A masterpiece of architectural art, a monument to the Russian Emperor Peter the Great "The Bronze Horseman" has been attracting the attention of all guests of St. Petersburg for several centuries. The monument is the personification of the strength, power, victoriousness and fearlessness of the Russian state. The monument "The Bronze Horseman" is located on Senate Square in the very center of St. Petersburg and is an adornment of the city ensemble.
The history of the creation of the monument
The history of the monument to Peter the Great began in 1784. It was then that Empress Catherine the Great decided to create a monumental sculpture that would reflect the greatness of the monarch, his contribution to the development of the Russian Empire and the gratitude of descendants for this contribution. I asked for advice neither more nor less - from Voltaire and Diderot. They advised Catherine to contact the sculptor of the porcelain factory, Etienne Maurice Falconet. For a long time the sculptor did not hesitate - the art of such a scale had long attracted him, and therefore he was ready to start work immediately. Falcone arrived from France to Russia and began the implementation of a monumental project.
No one then knew how the monument to Peter I should look like. Experts offered a wide variety of options. But Falcone had his own opinion on this matter. In the monument, he wanted, first of all, to display the personality of the emperor. How he sees her - at that time only the sculptor himself knew. Working on the project was not easy. Falcone posed the best cavalry officers on the best horses - Falcone needed to accurately reproduce the moment when the horse rears up. And he coped with it. But with Peter's appearance, everything turned out to be more complicated. None of the options proposed by the sculptor suited the empress. In the end, Falcone's young assistant Marie-Anne Collot coped with the task. And she was generously rewarded for this: she became a member of the Russian Academy of Arts and received a pension of ten thousand livres. The snake, which the Peter's horse tramples underfoot, was also not made by Falcone. Its author was a sculptor from Russia Fedor Gordeev.
Catherine was dissatisfied with the appearance of the monument. Difficulties arose when the monument was embodied in bronze. Russian foundry workers refused to do this work - the sculpture was too big. And foreigners broke such prices that they seemed unrealistic. Emelyan Khailov, a cannon casting specialist, agreed to cast the monument. The monument rests on only three points, so it was necessary to choose the perfect alloy and the thickness of the walls of the statue. Everything was not successful the first time. Through trial and error, Falcone and Haylov tried to create the optimal composition and method of performance. The work lasted more than three years and was completed in 1788.
Thunder stone
The Bronze Horseman's pedestal deserves to be told about it separately. Falcone certainly wanted it to be made from a single piece of stone. The height of the pedestal is more than eleven meters, and it was not at all easy to find such a block in the vicinity of St. Petersburg.
An appeal to residents with an offer to help in finding the stone was even published in the newspaper "St. Petersburg News". And it worked. Semyon Vishnyakov, a peasant, saw a huge block near the village of Lakhta and told about it. The stone was so large that it was called the Thunder Stone. He weighed one thousand six hundred tons. Delivery of the future pedestal to St. Petersburg turned out to be a difficult task. He was transported to the Gulf of Finland on a platform, then transported along the Gulf and the Neva to the city center. Thousands of workers were involved. The first part of the operation - overland - was carried out in winter, while the ground was solid, on the shore the block lay until autumn, and in September, on a ship built specifically for this purpose, it was transported to St. Petersburg. The author of the sketch, according to which the stone was shaped, which we see to this day, was Yuri Felten. Interestingly, after processing, the size of the stone decreased significantly, although today it is impressive in its scale. And in the place where the Thunder-stone lay, to this day there is a reservoir, which was formed when, after removing the lump, water accumulated into the depression.
Installation and opening
It is worth noting that Falcone's role in the creation of The Bronze Horseman was completed at this point. Due to disagreements with the Empress, he left our country. Therefore, Fyodor Gordeev took over the management of the installation of the monument.
The Bronze Horseman was opened on August 7, 1782. In honor of this event, a parade was held in St. Petersburg. The monument was opened at the sign of Catherine.
Description
The monument turned out to be very impressive. It clearly shows the power of the greatness of the Russian emperor, his will, will and glory of the entire Russian state. Peter is sitting on a reared horse. He wears normal clothes and uses a hide as a saddle. However, the founder of St. Petersburg in a laurel wreath is a winner, and he has a sword on his belt - he is a warrior, and he is always ready to defend his country. And there is something to defend against - the snake crushed by the hooves of the imperial horse personifies the difficulties and dangers that the enemies do not spare for Russia. The choice of the pedestal is not accidental either. Looking at the emperor pacifying the horse at the very top, it becomes clear how much effort it cost him to overcome a huge number of difficulties on the path of Russia's development. There are inscriptions on the pedestal on each side. On the one hand, in Russian: "TO PETER the First, EKATERINA second year 1782", on the other - the same thing, only in Latin.
The sculpture of the emperor is 5.35 meters, the height of the pedestal is 5.1 meters, the length of the pedestal is 8.5 meters. The monument weighs more than eight tons. The monument did not immediately receive its name, and its name is not entirely logical: why is it copper, if it is made of bronze. But for this we must thank Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, who created the poem "The Bronze Horseman". She gave the name to the monument
Legendary and mysterious
For some reason, the Bronze Horseman was considered mystical almost from the moment of its creation, and was surrounded by legends. Here are some of the more popular ones.
1. Once the emperor wanted to jump over the Neva on his horse. He said "God and I" and was transported to the other side of the river. With the same words, he jumped a second time, and again successfully. And for the third time he exclaimed "I and God" and immediately turned into a monument that still stands on the banks of the Neva. According to another version, Peter survived, but fell into the icy waters of the Neva, from where he was pulled out by a fisherman. Since then, the emperor has learned to prioritize correctly.
2. There is a version that the snake, personifying evil, actually saved Peter. During a serious illness, it seemed to him that enemies were advancing on Petersburg. He saddled his horse and was about to rush into battle, but then a snake crawled out and wrapped around the horse's legs. Thus, it did not allow Peter I to perish. In honor of this, allegedly, and a monument.
3. They also say that the Bronze Horseman is a kind of guardian of the city. As if Peter had said: "As long as I am in place, my city is safe." Superstitions are superstitions, but since then the monument has never left its place. Even during the Great Patriotic War, when the city was mercilessly bombed and fired upon, the Bronze Horseman remained in place. They masked it with boards, covered it with sandbags, but did not remove it. Indeed, never once did the enemies succeed in capturing Petersburg.
4. And this is no longer a legend, an interesting feature. Peter points with his hand towards Sweden. And in Stockholm there is a monument to their emperor Charles XII, with whom Peter fought during the Northern War. So, Karl points to Petersburg with his hand.
The Bronze Horseman was restored twice - in 1909 and 1976. In addition, it is regularly examined using X-rays. The results of the latest research indicate that the monument is in good condition and is not in danger. After the last restoration, a note in a capsule and a newspaper dated September 3, 1976 were placed inside the monument.
Location
The place where the monument is located was not chosen by chance. After the opening of the monument, the Senate Square began to be called Petrovskaya, and later - the Decembrists' Square. In 2008, she regained her Senate title.
The monument to Peter the Great is an integral part of the city center ensemble. The Empress herself insisted on the Senate Square. however, she wanted to erect a monument in the center of the square, but Falcone "moved" it closer to the Neva. By the way, initially Catherine chose this place to erect a monument to herself. But when the question arose, whose monument to erect on the square, she made a choice in favor of the founder of St. Petersburg. The Bronze Horseman fits very harmoniously into the urban ensemble. Many of the most important sights of St. Petersburg are located around it: the Admiralty, the Senate, St. Isaac's Cathedral and others.
