"Bronze Horseman"- a monument to the first Russian emperor Peter I, has become one of the symbols of St. Petersburg. Its grand opening, timed to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the reign of Empress Catherine II, took place on August 18 (August 7, old style) 1782 on Senate Square.
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.
Famous masters recommended for this work Etienne-Maurice Falcone, who had long dreamed of creating monumental work. The wax sketch was made by the master back in Paris, and after his arrival in Russia in 1766, work began on a plaster model in the size of the statue.
Rejecting the allegorical solution offered to him by Catherine II's entourage, Falcone decided to present the tsar as "the creator, legislator and benefactor of his country", who "stretches his right hand over the country he travels around." He instructed his student Marie Ann Collot to model the head of the statue, but later, he made changes to the image, trying to express in the face of Peter a combination of thought and strength.
The casting of the monument took place at the end of August 1774. But it was not possible to complete it at one time, as Falcone expected. During casting, cracks formed in the mold, through which liquid metal began to flow. The workshop started on fire.
The selflessness and resourcefulness of the foundry master Yemelyan Khailov made it possible to extinguish the flame, but the entire upper part of the casting from the knees of the rider and the chest of the horse to their heads was irreparably damaged and had to be cut down. During the time between the first and second casting, the craftsmen repaired and minted the holes left in the cast part of the monument from the pipes (gating gates) through which liquid metal was fed into the mold, and polished the bronze. The upper part of the statue was cast in the summer of 1777.
Then began the connection of the two parts of the sculpture and the sealing of the seam between them, chasing, polishing and patination of bronze. In the summer of 1778, the decoration of the monument was basically completed. In memory of this, Falcone engraved an inscription in Latin on one of the folds of the cloak of Peter I: "Etienne Falcone, a Parisian 1778, molded and cast." In August of the same year, the sculptor left Russia without waiting for the opening of the monument.
Following the departure of the French sculptor from Russia, the architect Yury Felten supervised the progress of work on the construction of the monument.
The monument is supported by a snake trampled by a horse by the sculptor Fyodor Gordeev, symbolizing envy, inertness and malice.
The foot of the sculpture - a giant granite block, the so-called thunder-stone, was found in 1768 on the shores of the Gulf of Finland, near the village of Konnaya Lakhta. The delivery of a colossal monolith weighing about 1.6 thousand tons to the site of the monument was completed in 1770. First, it was transported overland on a platform with grooved skids, which, through 32 bronze balls, rested on portable rails laid on a prepared surface, and then on a specially built barge. According to the drawing of the architect Yuri Felten, the stone was given the shape of a rock, as a result of processing, its dimensions were significantly reduced. On a pedestal in Russian and Latin Mounted inscription: "To Peter the Great Catherine the Second". The installation of the monument was supervised by the sculptor Gordeev.
The height of the sculpture of Peter I is 5.35 meters, the height of the pedestal is 5.1 meters, the length of the pedestal is 8.5 meters.
In the statue of Peter, pacifying the horse on steep peak rocks, the unity of movement and rest is superbly conveyed; The regally proud landing of the king, the commanding gesture of the hand, the turn of the upturned head in laurel wreath, personifying the resistance of the elements and the assertion of the sovereign will.
The monumental statue of a horseman, with his imperious hand clutching the reins of a horse reared in a swift impulse, symbolizes the growth of Russia's power.
The location of the monument to Peter I on Senate Square 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 Falcone, did his own thing by erecting a monument closer to the Neva.
Senate Square after the opening of the monument was named Petrovskaya, in 1925-2008 it was called Decembrists Square. In 2008, it was returned to its former name - Senate.
Thanks to Alexander Pushkin, who used fantasy story about the revived monument during the flood that shook the city in his poem, the bronze monument of Peter.
During the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945), the monument was covered with sandbags, on top of which a wooden case was built.
The Bronze Horseman has been repeatedly restored. In particular, in 1909 the water accumulated inside the monument was drained and cracks were repaired, in 1912 holes were drilled in the sculpture for water drainage, in 1935 all newly formed defects were eliminated. The complex of restoration works was carried out in 1976.
The monument to Peter I is an integral part of the ensemble of the city center.
On City Day in St. Petersburg official festive events traditionally on the Senate Square.
The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources
horse sculpture Russian emperor Peter I on the Senate Square, with the light hand of A.S. Pushkin, known as the "Bronze Horseman", appeared in St. Petersburg according to the plan of Empress Catherine II. The design of the monument and the production of the model were carried out by the sculptor Etienne Maurice Falcone. Ekaterina herself took part in the development of the idea of the monument and French philosophers Voltaire and Diderot. For the embodiment, the image of the king of the organizer, a progressive and active ruler was chosen. Peter sits on a rearing horse, protectively extending his hand over Russia. A bearskin serves as a saddle for him, denoting the wildness from which a dynamically progressing power escaped. A horse trampling a snake is a symbol of a defeated enemy.
The sculptor came to Russia at the invitation of the Empress in 1766. The work took 12 years, and only in 1778 was the casting of the monument completed. I must say that the sculptor himself could not have cast a sculpture of this size (and its weight is 8 tons). The most complex internal construction, the thin front walls of the monument, required special skill, which no European caster could boast of. The Russian gunsmith Yemelyan Khailov came to the aid of Falcone. However, the work did not go smoothly, the casting could not be done the first time. Bronze leaked out through broken pipes, and the top of the sculpture was damaged. However, in spite of everything, the work was successfully completed. By this time, Falcone had finally spoiled relations with customers and was forced to leave Russia without waiting for the opening of the monument, which took place on August 7, 1782. The installation of the monument on a pedestal was carried out under the direction of the architect F.G. Gordeeva. General leadership the project and the adoption of architectural and planning decisions were carried out by Yu.M. Felten.
Separately, it is worth mentioning the foundation of the monument. There is a legend that it was from him, sitting on a horse, that Peter surveyed the place for the construction of the new capital of Russia. The so-called Thunder Stone weighs 1600 tons. However, the raw piece of rock that became the pedestal initially weighed over 2,200 tons. Through the efforts of the best Russian masters and thousands of workers, the stone found in the vicinity of St. Petersburg was transported to Senate Square. On the way it was processed by 46 masons. Transportation of the rock over a distance of more than 8 kilometers took almost a year.
The Bronze Horseman monument has become a symbol of St. Petersburg. A legend related to the period of the Patriotic War of 1812 is associated with it. Tsar Alexander wanted to take out of St. Petersburg the most valuable relics, including a sculpture of Peter. At that time, a major named Baturin met with Prince Golitsyn and told his dream, which was repeated many times. In a dream, the major saw the rider leave the pedestal, go to the tsar’s residence and stop in front of him and say: “Young man, what have you brought my Russia to, but as long as I am in place, my city has nothing to fear!”. The monument and other valuables remained in the capital, and Napoleon, as you know, was defeated and expelled from Russia. Perhaps for the same reason, the monument remained in besieged Leningrad. At this time, he was covered with sandbags and sheathed with boards and logs.
Location and how to get there
The closest metro station to the monument is Admiralteyskaya. From it you need to go along Malaya Morskaya Street past St. Isaac's Cathedral and turn right to the Alexander Garden. The route will not take more than 15 minutes. You can also drive from the Nevsky Prospekt metro station by trolleybuses No. 1, 5, 22, 10, 11 to the Pochtamtsky lane stop and go back 500 meters along Konnogvardeisky Boulevard.
The Bronze Horseman monument in St. Petersburg is located in the historical center, so after examining it, you can visit the best sights of the city that are within walking distance.
Attractions nearby
Standing next to the Bronze Horseman, turning your back to the Neva, you will see St. Isaac's Cathedral. A visit to the cathedral is possible daily from 11 am to 7 pm (except Wednesdays). From the platform of the colonnade of the cathedral, located at a height of 43 meters, a panoramic view of the city opens. To visit you need to buy a separate ticket. Access to the colonnade is open every day except the second Wednesday of each month from 10:00 to 17:00, in the evening from May to October from 18:00 to 23:00, and in summer until 04:30. In addition to the already mentioned St. Isaac's Cathedral, there is a State Hermitage. It is open for visits every day except Monday from 10.30 to 18.00, on Sunday until 17.00. Just walk 700 meters along the Admiralteyskaya embankment to the Palace embankment, such a building is impossible not to notice. Just on the border of these embankments is the Palace Bridge, which will lead you to the spit of Vasilyevsky Island. Here you can see the exposition of the Naval Museum daily from 11 am to 6 pm (except Monday and Tuesday), as well as from 11 am to 6 pm (except Tuesday) with the collection Zoological Museum. The latter is open every day during the holidays.
For guests of St. Petersburg, the topic of accommodation is often relevant, so we recommend that you familiarize yourself with the hotels on the map of St. Petersburg
Plot
In August 1782, a bronze horse with a bronze emperor in the saddle reared up over the cold bank of the Neva. Mother Catherine, who wanted to unobtrusively indicate her greatness, ordered to indicate on the pedestal: "To Peter the Great - Catherine the Second." Read from student to teacher.
Catherine II timed the opening of the Bronze Horseman to coincide with two anniversaries at once
Clothing on Petra is simple and light. Instead of a rich saddle, there is a skin, which, according to the idea, symbolizes a wild nation, civilized by the sovereign. For the pedestal - a huge rock in the shape of a wave, which, on the one hand, spoke of difficulties, on the other, of naval victories. The snake under the feet of the rearing horse depicted "hostile forces." The figure of Peter should, as planned, express a combination of thought and strength, the unity of movement and rest.
Catherine expected to see Peter with a rod or scepter in his hand, riding a horse like a Roman emperor, not a legionnaire. Falcone, on the other hand, conceived something completely different: “My king does not hold any rod, he stretches out his beneficent right hand over the country he circles. He climbs to the top of the rock that serves as his pedestal."
The idea of a monument to Peter was born in Catherine's head under the influence of her friend, the philosopher Denis Diderot. He also advised Etienne Falcone: “There is an abyss in him fine taste, intelligence and delicacy, and at the same time he is uncouth, harsh, does not believe in anything ... He does not know self-interest.
To create a plaster model, Falcone posed for a guards officer who reared a horse. This went on for several hours a day. Horses for work were taken from the imperial stables: horses Brilliant and Caprice.
Plaster sketch of the head of the Bronze Horseman
The plaster model was molded by the whole world: the horse and rider were Etienne Falcone himself, the head was his student Marie Ann Collot, the snake was the Russian master Fyodor Gordeev. When the model was finished and approved, the question arose about the casting. Falcone had never done anything like this before, so he insisted that experts be called from France. They called. The French caster Benoit Ersman and three apprentices came to St. Petersburg not only with their own tools, but even with their own sand and clay - you never know, all of a sudden in wild Russia there is no right raw material. But this did not help him fulfill the order.
The situation was tense, deadlines were running out, Falcone was nervous, Catherine was unhappy. Found Russian daredevils. The casting of the monument lasted almost 10 years. Falcone himself did not see the completion of the work - in 1778 he had to leave for his homeland. The sculptor was not invited to the grand opening.
Context
The pedestal is a work no less powerful, however, already made by nature. Nicknamed the thunder-stone, it was found near the village of Konnaya Lakhta (now it is a district of St. Petersburg). The pit, formed after the extraction of rock from the ground, became a pond, which still exists today.
Petrovsky pond, which arose after the removal of the thunder stone
The required sample - weighing 2 thousand tons, 13 m long, 8 m high and 6 m wide - was found by the state peasant Semyon Vishnyakov, who supplied building stone to St. Petersburg. According to legend, the rock broke away from a granite rock after a lightning strike, hence the name "thunder-stone".
The most difficult thing was to deliver the stone to the Senate Square - the future pedestal had to overcome almost 8 km. The operation was carried out throughout the winter of 1769/1770.
The stone was brought to the coast of the Gulf of Finland, where a special pier was built for its loading. A special ship, built according to unique drawings, was sunk and planted on pre-driven piles, after which the stone was moved from the shore to the ship. The same operation was repeated in reverse order on Senate Square. The whole of St. Petersburg, from young to old, watched the transportation. While the thunderstone was being transported, it was hewn, giving it a "wild" look.
The action of the machine for transporting the thunder-stone. Engraving according to the drawings of Yuri Felten. 1770
Soon after the installation, urban legends and horror stories began to multiply around the monument.
Pedestal of the Bronze Horseman - Thunder Stone
According to one of them, while the Bronze Horseman stands in his place, the city has nothing to fear. This came from a dream of a certain major during the Patriotic War of 1812. Nightmare the warriors handed it over to Alexander I, who just gave the order to take the monument to the Vologda province - to save it from the approaching French. But after such prophecies, of course, the order was cancelled.
The ghost of the Bronze Horseman was allegedly seen by Paul I during one of the evening walks. Moreover, this happened even before the installation of the monument. future emperor he himself said that on the Senate Square he saw a ghost with the face of Peter, who announced that they would soon meet again in the same place. After some time, the monument was unveiled.
For Etienne Falcone, the monument to Peter I has become the main business of life. Before him, he worked mainly on orders from Madame de Pompadour, mistress of Louis XV. By the way, she also contributed to the appointment of the sculptor as director of the Sevres Porcelain Manufactory. This was the decade of sculpting figurines depicting allegories and mythological characters.
Etienne Falcone
“Only nature, alive, spiritualized, passionate, should be embodied by the sculptor in marble, bronze or stone,” these words were Falcone's motto. French aristocrats loved him for his ability to combine baroque theatricality with antique austerity. And Diderot wrote that he values in the work of Falcone, above all, fidelity to nature.
After a rather tense period of work under the supervision of Catherine II, Falcone was no longer invited to Russia. For the last 10 years of his life, paralyzed, he could not work and create.
Among the many sculptures decorating the city on the Neva special attention attracts a monument to the founder northern capital- Peter I.
Bronze Horseman - business card Petersburg. Erected by the will of Catherine II, it has been decorating Senate Square for more than 200 years.
Monument to Peter I, called the Bronze Horseman with light hand Alexandra Pushkin is one of the symbols of St. Petersburg and one of the most famous sights of the cultural capital.
This Monument to Peter I is located in an open park on Senate Square and is a unique piece 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.
Admire the main character Petersburg, newlyweds and numerous tourists come to Senate Square.
The history of the creation of the monument Bronze Horseman:
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.
These famous masters Etienne-Maurice Falconet, who at that time worked as the chief sculptor at a porcelain factory, was recommended for this work. “There is an abyss of fine taste, intelligence and delicacy in him, and at the same time he is uncouth, harsh, does not believe in anything ... He does not know self-interest,” Diderot wrote about Falcon.
Catherine summoned to Russia the sculptor Etienne-Maurice Falcone, the author of The Threatening Cupid, which is now kept in the Louvre, and others famous sculptures. By that time, the artist was already 50 years old, he had a rich track record, but he had not yet completed such monumental orders.
Etienne-Maurice Falcone has always dreamed of monumental art, and having received an offer to create an equestrian statue of a colossal size, without hesitation, he agreed. The 50-year-old master came to Russia with 17-year-old assistant Marie-Anne Collot. On September 6, 1766, he signed a contract, in which the reward for his work was 200,000 livres. This was a fairly modest amount, other masters appreciated this work much more.
Falcone felt that this work of his should go down in history, and did not hesitate to argue with the empress. For example, she demanded that Peter sit on a horse with a rod or scepter in his hand, like a Roman emperor. Project manager and right hand Catherine, Ivan Betskoy advised putting a figure in full height with a baton in hand. And Denis Diderot even proposed a monument in the form of a fountain with allegorical figures. It got to such subtleties that "Peter's right eye should be directed to the Admiralty, and the left eye to the building of the Twelve Collegia." But Falcone stood his ground. The contract he signed stated that the monument should consist "principally of equestrian statue colossal size."
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 never got the approval of Catherine II, and as a result, the head of the Bronze Horseman was 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.
The location of the monument is perhaps the only thing that was hardly discussed during its creation. Catherine ordered to place a monument on Senate Square, since the Admiralty founded by Peter I and the main legislative institution of Russia at that time, the Senate, are located nearby. True, the queen wanted to see the monument in the center of the square, but the sculptor acted in his own way and moved the pedestal closer to the Neva.
Its pedestal, perhaps the only one in the history of monumental sculpture, has given name- Thunderstone. As a metaphorical "rock" Falcone wanted to use a monolithic rock, but it was not easy to find a stone of a suitable size. Then in the newspaper "Sankt-Peterburgskiye Vedomosti" an announcement appeared, addressed to all individuals who are ready to break out a piece of rock somewhere and bring it to Petersburg.
A certain peasant Semyon Vishnyakov responded, who was engaged in the supply of building stone to St. Petersburg. He had long had a block in the Lakhta region in mind, but he just didn’t have the tool to split it. Where exactly the Thunder Stone lay is not known for certain. Perhaps not far from the village of Lisiy Nos. The documents contained information that the path of the stone to the city took eight miles, that is, about 8.5 kilometers.
According to the recommendations of Ivan Betsky, a special vehicle was developed to transport the rock, thousands of people participated in the transportation. The stone weighed 2400 tons, it was transported in winter so that the soil under it would not sag. The relocation operation lasted from November 15, 1769 to March 27, 1770, after which the stone was loaded onto a ship on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and brought to Senate Square on September 26.
The casting of the statue began in 1774 using a complex technology, which, through the distribution of weight, made it possible to keep the balance of the figure on just three points of support. But the first attempt was unsuccessful - the pipe with red-hot bronze burst, and the upper part of the sculpture was damaged. It took three years to prepare for the second attempt. Constant turmoil and missed deadlines spoiled relations between Falcone and Catherine, and in September 1778 the sculptor left the city without waiting for the completion of work on the monument. The Bronze Horseman turned out to be latest work in his life. By the way, on one of the folds of the cloak of Peter I you can find the inscription "Sculpted and cast by Etienne Falcone, a Parisian of 1778."
The installation of the Bronze Horseman on a pedestal was led by the architect Fyodor Gordeev. By Catherine's command, "Catherine II to Peter I" was written on the pedestal. Grand opening the monument took place on August 7, 1782. In honor of this event, the empress issued a manifesto on a general amnesty, and also ordered the minting of silver and gold medals with his image. Catherine II sent one gold and one silver medal to Falcone, who received them from the hands of Prince Golitsyn in 1783.
The Bronze Horseman "passed" through three wars without damage, although he is in a convenient place for shelling. It was not damaged during the Patriotic War of 1812. First World War also did not affect the majestic Peter, and during the Great Patriotic War during the blockade of Leningrad, the Bronze Horseman was sheathed with logs and boards, the monument was covered with sandbags and earth. Other large monuments did the same, which it was not possible to hide or evacuate.
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 in a fever, and it seemed to him 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.
* WITH Patriotic War 1812, a legend is connected that says that Alexander I ordered the monument to be evacuated to the Vologda province when there was a threat of the capture of St. Petersburg French troops. A certain Major Baturin obtained an audience with Prince Golitsyn and told him about a dream that haunted him. Allegedly, he sees Peter on Senate Square moving down from the pedestal and jumping to the king's residence on Kamenny Island. “Young man, what have you brought my Russia to,” Peter tells him, “but as long as I am in place, my city has nothing to fear!” According to legend, Golitsyn retold the dream to the sovereign, and he canceled the order to evacuate the monument.
*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 northern war, left hand which is directed towards Russia.
Interesting facts about the Bronze Horseman monument:
1) 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.
2) The emperor is depicted 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 speak of the winner and the commander.
3) 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.
4) The monument is unique in that it has only three points of support.
5) On the pedestal there is an inscription “TO PETER the first EKATERINA, the second year of 1782”, and on the other side the same text is indicated in Latin.
6) The weight of the Bronze Horseman is eight tons, and the height is five meters.
7) Falcone conceived a monument without a fence, although the fence was nevertheless installed, but has not survived to this day. 8) Now there are people who leave inscriptions on the monument and spoil the pedestal. It is possible that soon a fence will be installed around the Bronze Horseman.
9) In 1909 and 1976, the restoration of the Bronze Horseman was carried out.
10) A capsule with a note on the restoration and a newspaper dated September 3, 1976 was placed inside the monument.
11) The latest gamma-ray examination showed that the frame of the sculpture is in good condition.
12) The name "The Bronze Horseman" is artistic technique Pushkin, in fact, the figure is bronze.
photo from internet
The monument to Peter I ("The Bronze Horseman") is located in the center of Senate Square. The author of the sculpture 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 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 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 do not interpret as either a great commander or a winner, although he, of course, was both. Much higher is the personality of the creator, legislator, benefactor of his country, and here and it is necessary to show people. My king does not hold any rod, he stretches out his beneficent right hand over the country he travels around. He rises to the top of the rock that serves as his pedestal - this is the emblem of the difficulties he has overcome."
Defending the right to his opinion on the appearance of the monument, Falcone wrote to I. I. Betsky: "Could you imagine that the sculptor chosen to create such a 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 style, 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 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.
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 caster was found - a cannon master Emelyan Khailov. Together with him, Falcone selected the alloy, made samples. For three years, the sculptor mastered casting to perfection. They began to cast the "Bronze Horseman" in 1774.
The technology was very complex. The thickness of the front walls must necessarily be less than the thickness of the rear. At the same time, the back part 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-Petersburgskie Vedomosti wrote about these events: “On August 24, 1775, Falcone poured a statue of Peter the Great on horseback here. Casting succeeded except in places two feet by two at the top. was not at all. The aforementioned incident seemed so terrible that they feared that the whole building would not go up in flames, and, consequently, the whole thing would not fail. Khailov remained motionless and poured the molten metal into a mold, without losing his vigor in the least at the danger presented to him for Falcone, 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 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 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 boldness. Genvara, 20. 1770."
The rock was dragged overland for almost a year. Further along the Gulf of Finland, she was transported on a barge. During transportation, dozens of masons 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 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 appearance of the "Bronze Horseman" on the Senate Square, the square was named Petrovskaya.
"The Bronze Horseman" sculpture in his poem of the same name named A. S. 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.
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.
Currently, the "Bronze Horseman" is a popular place for honeymooners.
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.
