In St. Petersburg
In fact, the monument is not made of copper at all - it was cast from bronze, and received its name thanks to Pushkin’s poem of the same name)
Bronze Horseman was created in 1768-1770 by the sculptor Etienne Falconet, his head was sculpted by the sculptor’s student, and the snake according to his design was sculpted by Fyodor Gordeev. The final casting of the rider was completed only in 1778
They looked for a stone for the horseman’s monument for a long time, but they never found a suitable one, so the newspaper “St. Petersburg Vedomosti” soon published an appeal to private individuals with an offer to help the project
Very little time passed from the moment the advertisement was posted and the stone was found - it turned out to be a block that had long been looked after by the state-owned peasant Vishnyakov for his own needs. He never found a way to split it into pieces, so he pointed it out to Captain Lascari, the head of the search work in this project
The block was given the name Thunder Stone, but the place in which it was found today is not exactly known
To transport the block, it was undertaken a whole series measures, from the creation of a special platform that rolls over balls made of a copper-based alloy, to a system for using levers when loading stone onto this platform. In order to pull the stone out of the ground and load it onto the platform, the forces of thousands of people were involved, because it weighed more than 1,600 thousand tons. Interesting feature finishing of the stone is that it was given the proper shape by 46 stonemasons right during transportation
This finishing operation, which has no analogues, lasted throughout the entire journey, from November 15, 1769 to March 27, 1770, when the Gorm Stone arrived on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, at a pier built specifically for its loading.
A special ship was also created to transport the block by water. As a result of these inhuman efforts, on September 26, 1770, the Thunder Stone solemnly arrived on Senate Square
The whole of Europe watched the movement of the Thunder Stone with interest. Along the way, situations occurred many times that threatened the collapse of all undertakings, but the work leaders each time found a way out of the current situation. In honor of the successful completion of the transportation of the block, a commemorative medal was created with the inscription “Like daring”
Falconet fell out of favor with Catherine II in 1778 and was forced to leave the country. His place was taken by the sculptor Felten, under whose leadership the Bronze Horseman was completed and inaugurated on August 7, 1782
The Bronze Horseman became the first equestrian monument to the king. The ruler is depicted in conventional clothing, on a rearing horse, and his role as a victorious commander is indicated only by the sword hanging from his belt, yes laurel wreath crowning his head
The concept of the Bronze Horseman was developed jointly by Catherine II, Voltaire and Diderot. They came to the conclusion that the monument was supposed to symbolize the victory of man over nature, which would be depicted by the Thunder Stone - which is why modernity was outraged by the fact that Falcone carved and polished a grandiose block of stone
The inscription “Peter the Great Catherine the Second, summer 1782” is carved on the pedestal, which is duplicated by its Latin counterpart on the reverse side. It reflects the intention of Catherine II to establish a line of continuity between the activities of Peter I and her own
Towards the end XVIII century There were many legends about the monument, and early XIX centuries Bronze Horseman became one of the most popular topics in Russian poetry
For example, they say that in 1812, at the height of the Patriotic War, concerned about the prospect of the capture of St. Petersburg by the French, Alexander I ordered the evacuation of the most valuable works of art from the city, for which Secretary of State Molchanov was allocated several thousand rubles. But at this time, Major Baturin achieved a meeting with the tsar’s close friend, Prince Golitsyn, and told him that he had the same dream, in which a horseman on Senate Square descends from a pedestal and rushes to the palace of Alexander I on Kamenny Island. Peter I said to the Tsar who came out to meet him: “Young man, what have you brought my Russia to... But as long as I’m in place, my city has nothing to fear!” After which the rider turns and returns to his place. Prince Golitsyn, amazed by Baturin's story, conveys his story to the sovereign, who, after listening to him, canceled his original order to evacuate the Bronze Horseman
It is quite possible that it was this legend that formed the basis of Pushkin’s “Bronze Horseman”; there is also an opinion that it was because of this legend that during the Great Patriotic War the monument remained in place and was not hidden, unlike other sculptures in St. Petersburg
And if you look at it from this angle, it turns out very interesting monument horse...=)
It seems incredible at first glance. Is Peter I standing, with his hand outstretched, on the banks of the Neva? Then you realize there is every reason to doubt
The monument to Peter I, standing on Senate Square in St. Petersburg, is also called the “Bronze Horseman”. The latter is beyond any doubt. We see a rearing horse, on it, rather, not a Russian autocrat, but a Roman patrician or someone similar to him, and his hand stretched above the ground
According to the official version, this is a monument to Peter I, which was made by order of Empress Catherine II, by architect Falconet in 1778. Its opening took place four years later.
I didn’t believe the official version and took a closer look monument to researcher and historian Alexey Kungurov. He noticed a lot of things that were incomprehensible and even surprised him. Starting with the stone on which the pedestal is installed. Its mass, according to different sources, from 1700 to 2500 tons. Such a colossus is unbearable even for modern mechanisms, not to mention banal horsepower. It’s hard to even imagine how the stone was lifted, what it was loaded on and how brought to St. Petersburg.
Then the number of questions grows like a snowball. With what fright did the author dress Peter in a Roman or Greek toga, put a sword on him and laurel wreath on your head? Glorification of the image? Then the distortion of the proportions of Peter I’s body should also be attributed to the same reason. Disproportionally built, narrow-shouldered, he appears before us an epic handsome man with arshin fathom shoulders, a body filled with strength
Why does the rider on his horse lack stirrups and a saddle, which is replaced by some kind of skin?
This is clearly visible in the photo
Only the Scythians and Sarmatians rode horses without saddles or stirrups. Tradition says that they knew how to control horses even with their thoughts. But why these frankly archaic details in the image of the great autocrat?
But what surprised me most was the presence of a certain snake-like appendage under the horse’s hind legs. What is this? If, indeed, it is a serpent, then how does it fit in with the image of Peter? Perhaps he fought with the green serpent, but this version looks funny.
Or at this point.
The horse, the human figure on it, the entire composition of the monuments are indeed similar to each other. Clear similarity in concept, execution, plot.
To prove that such monuments were erected in Rus', the researcher cites a picture Japanese artist, who visited our area and conscientiously sketched what he saw.
Why was the dragon removed and the tail left? - arises logical question. Look at the next picture and you will understand - the tail is one of the points of support and attachment of the monument to the stone. Without her he would not have been able to stand. Therefore, the conversion specialists were forced to leave the tail.
Then who was the monument originally erected to? St. George the Victorious or someone else to an ancient hero unknown to us. Don't you think so? If you put a spear in the hand of bronze Peter, and create a snake at the feet of the horse, you will, without any doubt, get a ready-made Victorious.
Alexey Kungurov claims that if you look closely at the sleeves of the shirt and the edge of the rider’s cape, you can see something completely unimaginable - an embroidered swastika pattern, which was worn only by Slavic warriors. But Peter I cannot in any way be classified as a guardian Russian history and her admirers. He decisively and mercilessly exterminated all traditions and customs in favor of the new European order he introduced. Then what does the swastika have to do with it?
“It’s very likely that the Falcone surname was simply used to cover up something that they wanted to destroy, distort, or hide from you and me,” says Alexey Kungurov. And he continues. - Given brief analysis suggests that the Bronze Horseman monument was altered, that it was originally erected for a completely different hero - the real one.”
The monument to Peter I ("Bronze Horseman") is located in the center of Senate Square. The author of the sculpture is the French sculptor Etienne-Maurice Falconet.
The location of the monument to Peter I was not chosen by chance. Nearby are the Admiralty, founded by the emperor, and the building of the main legislative body of tsarist Russia - the Senate. Catherine II insisted on placing the monument in the center of Senate Square. The author of the sculpture, Etienne-Maurice Falconet, did his own thing by installing 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, advised to turn to this 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, without hesitation, signed the contract on September 6, 1766. Its conditions determined: the monument to Peter should consist of “mainly equestrian statue colossal size." The sculptor's fee was offered quite modest (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, imagined it as a full-length figure, holding a commander’s staff in his hand. Falcone was advised to direct the emperor's right eye to the Admiralty, and his left to the building of the Twelve Colleges. Diderot, who visited St. Petersburg in 1773, conceived a monument in the form of a fountain decorated with allegorical figures.
Falconet had something completely different in mind. He turned out to be stubborn and persistent. The sculptor wrote: “I will limit myself only to the statue of this hero, whom I do not interpret either as a great commander or 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 her and it is necessary to show people. My king does not hold any rod, he extends his beneficent right hand over the country he is traveling around. He rises to the top of the rock that serves as his pedestal - this is an emblem of the difficulties he has conquered.”
Defending the right to his opinion regarding the appearance of the monument, Falconet wrote to I. I. Betsky: “Could you imagine that a sculptor chosen to create such a significant monument would be deprived of the ability to think and that the movements of his hands would be controlled by someone else’s head, and not his your own?"
Disputes also arose around the clothes of Peter I. The sculptor wrote to Diderot: “You know that I will not dress him in the Roman style, just as I would not dress Julius Caesar or Scipio in the Russian style.”
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, passersby could watch here as a guards officer took off on a horse onto a wooden platform and reared it. This went on for several hours a day. Falcone sat at the window in front of the platform and carefully sketched what he saw. The horses for work on the monument were taken from the imperial stables: the horses Brilliant and Caprice. The sculptor chose the Russian “Oryol” breed for the monument.
Falconet's student Marie-Anne Collot sculpted the head of the Bronze Horseman. The sculptor himself took on this work three times, but each time Catherine II advised to remake the model. Marie herself proposed 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 assigned her a lifelong pension of 10,000 livres.
The snake under the horse’s foot was sculpted by the Russian sculptor F. G. Gordeev.
Preparing the life-size plaster model of the monument took twelve years; it was ready by 1778. The model was open for public viewing in the workshop on the corner of Brick Lane and Bolshaya Morskaya Street. Various opinions were expressed. The Chief Prosecutor of the Synod resolutely did not accept the project. Diderot was pleased with what he saw. Catherine II 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 task of casting the statue. Foreign masters demanded too much a large amount, and local craftsmen were frightened by its size and complexity of work. According to the sculptor's calculations, 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 foundry worker from France refused such work. He called Falcone crazy and said that there was no such example of casting in the world, that it would not succeed.
Finally, a foundry worker was found - cannon master Emelyan Khailov. Together with him, Falcone selected the alloy and made samples. In three years, the sculptor mastered casting to perfection. They began casting the Bronze Horseman in 1774.
The technology was very complex. The thickness of the front walls had to be less than the thickness of the rear ones. At the same time, the back part became heavier, which gave stability to the statue, which rested on only three points of support.
Filling the statue alone was not enough. During the first, the pipe through which hot bronze was supplied to the mold burst. 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 a success. In memory of her, on one of the folds of Peter I’s cloak, the sculptor left the inscription “Sculpted and cast by Etienne Falconet, a Parisian in 1778.”
The St. Petersburg Gazette wrote about these events: “On August 24, 1775, Falconet cast a statue of Peter the Great on horseback here. The casting was successful except in places two feet by two at the top. This regrettable failure occurred due to an incident that could have been foreseen, and therefore prevented it was not at all. The above-mentioned incident seemed so terrible that they feared that the entire building would catch fire, and, therefore, that the whole business would not fail and carried the molten metal into the mold, without losing his courage in the face of the danger presented to him. life. Falconet, touched by such courage at the end of the case, rushed to him and kissed him with all his heart and gave him money from himself.”
According to the sculptor’s plan, the base of the monument is a natural rock in the shape of a wave. The shape of the wave serves as a reminder that it was Peter I who led Russia to the sea. The Academy of Arts began searching for the monolith stone when the model of the monument was not yet ready. A stone was needed whose height would be 11.2 meters.
The granite monolith was found in the Lakhta area, twelve miles from St. Petersburg. Once upon a time, according to local legends, lightning struck the rock, forming a crack in it. Among local residents The rock was called "Thunder Stone". That’s what they later began to call it when they installed it on the banks of the Neva under 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 way deliver the rock to Senate Square. From many projects, the method proposed by a certain Carbury was chosen. There were rumors that he had bought this project from some Russian merchant.
A clearing was cut from the location of the stone to the shore of the bay and the soil was strengthened. The rock was freed from excess layers, and it immediately became lighter by 600 tons. The thunder-stone was hoisted with levers onto a wooden platform resting on copper balls. These balls moved on grooved wooden rails lined with copper. The clearing was winding. Work on transporting the rock continued in both cold and hot weather. Hundreds of people worked. Many St. Petersburg residents came to watch this action. Some of the observers collected fragments of stone and used them to make cane knobs or cufflinks. In honor of the extraordinary transport operation, Catherine II ordered the minting of a medal with the inscription “Like daring. January 20, 1770.”
The rock was dragged overland for almost a year. Further along the Gulf of Finland it was transported on a barge. During transportation, dozens of stonemasons gave it the necessary shape. The rock arrived at Senate Square on September 23, 1770.
By the time the monument to Peter I was erected, the relationship between the sculptor and the imperial court had completely deteriorated. It got to the point that Falcone was credited with only a technical attitude towards 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 supervised by the architect F. G. Gordeev.
Grand opening monument to Peter I took place on August 7, 1782 (old style). The sculpture was hidden from the eyes of observers by a canvas fence with the image mountain landscapes. It had been raining since the morning, but it did not stop a significant number of people from gathering on Senate Square. By noon the clouds had cleared. The guards entered the square. The military parade was led by Prince A. M. Golitsyn. At four o'clock, Empress Catherine II herself arrived on the boat. She climbed onto the balcony of the Senate building in a crown and purple and gave a sign for the opening of the monument. The fence fell under drum roll The regiments moved along the Neva embankment.
By order of Catherine II, the following is inscribed on the pedestal: “Catherine II to Peter I.” Thus, the Empress emphasized her commitment to Peter's reforms.
Immediately after the appearance of the Bronze Horseman on Senate Square, the square was named Petrovskaya.
A. S. Pushkin called the sculpture “The Bronze Horseman” in his poem of the same name. This expression has become so popular that it has become almost official. And the monument to Peter I itself became one of the symbols of St. Petersburg.
The weight of the "Bronze Horseman" is 8 tons, the height is more than 5 meters.
During the siege of Leningrad, the Bronze Horseman was covered with bags of earth and sand, lined with logs and boards.
Restorations of the monument took place in 1909 and 1976. During the last of them, the sculpture was studied using gamma rays. To do this, the area around the monument was fenced off with sandbags and concrete blocks. The cobalt gun was controlled from a nearby bus. Thanks to this research, it turned out that the frame of the monument can still serve for many years. Inside the figure was a capsule with a note about the restoration and its participants, a newspaper dated September 3, 1976.
Currently, the Bronze Horseman is a popular place for newlyweds.
Etienne-Maurice Falconet conceived The Bronze Horseman without a fence. But it was still created and 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.
The sculpture appeared on this site more than two hundred years ago, but the interest in it is so lively and enduring, as if the legendary statesman embodied in this creation had recently become part of our history. However, this should not be surprising: modern Russia is experiencing such a rise and at the same time facing such global challenges that many often compare the present time with the era of Peter the Great.
The Bronze Horseman also has his own history - full of events and facts, myths and legends. The search for foundries, the skepticism of many craftsmen that such a monument is even possible to create, the difficulties with delivering a huge stone as a pedestal and other points leave no doubt - it was erected, so to speak, in vanity and difficulties. However, Peter the Great, cast in metal, adequately overcame them, reaching our days in its original form, symbolizing the greatness and power of the Fatherland.
Instead of a monument to Catherine II
The Bronze Horseman monument might not have seen the light of day if not for goodwill Empress Catherine II. More precisely, her wise and far-sighted calculation.
For Sophia Augusta Frederica of Anhalt-Zerbst, the great predecessor on the Russian throne was the unconditional authority in everything. Initiating various reforms or inviting the most talented writers, artists and sculptors to St. Petersburg, the autocrat imitated Peter I. She was a progressive person and readily absorbed everything new in science and philosophy. It is not for nothing that the era of Empress Ekaterina Alekseevna entered Russian history under the name “the age of enlightened absolutism”, and also as “the union of philosophers and monarchs”.
The merits of the great empress were appreciated during her lifetime. Contemporaries even started talking about erecting a monument in her honor. The idea of being immortalized in bronze or any other metal, of course, flattered the former Prussian princess, who became the head of the largest country in the world. But in the end, she decided to immortalize for posterity not herself, but Peter, who went down in history as the reforming king. Thus, she intended to consolidate in the public consciousness the idea that her transformations were a continuation of Peter’s reforms, and that she was a worthy successor of them. The calendar also spoke in favor of this decision: the 100th anniversary of Peter I’s accession to the throne was just approaching, and a better date for the implementation of this idea could not be found.
Having suppressed the self-indulgent dreams of her own monument, Catherine the Great ordered the casting of a monument to her predecessor. The task was entrusted to the Russian sculptor, architect and artist Bartolomeo Rastrelli, but the empress did not like the version he prepared. What to do? They came to the rescue French philosophers Voltaire and Denis Diderot, with whom the enlightened queen maintained an active correspondence, and whose opinion was especially valuable to her. They advised us to turn to the services of the famous French sculptor Etienne-Maurice Falconet. In 1766, Dmitry Alekseevich Golitsyn, who served as minister plenipotentiary at the court of Louis XV, presented the 50-year-old Master with an official invitation to Russia.
Falcone was known as an intelligent, delicate, sophisticated and selfless man, who dreamed all his life of showing his talent in monumental art. He understood that he might not have such a chance again and therefore unconditionally accepted the offer of the Russian diplomat, who promised only 200 thousand livres for the work - the reward for such a grandiose project is more than modest. In August 1766, all the formalities were settled: they signed a contract in which they discussed general view and the size of the monument, the amount of the fee and the timing of the order, as well as the sculptor’s obligation not to be distracted by other orders while he is working on the monument to Peter the Great.
How the Bronze Horseman was created
Suggestions about what an emperor cast in metal should look like were varied. Ivan Ivanovich Belskoy, who headed the Russian Academy of Arts, proposed sculpting him with a staff in his hand and at full height. State Councilor Shtelin saw Peter surrounded by other statues, allegorically depicting Victory, Justice, Prudence and Diligence, and which would support the worst with their feet human qualities– Deception, Envy, Laziness and Ignorance. Catherine II also submitted her idea: she believed that Peter must certainly have a staff and a scepter and sit on a horse.
Falconet did not want to embody in the monument either the image of a victorious monarch or images of allegories. He believed that his work should show Peter I, first of all, how outstanding personality- the personality of a benefactor and creator of his country. He worked on a plaster model of the Bronze Horseman on the territory of the former temporary Winter Palace of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, located on the corner of Nevsky Prospect and the Moika embankment (the residence has not survived to this day). A guards officer, as well as Brilliant and Caprice, two stately horses of the Oryol breed, “posed” for the master. The Frenchman carefully watched as the guard literally took off on one of them onto the platform, rearing his horse, and made numerous sketches along the way. The Empress was especially picky about the model of the head of Peter I, which is why the sculptor remade it several times.
17-year-old Marie-Anne Collot, Falconet’s student, whom he brought with him to Russia as an apprentice, also proposed her design for the head. This solved the problem: Catherine liked the sketch. And so much so that for the work done, the girl was given a lifetime salary of 10 thousand livres and accepted into Russian Academy arts In her performance, the emperor’s face, illuminated with deep thought, with a wide with open eyes, expressed courage and will. But the Russian sculptor Fyodor Gordeev worked on the snake that is under the horse’s feet.
So, the plaster model of the Bronze Horseman was made by 1769, not without difficulties and heated debate. It would seem that all the difficulties are behind us. But new challenges lay ahead. Firstly, the empress did not like the model as a whole, since the Frenchman did not listen to her suggestions and arbitrarily chose the appearance of the monument. Secondly, the monument had to be cast in bronze. Falcone calculated that it would maintain balance only if its front walls were made very thin, no more than a centimeter. Domestic foundry workers did not agree with such calculations. They also did not want to take on the work because of the colossal size of the sculpture. Foreign craftsmen were not afraid of anything, but they demanded quite a lot of money for their services.
After some time, the foundry worker was finally found. It turned out to be Emelyan Khailov, a cannon master. Together with a French sculptor, he selected the alloy of the required composition and made tests. The actual casting of the monument began in 1774 and was carried out using incredibly complex technology. It was necessary to ensure that the front walls were necessarily inferior in thickness to the rear ones, which would give the composition the necessary stability. But bad luck: the pipe through which the molten bronze entered the mold suddenly burst, ruining top part monument. It had to be removed and another three years spent preparing for the second filling. This time fortune smiled on them, and everything was ready on time and without incident.
In memory of the successful completion of the work, Falconet wrote on the fold of Peter’s cloak that it was he who “sculpted and cast” this sculpture in 1788. At the same time, his relationship with Catherine II completely went wrong, and the sculptor was forced to leave Russia along with his student. From that moment on, the work to complete the monument was led by Academician Yuri Matveevich Felten. It was according to his drawings that the machine that delighted everyone was made, with the help of which the “Thunder Stone” was transported, which formed the basis of the pedestal of the Bronze Horseman.
By the way, about the “Thunder Stone”. He was found in the vicinity of the village of Konnaya Lakhta by the peasant Semyon Vishnyakov, who responded to an appeal in the St. Petersburg Gazette. The megalith weighed 1,600 tons and when it was pulled out of the ground, it left behind a huge pit. It filled with water and a reservoir was formed, called Petrovsky Pond, which has survived to this day. To deliver the stone to the loading site, it was necessary to cover almost 8 kilometers. But how? We decided to wait until winter so that the frozen soil would not sag under its weight. Transportation began on November 15, 1769 and ended on March 27, 1770 (old style) on the shores of the Gulf of Finland. By that time, a pier for shipping the giant had been built here. In order not to waste precious time, they began to cut the stone as they moved. However, the Empress forbade touching it: the future pedestal must arrive in the capital in its natural form! “Thunder Stone” acquired its current appearance already on Senate Square, having significantly “lost weight” after processing.
Monument to the Bronze Horseman, main symbol Northern Palmyra, which immortalized Peter the Great on a rearing horse, was opened on August 7, 1782. In honor of the long-awaited event, a military parade was held, led by Prince Alexander Golitsyn. Catherine II arrived for the celebrations in a boat along the Neva. Climbing onto the balcony of the Senate building, she put on a crown and dressed in purple and gave a sign that the holiday could begin. In a bitter irony of fate, Falcone himself was not even deigned to be invited to this event.
The monumental creation of the French sculptor impressed those present at the ceremony with its majesty and amazing completeness of the image. It seems that even the empress herself, who ordered the inscription “Catherine II to Peter I” to be left on the pedestal, managed to forget that she initially saw the monument as completely different. And even more so, it never occurred to anyone that the Bronze Horseman would be followed by a trail of myths and legends, not to mention facts that simply deserve attention. And almost from the day of installation.
If supporters of the reformer king said that the monument embodies power and greatness Russian Empire, and not a single enemy, while the horseman is on his pedestal, will be able to crush it, then Peter’s opponents held the opposite point of view. They did not fail to declare that the monument is very reminiscent of the horseman of the Apocalypse predicted in the Bible, and that its appearance in the very heart of the capital is a harbinger of suffering and death throughout the country.
Glory about amazing monument soon spread far beyond the borders of St. Petersburg. In the outback even their own version of his appearance arose. Allegedly, Tsar Peter somehow came up with some entertainment for himself: he sat on a horse and jumped on it from one bank of the river to the other. “Everything is God’s and mine!” – he exclaimed before the first jump. He said the same phrase before the second, also successful. For the third time, the sovereign, mixing up the words, said: “Everything is mine and God’s!” For such “insolence” the Almighty punished him by turning him to stone, and he forever remained a monument to himself.
And here is another legend - about a certain Major Baturin. It was a matter of Patriotic War 1812, when our troops were forced to retreat and the French were about to capture the capital. So that the enemy does not get it most valuable works art, Emperor Alexander I gave instructions to take them out of the city. The Bronze Horseman monument was also subject to transportation. But then it becomes known that Major Baturin is having the same dream, in which he sees himself on Senate Square, next to the monument. Peter I allegedly rides a horse from the pedestal and heads to Kamenny Island, where the residence of the sovereign was located. During the meeting, he scolded Alexander: “What have you, young man, brought my Russia to? But while I’m here, my city has nothing to fear!” The unusual dream was first reported to the Tsar’s friend, Prince Golitsyn, who retold it to the Emperor. The evacuation was canceled and the monument remained in place. There is an opinion - however, not confirmed by anything - that A. S. Pushkin based the plot of the poem “The Bronze Horseman” on this very legend. The same motive can be traced in F. M. Dostoevsky’s novel “The Teenager”.
The myth about the ghost of Peter the Great, which was seen by Catherine II’s son Paul I, was also widespread in local folklore while he was not yet emperor. The Crown Prince, together with his friend Prince Kurakin, was walking in the very place where the monument is now located. And then they saw a man wrapped in a wide cloak, as if waiting for them. Having spoken to them, the ghost headed to the middle of the square, pointed to the place of the future Bronze Horseman and said that he would be seen here again. Saying goodbye, he raised his hat, and the young people were almost speechless with horror: the mysterious stranger was none other than Peter I.
The Bronze Horseman points his hand in the direction of Sweden. Interestingly, in the center of Stockholm, the capital of this Scandinavian monarchy, there is a monument to Peter’s opponent in Northern War– King Charles XII, left hand which is a coincidence? – points towards Russia. More interesting fact, as if confirming the dream of the mentioned Major Baturin. The monument remained in its place not only during the Patriotic War of 1812, but also during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. During the terrible days of the siege of Leningrad, it was lined with boards and logs and covered with sandbags. Our country, as you know, survived both of these wars...
During its entire existence, the bronze emperor and his horse were restored only twice - in 1909 and 1976. At the same time, an analysis was carried out using gamma rays to determine the condition of the frame. sculptural composition. He showed that everything was fine. A capsule was even placed inside the monument: it contains a message about the restoration carried out and a newspaper dated September 3, 1976. In Soviet times (1988), the State Bank issued a commemorative 5-ruble coin made of copper-nickel alloy, on which the Bronze Horseman was depicted. It weighed 19.8 grams, the total circulation of the banknote was 2 million copies. Two years later, another commemorative coin saw the light, this time with a denomination of 100 rubles and gold, 900-carat - from the historical series on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the unified Russian state. An image of the monument to Peter I was also placed on it.
How to get there
You can get to the Bronze Horseman by metro. Get off at the Admiralteyskaya station and, once on Malaya Morskaya Street, turn left and walk past St. Isaac's Cathedral. Then turn right from it and go to the Alexander Garden. Senate Square with a monument installed on it is located behind the garden.
Another option: take the metro to one of two stations - Nevsky Prospekt or Gostiny Dvor, get off at the Admiralty and Palace Square and, having passed by, you find yourself on Admiralteysky Prospekt. Turning left, reach Senate Square.
Or, if you don’t want to walk, at the exit at the Nevsky Prospekt station, change to a trolleybus (route numbers: 1, 5, 10, 11 and 22), get off at the Pochtamtsky Lane stop and return back to Konnogvardeisky Boulevard, crossing on foot running about 500 meters.