulty was that the sculpture had three points of support and therefore the thickness of the walls of the front of the statue had to be small - no more than one centimeter.

During the first casting, the pipe through which the bronze was poured burst. In desperation, Falcone ran out of the workshop, but master Khailov did not lose his head, took off his coat and soaked it with water, smeared it with clay and applied it as a patch to the pipe. Risking his life, he prevented the fire, although he himself received burns to his hands and partially damaged his eyesight. The upper part of the Bronze Horseman was damaged anyway, it had to be cut down. Preparations for the new casting took another three years, but this time it was successful, and in honor of the successful completion of the work, the sculptor left the inscription in one of the folds of the cloak of Peter I: “Etienne Falcone, a Parisian of 1788, sculpted and cast.”

Installation of the Bronze Horseman

Falcone wanted to erect a monument on a plinth in the form of a wave, carved from a natural piece of rock. It was very difficult to find the right block with a height of 11.2 meters, and therefore an appeal was published in the St. Petersburg News newspaper to individuals who wanted to find a suitable piece of rock. And soon the peasant Semyon Vishnyakov responded, who had long noticed a suitable block near the village of Lakhta and informed the head of the prospecting work about this.

The stone, weighing about 1600 tons and called the Thunder-stone, was delivered first on a platform to the coast of the Gulf of Finland, then by water to the Senate Square. Thousands of people took part in the extraction and transportation of the stone. The stone was installed on a platform that moved along two parallel chutes, in which 30 balls made of copper alloy were placed. This operation was carried out in winter time from November 15, 1769, when the earth was icy and on March 27, 1770, the stone was delivered to the shore of the Gulf of Finland. In the fall, the block was loaded onto a ship specially built by the master Grigory Korchebnikov, and on September 25, 1770, crowds of people met the Thunder-stone on the banks of the Neva near Senate Square.

In 1778, Falcone's relationship with Catherine II finally deteriorated and, together with Marie-Anne Collot, he was forced to leave for Paris.

The installation of the Bronze Horseman was led by Fyodor Gordeev, and on August 7, 1782, Grand opening monument, but its creator was never invited to this event. The military parade at the celebration was led by Prince Alexander Golitsyn, and Catherine II arrived along the Neva in a boat and climbed onto the balcony of the Senate building. The empress came out wearing a crown and purple and gave a sign to open the monument. To the sound of drumming, the linen fence from the monument fell and regiments of guards marched along the Neva embankment.

Monument Bronze Horseman

Falcone depicted the figure of Peter I in dynamics, on a rearing horse, and thereby wanted to show not a commander and a winner, but, first of all, a creator and legislator. We see the emperor in simple clothes, and instead of a rich saddle - an animal skin. Only the wreath of laurel crowning the head and the sword at the belt tell us about the winner and the commander. The location of the monument on the top of the rock indicates the difficulties Peter overcame, and the snake is a symbol of evil forces. The monument is unique in that it has only three points of support. On the pedestal there is an inscription "TO PETER the first EKATERINA second summer 1782", and on the other side the same text is indicated on Latin. The weight of the Bronze Horseman is eight tons, and the height is five meters.

Bronze Horseman - title

The name of the Bronze Horseman monument was later due to poem of the same name A.S. Pushkin, although in fact the monument is made of bronze.

Legends and Myths about the Bronze Horseman

• There is a legend that Peter I, being in a cheerful mood, decided to jump over the Neva on his beloved horse Lisette. He exclaimed: "All God's and mine" and jumped over the river. The second time he shouted the same words and was also on the other side. And for the third time he decided to jump over the Neva, but he made a reservation and said: “All mine and God’s” and was immediately punished - he turned to stone on Senate Square, in the place where the Bronze Horseman now stands
• They say that Peter I, who fell ill, was lying in a fever and fancied that the Swedes were advancing. He jumped on a horse and wanted to rush to the Neva against the enemy, but then a snake crawled out and wrapped around the horse's legs and stopped him, did not allow Peter I to jump into the water and die. So the Bronze Horseman stands in this place - a monument How the snake saved Peter I
• There are several myths and legends in which Peter I prophesies: "As long as I am in place, my city has nothing to fear." And indeed, the Bronze Horseman remained in his place during Patriotic War 1812 and during the Great Patriotic War. During the siege of Leningrad, it was sheathed with logs and boards, and bags of sand and earth were placed around it.
• Peter I points towards Sweden with his hand, and a monument is erected in the center of Stockholm Charles XII, the enemy of Peter in the Northern War, left hand which is directed towards Russia

Interesting facts about the Bronze Horseman monument

• The transportation of the stone-pedestal was accompanied by difficulties and unforeseen circumstances, and often there were emergency situations. All of Europe followed that operation, and in honor of the delivery of the Thunder Stone to Senate Square A commemorative medal was issued with the inscription “It is like boldness. Genvarya, 20, 1770"
• Falcone conceived a monument without a fence, although the fence was nevertheless installed, but has not survived to this day. Now there are people who leave inscriptions on the monument and spoil the pedestal and the Bronze Horseman. It is possible that soon a fence will be installed around the Bronze Horseman
• In 1909 and 1976, the restoration of the Bronze Horseman was carried out. A recent gamma-ray survey showed that the frame of the sculpture is in good condition. Inside the monument was laid a capsule with a note on the restoration and a newspaper dated September 3, 1976

The Bronze Horseman in St. Petersburg - main symbol northern capital Newlyweds and numerous tourists come to Senate Square to admire one of the most famous sights of the city.

In 1782, the centenary of the accession to the Russian throne of Peter I was celebrated in St. Petersburg by the opening of a monument to the tsar by the sculptor Etienne Maurice Falcone. The monument began to be called the Bronze Horseman thanks to A.S. Pushkin.

The monument to Peter I (“The Bronze Horseman”) is located in the center of Senate Square. The author of the sculpture is the French sculptor Etienne-Maurice Falcone.

The location of the monument to Peter I was not chosen by chance. Nearby are the Admiralty founded by the emperor, the building of the main legislative body tsarist Russia- The Senate. Catherine II insisted on placing the monument in the center of Senate Square. The author of the sculpture, Etienne-Maurice Falcone, did his own thing, setting the Bronze Horseman closer to the Neva.

By order of Catherine II, Falcone was invited to St. Petersburg by Prince Golitsyn. Professors of the Paris Academy of Painting Diderot and Voltaire, whose taste Catherine II trusted, were advised to turn to this particular master.

Falcone was already fifty years old. He worked at a porcelain factory, but dreamed of great and monumental art. When an invitation was received to erect a monument in Russia, Falcone signed the contract without hesitation on September 6, 1766. Its conditions determined: the monument to Peter should consist of "mainly an equestrian statue of colossal size." The sculptor was offered a rather modest fee (200 thousand livres), other masters asked twice as much.

Falcone arrived in St. Petersburg with his seventeen-year-old assistant Marie-Anne Collot.

The vision of the monument to Peter I by the author of the sculpture was strikingly different from the desire of the Empress and the majority of the Russian nobility. Catherine II expected to see Peter I with a rod or scepter in his hand, sitting on a horse like a Roman emperor. State Councilor Shtelin saw the figure of Peter surrounded by allegories of Prudence, Diligence, Justice and Victory. I.I. Betskoy, who supervised the construction of the monument, represented him as a full-length figure, holding a commander's baton in his hand. Falcone was advised to direct the emperor's right eye to the Admiralty, and the left to the building of the Twelve Collegia. Diderot, who visited St. Petersburg in 1773, conceived the monument in the form of a fountain, decorated with allegorical figures.

Falcone, on the other hand, had a completely different idea. He was stubborn and persistent. The sculptor wrote:
“I will confine myself to the statue of this hero, whom I interpret neither as a great commander, nor as a winner, although he, of course, was both. The personality of the creator, legislator, benefactor of his country is much higher, and this is what people need to show. My king does not hold any wand, he stretches out his beneficent right hand over the country he travels around. He rises to the top of the rock that serves him as a pedestal - this is the emblem of the difficulties he has overcome.

Defending the right to his opinion regarding the appearance of the Falcone monument, I.I. Betsky:
“Could you imagine that the sculptor chosen to create such significant monument, would be deprived of the ability to think and that the movements of his hands were controlled by someone else's head, and not his own?

Disputes also arose around the clothes of Peter I. The sculptor wrote to Diderot:
"You know that I will not dress him in Roman fashion, just as I would not dress Julius Caesar or Scipio in Russian."

Falcone worked on a life-size model of the monument for three years. Work on The Bronze Horseman was carried out on the site of the former temporary Winter Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna. In 1769, passers-by could watch here how a guards officer took off on a horse on a wooden platform and put it on its hind legs. This went on for several hours a day. Falcone sat at the window in front of the platform and carefully sketched what he saw. Horses for work on the monument were taken from the imperial stables: horses Brilliant and Caprice. The sculptor chose the Russian "Orlov" breed for the monument.

Falcone's student Marie-Anne Collot sculpted the head of the Bronze Horseman. The sculptor himself undertook this work three times, but each time Catherine II advised to remake the model. Marie herself offered her sketch, which was accepted by the Empress. For her work, the girl was accepted as a member of the Russian Academy of Arts, Catherine II appointed her a lifelong pension of 10,000 livres.

The snake under the horse's foot was sculpted by the Russian sculptor F.G. Gordeev.

The full-size plaster model of the monument took twelve years to prepare, and was ready by 1778. The model was opened for public viewing in a workshop on the corner of Kirpichny Lane and Bolshaya Morskaya Street. Opinions were expressed very different. The chief prosecutor of the Synod did not accept the project decisively. Diderot was pleased with what he saw. Catherine II, on the other hand, turned out to be indifferent to the model of the monument - she did not like Falcone's arbitrariness in choosing the appearance of the monument.

For a long time, no one wanted to take on the casting of the statue. Foreign craftsmen demanded too much a large amount, and local craftsmen were frightened by its size and complexity of work. According to the calculations of the sculptor, in order to maintain the balance of the monument, the front walls of the monument had to be made very thin - no more than a centimeter. Even a specially invited caster from France refused such work. He called Falcone crazy and said that there is no such example of casting in the world, that it will not succeed.

Finally, a foundry worker was found - cannon master Emelyan Khailov. Together with him, Falcone selected the alloy, made samples. For three years, the sculptor mastered casting to perfection. Casting of the Bronze Horseman began in 1774.

The technology was very complex. The thickness of the front walls must necessarily be less than the thickness of the rear. Wherein rear end became heavier, which gave stability to the statue, based on only three points of support.

One filling of the statue was not enough. During the first, a pipe burst, through which red-hot bronze entered the mold. The upper part of the sculpture was damaged. I had to cut it down and prepare for the second filling for another three years. This time the job was successful. In memory of her, on one of the folds of the cloak of Peter I, the sculptor left the inscription "Sculpted and cast by Etienne Falcone, a Parisian of 1778."

Saint-Petersburg Vedomosti wrote about these events:
“On August 24, 1775, Falcone cast a statue of Peter the Great on horseback here. Casting succeeded except in places two feet by two at the top. This regrettable failure occurred through an event that was not at all possible to foresee, and therefore prevent. The aforementioned incident seemed so terrible that they feared that the whole building would not go on fire, and, consequently, the whole thing would not fail. Khailov remained motionless and poured the molten metal into a mold, not losing his vigor in the least in the face of danger to his life. Touched by such courage, at the end of the case, Falcone rushed to him and kissed him with all his heart and gave him money from himself.

According to the sculptor's idea, the base of the monument is a natural rock in the form of a wave. The waveform serves as a reminder that it was Peter I who brought Russia to the sea. The Academy of Arts began searching for the monolithic stone when the model of the monument was not even ready. A stone was needed, the height of which would be 11.2 meters.

The granite monolith was found in the Lakhta region, twelve versts from St. Petersburg. Once upon a time, according to local legends, lightning hit the rock, forming a crack in it. Among local residents the rock was called "Thunder-stone". So they began to call it later when they installed it on the banks of the Neva under the famous monument.

The initial weight of the monolith is about 2000 tons. Catherine II announced a reward of 7,000 rubles to the one who comes up with the most effective method deliver the rock to Senate Square. Of the many projects, the method proposed by someone Carburi was chosen. There were rumors that he bought this project from some Russian merchant.

A clearing was cut through from the location of the stone to the shore of the bay, and the soil was strengthened. The rock was freed from unnecessary layers, it immediately became lighter by 600 tons. The thunderstone was hoisted with levers onto a wooden platform resting on copper balls. These balls moved along grooved wooden rails, upholstered in copper. The passage was winding. Work on the transportation of the rock continued in frost and heat. Hundreds of people worked. Many Petersburgers came to watch this action. Some of the observers collected fragments of stone and ordered from them knobs for a cane or cufflinks. In honor of the extraordinary transport operation, Catherine II ordered the minting of a medal on which is written “It is like daring. Genvarya, 20. 1770.

The poet Vasily Rubin in the same year wrote:
Rosskaya Mountain, miraculous here,
Heeding the voice of God from the lips of Catherine,
Passed into the city of Petrov through the Nevsky abyss
And fell under the feet of Great Peter.

By the time the monument to Peter I was erected, the relationship between the sculptor and imperial court finally deteriorated. It got to the point that Falcone began to attribute only a technical attitude to the monument. The offended master did not wait for the opening of the monument; in September 1778, together with Marie-Anne Collot, he left for Paris.

The installation of the "Bronze Horseman" on the pedestal was led by the architect F.G. Gordeev.

The grand opening of the monument to Peter I took place on August 7, 1782 (according to the old style). The sculpture was closed from the eyes of observers by a linen fence depicting mountain scenery. It was raining in the morning, but it did not prevent a significant number of people from gathering on Senate Square. By noon the clouds had cleared. Guards entered the square. The military parade was led by Prince A.M. Golitsyn. At four o'clock, Empress Catherine II herself arrived on a boat. She went up to the balcony of the Senate building in a crown and purple and gave a sign for the opening of the monument. The fence fell, to the drumming of the regiments moved along the Neva embankment.

By order of Catherine II, the pedestal is inscribed: "Catherine II to Peter I." Thus, the empress stressed her commitment to Peter's reforms.

Immediately after the Bronze Horseman appeared on the Senate Square, the square was named Petrovskaya.

A.S. called the sculpture “The Bronze Horseman” in his poem of the same name. Pushkin. This expression has become so popular that it has become almost official. And the monument to Peter I itself has become one of the symbols of St. Petersburg.

The weight of the "Bronze Horseman" is 8 tons, the height is more than 5 meters.

Legend of the Bronze Horseman

From the day it was installed, it became the subject of many myths and legends. Opponents of Peter himself and his reforms warned that the monument depicts the "horseman of the Apocalypse", bringing death and suffering to the city and all of Russia. Supporters of Peter said that the monument symbolizes greatness and glory Russian Empire, and that Russia will remain so until the horseman leaves his pedestal.

By the way, there are also legends about the pedestal of the Bronze Horseman. As conceived by the sculptor Falcone, it was supposed to be made in the form of a wave. A suitable stone was found near the village of Lakhta: a local holy fool allegedly pointed to the stone. Some historians find it possible that this is exactly the stone that Peter climbed more than once during the Northern War in order to better see the disposition of the troops.

The fame of the Bronze Horseman spread far beyond the borders of St. Petersburg. In one of the remote settlements, their own version of the origin of the monument arose. The version was that once Peter the Great had fun jumping on his horse from one bank of the Neva to the other. For the first time, he exclaimed: "All God's and mine!" and jumped over the river. The second time he repeated: "All God's and mine!", And again the jump was successful. However, the third time the emperor mixed up the words, and said: "All mine and God's!" At that moment, God's punishment overtook him: he turned to stone and forever remained a monument to himself.

Legend of Major Baturin

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. Worried about this prospect, Alexander I ordered especially valuable works of art to be taken out of the city. In particular, Secretary of State Molchanov was instructed to take a monument to Peter I to the Vologda province, and several thousand rubles were allocated for this. At this time, a certain major Baturin achieved a meeting with the personal friend of the tsar, Prince Golitsyn, and told him that he, Baturin, was haunted by the same dream. He sees himself on Senate Square. Peter's face turns. The rider rides off his cliff and heads along the streets of St. Petersburg to stone island, where Alexander I then lived. The rider enters the courtyard of the Kamenoostrovsky Palace, from which the sovereign comes out to meet him. “Young man, what have you brought my Russia to,” Peter the Great tells him, “but as long as I am in place, my city has nothing to fear!” Then the rider turns back, and the “heavy-voiced gallop” is heard again. Struck by Baturin's story, Prince Golitsyn conveyed the dream to the sovereign. As a result, Alexander I canceled 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 A. S. Pushkin's poem "The Bronze Horseman". There is also an assumption that the legend of Major Baturin became the reason that during the years of World War II the monument remained in place and was not hidden, like other sculptures.

During the blockade of Leningrad, the Bronze Horseman was covered with bags of earth and sand, sheathed with logs and boards.

The monument was restored in 1909 and 1976. During the last of them, the sculpture was studied using gamma rays. For this, the space around the monument was fenced off with sandbags and concrete blocks. The cobalt gun was controlled from a nearby bus. Thanks to this study, it turned out that the frame of the monument can serve even more. long years. A capsule was placed inside the figure with a note about the restoration and about its participants, a newspaper dated September 3, 1976.

The Bronze Horseman is currently popular place for newlyweds.

Etienne-Maurice Falcone conceived "The Bronze Horseman" without a fence. But it was still created, it has not survived to this day. "Thanks" to the vandals who leave their autographs on the thunder-stone and the sculpture itself, the idea of ​​restoring the fence may soon be realized.

Monument Millennium of Russia (Veliky Novgorod, Russia) - description, history, location, reviews, photo and video.

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Veliky Novgorod is famous not only for its centuries-old history and role in the formation of the Russian state, but also for its monuments that attract the attention of tourists. One of these is the "Millennium of Russia", created in 1862 in honor of the millennium since the proclamation of Rurik as the prince of Rus'. It is from this date that it is customary to keep the chronology of the history of Russia as a state entity.

In the monument erected opposite the St. Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod, some see the outline of the cap of Vladimir Monomakh, others see the bell, which, as the authors of the monument M. Mikeshin and I. Schroeder said, is called "to announce to posterity about the heroic past of Russia."

In fact, the monument is a dome-shaped pedestal on which a sphere-power is installed, symbolizing the Rurik and Romanov dynasties. The monument is not small: the diameter of the granite pedestal is about 9 meters, the total height of the monument is almost 16 meters. Granite was brought from the Serdobol quarries on Ladoga, and the bronze components were made in St. Petersburg.

The monument is not small: the diameter of the granite pedestal is about 9 meters, the total height of the monument is almost 16 meters.

The ball-power is decorated with an intricate pattern of crosses, showing the unity royal power and churches. At the top of the ball is a cross with an angel, and below it is a kneeling woman, which symbolizes Russia. A commemorative inscription “To the Completed Millennium Russian state in ... the summer of 1862. The ball is surrounded by 17 figures of outstanding historical figures six major milestones in the history of Russia.

Figures and characters of the monument

The first era, or the foundation of the Russian state, is represented by the figures of Rurik and the main pagan god Perun.

The second group of characters, showing the conversion of Rus' to Christianity, includes images of Prince Vladimir with an eight-pointed cross in his hands, a Slav destroying a statue of a pagan god, and a woman with a child, which she hands to the prince.

The figures of the third group symbolize the liberation of Rus' from Tatar-Mongol yoke. The central one is, of course, the figure of Dmitry Donskoy, who defeated the warrior of the hated army of invaders and looks after the hastily retreating troops of Mamai, defeated by Russian soldiers.

The theme of the fourth sculptural group is the foundation of autocracy. The characters of this era - in the foreground a defeated Tatar, transferring a symbol of power to the prince Ivan III, Deposed German Knight And Latvian Warrior. A little behind is a Siberian, which personifies the annexation of Siberia.

The fifth milestone in the history of Russia is the beginning of the reign of the Romanov dynasty. The focus here is on Mikhail Romanov, whom Minin bestows with Vladimir Monomakh's cap and scepter, and Pozharsky defends from potential enemies with his sword.

And finally, the sixth group symbolizes a significant victory in the Swedish war (the figure of a fallen Swede with a torn banner) and the foundation of the Russian Empire, which is shown in the composition by the figure of Peter I with a scepter in his hands, whose gaze is directed to the north, towards St. Petersburg, which is destined become the new capital of the Russian state. An angel hovers to the left of the first Russian emperor - the embodiment of the greatest reformist plans and victories of Peter.

In the upper part of the composition there is a powerful figure of a simple Russian peasant supporting a giant orb. It is obscured by the figures of kings and generals standing on top of the site, which is why it is poorly visible to the viewer. But even this has its own deep symbolism: for it was he, a simple Russian peasant, a worker and a warrior, who for a thousand years held and protected the great Russian State.

Third tier

On the third tier, passing through the high relief of the monument, the figures of politicians, war heroes, scientists and creative people who left a bright and noticeable mark in the history of Russia are depicted. There are 129 characters in total, divided into 4 groups.

First collective composition"Enlighteners of the People", numbering 31 figures, begins under the figure of Prince Vladimir.

The first collective composition "Enlighteners of the People", numbering 31 figures, begins under the figure of Prince Vladimir. Among them are the Cyrillic authors Cyril and Methodius, the chronicler monk Nestor, Prince Vladimir and Princess Olga, Metropolitans Platon and Peter Mogila, Patriarch Nikon, Fyodor Rtishchev, the founder of Russian charity, writer Maxim Grek, the founder of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery Anthony Pechersky and many others. .

On the east side of the monument is a group statesmen(26 characters), the most notable of which are Yaroslav the Wise, Vladimir Monomakh, the great Lithuanian princes Gedimin and Olgert, the founder of the dynasty Mikhail Romanov, emperors Peter I, Alexander I, Nicholas I, patriarchs Filaret and Hermogenes, Empress Catherine II, diplomats Viktor Kochubey and Grigory Potemkin, statesmen Mikhail Speransky and Yakov Dolgorukov.

36 figures of heroes and military people are placed on the northeast side of the monument. Among them are Svyatoslav Igorevich, Daniil Galitsky, Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Donskoy, Martha Posadnitsa, Minin and Pozharsky, ataman Yermak, Ivan Susanin, Mikhail Golitsyn, diplomat Sheremetiev, generals Kutuzov, Bagration, Barclay de Tolly, hetman Khmelnitsky, commander Suvorov, Vice Admiral Kornilov and Admirals Nakhimov, Senyavin, Lazarev.

The fourth group contains figures of creative people - 16 artists and writers. Among them are Lomonosov, Karamzin, Derzhavin, Fonvizin, Zhukovsky, Krylov, Lermontov, Griboyedov, Gogol, Pushkin, Bryullov, composer Glinka.

After the overthrow of the tsarist regime and the establishment of the power of the Bolsheviks, the monument was fenced with boards as an anti-Soviet sculpture, but after some time it was again presented to the public.

During the Great Patriotic War, the monument was badly damaged - the Nazis managed to take out the bronze lattice that encloses the monument, and the lanterns installed nearby. All small figures were removed, the cross that crowned the orb was broken. A lot of small parts was irretrievably lost. In January 1944 Soviet troops drove the enemy out of the city, and by November, the restoration of the Millennium of Russia monument was completed. After that there were a few more restoration work, during the last of which, inside the monument, it was possible to find the remains of a staircase, which, apparently, the masters of the 19th century forgot there.

Who is depicted on the monument "The Bronze Horseman" in St. Petersburg?

The Bronze Horseman monument was created on the initiative of Catherine II in 1782. It is noteworthy that the Bronze Horseman was the very first monument in St. Petersburg.

This work monument French sculptor Falcone depicts Emperor Peter I on horseback. The head of the emperor is decorated with a wreath of laurel leaves, and a sword is visible behind the belt, as signs of a great commander and triumphant.

The Bronze Horseman monument, which is installed in St. Petersburg, depicts, so to speak, the founder of this city, Emperor Peter 1. The monument was erected in 1782 during the reign of Empress Catherine 2.

The Bronze Horseman monument depicts Tsar Peter l. It was erected by order of Catherine ll in 1982 according to the model of the sculptor Falcone. He arrived in St. Petersburg in 1766 with his student Marie-Anne Collot, who made the head of Peter for the monument. The monument was cast from 176 tons of bronze and 4 tons of iron.

The monument, which, thanks to the poem by A.S. Pushkin, was called the Bronze Horseman, was erected at the initiative of Catherine II and is dedicated to Peter I about the World Cup and the inscription on the stone pedestal reads.

The monument was commissioned by the sculptor Etienne-Maurice Falcone, who was recommended by Voltaire and Diderot, who taught at that time at the Paris Academy of Painting and Sculpture.

Opinions on how the monument to Peter should look were also divided. Catherine II herself believed that Peter should have held a rod or scepter while riding a horse, and, for example, Diderot proposed a sculpture in the form of a fountain. There were other options as well. And Falcone himself chose a simple figure, which, at the same time, showed the personality of the benefactor of his country. Here is what he wrote to Diderot, how he conceived this monument:

I was always sure that this is a monument to Peter I. Although, of course, Copper is purely allegorical (Pushkin tried), but in fact it is bronze. This monument appeared and lives to this day thanks to Catherine II, who idolized Peter, which is what the inscription on the pedestal PETRO primo CATHARINA secunda tells about - PETRO the first CATHARINA the second.



As far as I know, on this Russian monument the emperor Ptr the First is depicted, sitting on horseback. By the way, your historical name he received the Bronze Horseman thanks to the famous Russian poem by Alexander Pushkin, and installed it in the city of St. Petersburg on the personal initiative of Empress Catherine II.

August 7th in 1782 in the city of St. Petersburg on the Senate Square was the opening of a sculpture called Bronze Horseman. This monument dedicated to Peter the Great, he received the name thanks to this poem by Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. The monument was erected thanks to Catherine II, who idolized Peter the Great. The monument even says: Peter the Great Catherine II. This inscription can be seen in the photo below.



In fact, the monument to the Bronze Horseman is bronze.

I myself was interested in this question not so long ago, so I know the answer for sure. So, this monument was erected to Peter I. As for the material of manufacture, this monument is not copper at all, but bronze.

The opening of the sculpture The Bronze Horseman on Senate Square in St. Petersburg took place on August 7, 1782. This monument was erected by the efforts of Catherine II and is dedicated to Peter the Great. And it got its name thanks to Pushkin's poem.

The Bronze Horseman in St. Petersburg is the most famous monument Peter I. It is located in an open park on Senate Square and is a unique work of Russian and world culture. The Bronze Horseman is surrounded by well-known sights: the buildings of the Senate and the Synod are located in the west, the Admiralty in the east, St. Isaac's Cathedral in the south.

The history of the creation of the monument
The initiative to create a monument to Peter I belongs to Catherine II. It was on her orders that Prince Alexander Mikhailovich Golitsyn turned to the professors of the Paris Academy of Painting and Sculpture Diderot and Voltaire, whose opinion Catherine II fully trusted. Well-known masters recommended for this work Etienne-Maurice Falcone, who worked at that time as the chief sculptor at the porcelain factory. “There is an abyss of fine taste, intelligence and delicacy in him, and at the same time he is uncouth, stern, does not believe in anything. .. He does not know self-interest,” Diderot wrote about Falcon.

Etienne-Maurice Falcone always dreamed of monumental art and, having received an offer to create an equestrian statue of a colossal size, agreed without hesitation. On September 6, 1766, he signed a contract in which the remuneration for the work was determined in the amount of 200 thousand livres, which was a fairly modest amount - other masters asked for much more. The 50-year-old master came to Russia with 17-year-old assistant Marie-Anne Collot.
Opinions about the appearance of the future sculpture were very different. Thus, the President of the Imperial Academy of Arts, Ivan Ivanovich Belskoy, who supervised the creation of the monument, presented a sculpture of Peter I, standing in full growth with a staff in his hand. Catherine II saw the emperor sitting on a horse with a rod or scepter, and there were other suggestions. So, Diderot conceived a monument in the form of a fountain with allegorical figures, and the state councilor Shtelin sent Belsky a detailed description of his project, according to which Peter I was to appear surrounded by allegorical statues of Prudence and Diligence, Justice and Victory, which prop up the vices of Ignorance and Sloth with their feet, Deception and Envy. Falcone rejected the traditional image of the victorious monarch and refused to depict allegories. “My monument will be simple. There will be no Barbarism, no Love of the peoples, no personification of the People ... I will limit myself only to the statue of this hero, whom I do not interpret as either a great commander or a winner, although he, of course, was both. The personality of the creator, legislator, benefactor of his country is much higher, and this is what people need to show,” he wrote to Diderot.

Work on the monument to Peter I
Falcone created a model of sculpture on the territory of the former temporary Winter Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna from 1768 to 1770. From the imperial stables, two horses of the Oryol breed Kapriz and Brilliant were taken. Falcone made sketches, watching as a guards officer took off on a horse to the platform and put it on its hind legs. Falcone reworked the model of the head of Peter I several times, but did not get the approval of Catherine II, and as a result, the head of the Bronze Horseman was successfully sculpted
Marie Anne Collot.

The face of Peter I turned out to be courageous and strong-willed, with wide-open eyes and illuminated by deep thought.


For this work, the girl was accepted as a member of the Russian Academy of Arts and Catherine II assigned her a lifelong pension of 10,000 livres.
The snake under the horse's feet was made by the Russian sculptor Fyodor Gordeev.

A plaster model of the Bronze Horseman was made by 1778 and opinions about the work were mixed. If Diderot was satisfied, Catherine II did not like the arbitrarily chosen appearance of the monument.

Casting the Bronze Horseman
The sculpture was conceived on a colossal scale and the casters did not undertake this complex work. Foreign craftsmen demanded a lot of money for casting, and some frankly said that the casting would not succeed. Finally, a caster, a cannon maker Yemelyan Khailov, was found, who took up the casting of the Bronze Horseman. Together with Falcone, they selected the composition of the alloy and made samples. The difficulty was that the sculpture had three points of support and therefore the thickness of the walls of the front of the statue had to be small - no more than one centimeter.


During the first casting, the pipe through which the bronze was poured burst. In desperation, Falcone ran out of the workshop, but master Khailov did not lose his head, took off his coat and soaked it with water, smeared it with clay and applied it as a patch to the pipe. Risking his life, he prevented the fire, although he himself received burns to his hands and partially damaged his eyesight. The upper part of the Bronze Horseman was damaged anyway, it had to be cut down. Preparations for the new casting took another three years, but this time it was successful, and in honor of the successful completion of the work, the sculptor left the inscription in one of the folds of the cloak of Peter I: “Etienne Falcone, a Parisian of 1788, sculpted and cast.”

Installation of the Bronze Horseman
Falcone wanted to erect a monument on a plinth in the form of a wave, carved from a natural piece of rock. It was very difficult to find the right block with a height of 11.2 meters, and therefore an appeal was published in the St. Petersburg News newspaper to individuals who wanted to find a suitable piece of rock. And soon the peasant Semyon Vishnyakov responded, who had long noticed a suitable block near the village of Lakhta and informed the head of the prospecting work about this.


The weight of the monolith is about 1600 tons and is called the Thunder-stone, according to legend, lightning hit it and broke off a piece of the block. To deliver the stone, piles were driven, a road was laid, a wooden platform was made moving along two parallel gutters, in which 30 balls made of copper alloy were laid. This operation was carried out in winter from November 15, 1769, when the ground was icy and on March 27, 1770 the stone was delivered to the coast of the Gulf of Finland. Then the monolith was loaded onto a special raft, built by the master Grigory Korchebnikov, fortified between two ships. Thousands of people took part in the extraction and transportation of the stone. On September 25, 1770, crowds of people met the Thunder-stone on the banks of the Neva near Senate Square. During transportation, dozens of masons gave it the necessary shape. This event was marked by the minting of the medal "It is like boldness. January 1770".
Back side

Front side


In 1778, Falcone's relationship with Catherine II finally deteriorated and, together with Marie-Anne Collot, he was forced to leave for Paris.
The installation of the Bronze Horseman was led by Fyodor Gordeev, and on August 7, 1782, the grand opening of the monument took place.
The military parade at the celebration was led by Prince Alexander Golitsyn, and Catherine II arrived along the Neva in a boat and climbed onto the balcony of the Senate building. The empress came out wearing a crown and purple and gave a sign to open the monument. Under the roll of a drum, the shields covering the monument opened up - an exclamation of admiration swept through ... and the regiments of the guards marched along the Neva embankment.


But the author was not among the enthusiastic audience, he was not even invited to the opening ceremony. Only later Prince Golitsyn in France presented Falcone with gold and silver medals from Catherine II. This was a clear recognition of his talent, which the queen could not appreciate before. They say that with this Falcone, who spent on his main sculpture 15 years of life, cried.

Bronze Horseman - title
The name of the Bronze Horseman was later given to the monument thanks to the poem of the same name by A.S. Pushkin, although in fact the monument is made of bronze.

Monument Bronze Horseman
Falcone depicted the figure of Peter I in dynamics, on a rearing horse, and thereby wanted to show not a commander and a winner, but, first of all, a creator and legislator. We see the emperor in simple clothes, and instead of a rich saddle - an animal skin. Only the wreath of laurel crowning the head and the sword at the belt tell us about the winner and the commander. The location of the monument on the top of the rock indicates the difficulties Peter overcame, and the snake is a symbol of evil forces. The monument is unique in that it has only three points of support. On the pedestal there is an inscription “TO PETER the first EKATERINA the second of the summer of 1782”, and on the other side the same text is indicated in Latin. The weight of the Bronze Horseman is eight tons, and the height is five meters.

Legends and Myths about the Bronze Horseman
There is a legend that Peter I, being in a cheerful mood, decided to jump over the Neva on his beloved horse Lisette. He exclaimed: "All God's and mine" and jumped over the river. The second time he shouted the same words and was also on the other side. And for the third time he decided to jump over the Neva, but he made a reservation and said: “All mine and God’s” and was immediately punished - he turned to stone on Senate Square, in the place where the Bronze Horseman now stands.
They say that Peter I, who fell ill, was lying in a fever and fancied that the Swedes were advancing. He jumped on a horse and wanted to rush to the Neva against the enemy, but then a snake crawled out and wrapped around the horse's legs and stopped him, did not allow Peter I to jump into the water and die. So the Bronze Horseman stands in this place - a monument to How the snake saved Peter I.
There are several myths and legends in which Peter I prophesies: "As long as I am in place, my city has nothing to fear." Indeed, the Bronze Horseman remained in his place during the Patriotic War of 1812 and during the Great Patriotic War. During the siege of Leningrad, it was sheathed with logs and boards, and bags of sand and earth were laid around it.
Peter I points towards Sweden with his hand, and in the center of Stockholm there is a monument to Charles XII, Peter's opponent in the Northern War, whose left hand is directed towards Russia.

Interesting facts about the Bronze Horseman monument
The transportation of the stone-pedestal was accompanied by difficulties and unforeseen circumstances, and often there were emergency situations. All of Europe followed that operation, and in honor of the delivery of the Thunder Stone to Senate Square, a commemorative medal was issued with the inscription “It is like boldness. Genvarya, 20, 1770"
Falcone conceived a monument without a fence, although the fence was nevertheless installed, but has not survived to this day. Now there are people who leave inscriptions on the monument and spoil the pedestal and the Bronze Horseman. It is possible that soon a fence will be installed around the Bronze Horseman
In 1909 and 1976, the restoration of the Bronze Horseman was carried out. A recent gamma-ray survey showed that the frame of the sculpture is in good condition. Inside the monument was laid a capsule with a note on the restoration and a newspaper dated September 3, 1976

The Bronze Horseman in St. Petersburg is the main symbol of the Northern capital and newlyweds and numerous tourists come to admire one of the most famous sights of the city on Senate Square.