St. Petersburg remembers and honors the name of its founder. The townspeople installed dozens of images of Peter I, but undoubtedly the most popular is the Bronze Horseman - a monument on Senate Square. It is considered the hallmark of the Northern capital.
Name
Alexander Pushkin was born seventeen years after the installation of the monument. It was this Russian poet who, in a work of the same name, managed to accurately convey the power and energy of the Bronze Horseman and the entire composition: “What a thought on your brow! What power is hidden in him”and“O powerful lord of fate”. With these words, the poet expresses his admiration for the Russian emperor. The monument, which got its name thanks to Pushkin's creation, is actually made not of copper, but of bronze.
History of creation
The initiator of the installation of the monument was Empress Catherine II, so she wanted to note her personal admiration for the work of the great reformer. It was decided to install the monument in the city he founded in 1703.
The first statue was created by Francesco Rastrelli, but the tsarina did not approve of the version of the monument and for many years it was hidden in the St. Petersburg barns. The sculptor Etienne Falcone was the next to take over, Catherine invited the master on the recommendation of the philosopher Diderot. In 1766, a contract was signed and work began. The place for the Frenchman to work was determined in the Winter Palace of Queen Elizabeth, housing - in the old stable. The architectural part of the monument was performed by Yuri Felten, who was appointed to replace the dismissed captain de Lascari.
For three years, Falcone and his assistants created a model of the monument from plaster. The approved sculpture was soon to be cast from metal. Master Ersman, who had arrived from France, could not do this, and Falcone took over the leadership of the process. The matter was not easy, the tension of the situation was growing.
The first casting of the monument took place in 1775. There is a legend that during the casting, a pipe with red-hot bronze burst unexpectedly. Thanks to the efforts of Evgeny Khailov, the lower half of the monument was saved. The master had been making cannons all his life and knew a lot about working with metal. Two years later, the upper part of the monument was cast.
But this happened without Falcone, since he soon left Russia. Leaving the country, the Frenchman took with him all the calculations, drawings and drawings. Felten completed the business. The celebration associated with the opening of the monument was scheduled for August 7, 1782, it was the result of twelve years of painstaking work. During the presentation, only Etienne Falcone was absent from the audience. The sculptor's quick departure was the finale of the artist's confrontation with the palace nobility. The image created by the French based on historical materials about the life of Peter I did not correspond to the ideas of Catherine. She saw in him, first of all, a great commander, the French sculptor put at the forefront of his achievements in the field of rapprochement with Europe and access to the sea. Perhaps, if the sculptor had abandoned his own opinion then, today the monument looked different and had a different name.
"Thunder Stone"
The monument turned out to be quite impressive in size. In order to ensure the integrity of the composition, it was decided to install it on a pedestal. The selected stone block, according to the author, was supposed to imitate a rising wave.
Once a lump was broken by lightning, so its name "Thunder-stone" appeared. The path from the village of Konnaya Lakhta, where it was discovered, to the installation site was almost eight kilometers. First, the stone was moved overland in winter, after that it was loaded onto a ship and transported from the Gulf of Finland to St. Petersburg. The lump lost its original appearance after processing and installation.
Description of the monument
Falcone's project is not the only equestrian monument to the emperor. “My monument will be simple,” wrote the author. The king was depicted on a horse in dynamics. For Falcone, Peter the First is a legislator and creator. The rider is dressed in light clothing: a long shirt and a cloak fluttering in the wind. Such a simple dress is common to all nations - “heroic dress”.
The emperor rides on a horse, which rears up and climbs a stone. The Emperor stretches out his hand towards the nearby Neva River. It is noteworthy that the creator portrayed Peter not in the saddle, but on a bearskin as a symbol of involvement in the Russian nation, of which the sovereign is a representative. The king is confident and calm. In the fight against the elements and prejudices, he sees the meaning of life. The stone symbolizes the pristine nature. The sculpture is a symbol of the superiority of civilization over wildlife.
In addition to the massive size of the monument, the observance of the weight balance has become a problem. The sculpture had three anchor points - this had to remain stable. Then a snake was added to the composition, which symbolized evil, ignorance and enmity. It was located at the feet of the horse, which trampled on it, and gave the sculptural composition additional support. Peter's head was created by Maria-Anna Collot, a student of Falcone. A death mask helped to make the face, despite this the work took a rather long period of time, its results did not suit Catherine for a long time. Years later, for her contribution to the perpetuation of the memory of Peter Collo, she received a life annuity. The snake was created by the domestic master Fyodor Gordeev. Only one detail - the wreath on the head of the emperor and the sword hanging from the belt, created the image of the winner. On one of the folds of the cloak, the sculptor Falcone indicated his own name - he left information about the authorship.
Catherine ordered the inscription "Catherine II to Peter I" to appear on the granite base. Next to it is the date 1872. On the reverse side, the same inscription is duplicated in Latin. The weight of the metal sculpture without a pedestal is about nine tons, and its height is more than five meters. After two centuries of existence, cracks appeared in the monument. Serious restoration measures carried out in 1976 extended his life.
In culture and literature
The Bronze Horseman is considered to be a symbol of the city on the Neva and a landmark. Each visitor to the city visits the Senate Square and finds something special, unique in the image of the emperor. It is difficult to find epithets to describe the greatness of the composition, but no one will leave with an empty heart. The successful combination of metal and stone very accurately reflected the true royal character.
The monument made a special impression on Alexander Pushkin. He inspired him to create the poem The Bronze Horseman. The poet noted the brightness and integrity of the imperial image. Today's schoolchildren write essays on this work, and in each essay the role of the writer who gave the name to the monument is noted. The story of the history of the monument would be incomplete without this. The main character of the poem lost his beloved Parasha during a flood. Desperate, he wanders the city. When he meets a monument to Peter on his way, Eugene realizes that the emperor's fault in the wrong place for the construction of the city and with anger turns to the “idol on a bronze horse”. At this moment, the emperor takes off and chases after the offender. The author does not explain the degree of reality of what is happening: it is the hero's great imagination or reality. It is believed that the basis for the presentation of the plot was the situation of 1812, when, fearing the offensive of Napoleon, Alexander I decided that all values, including the Bronze Horseman, should leave the capital.
Major Baturin, who was responsible for the evacuation, had the same dream of how the tsar descends from the pedestal and rushes on horseback through the streets of the city. He seemed to warn that there was nothing to fear. The evacuation was canceled, and Peter did not budge.
From the very beginning, legends and anecdotes were made up about the St. Petersburg horseman. So once, the figure of Peter Alekseevich was noticed by Pavel I, when in the evening he was walking through the streets of the city. The ghost said, "You will see me here soon." A month later, a well-known composition was installed.
The monument appears in Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel "Teenager": "a bronze rider on a hot-breathing, driven horse." He is present in the work of Andrei Bely "Petersburg" and in the "Rose of the World" by Daniil Andreev.
The place for the installation of the monument was chosen by Catherine quite well. The figure was located near the Neva and turned towards it, because access to the sea borders was one of the main tasks of Peter. His gaze is directed into the distance, he dreams of new achievements. The monument on Senate Square to the great emperor Peter Alekseevich is a tribute to the memory and respect for his contribution to the development of the Russian state. To admire the beauty of the monument and feel the energy of the monument, you should visit St. Petersburg and see it with your own eyes.
