One of the most grandiose works of art in the whole world is the magnificent creation of Tsereteli - a monument to Peter the Great, located in the capital of Russia, on the Moscow River. Installed in the late nineties, for almost two decades, the impressive monument has become native to Muscovites.
Description
The iconic sculpture of the Russian emperor rises 98 meters above the ground and is rightfully considered the highest in the country. The monument is installed on a specially equipped platform on the Moscow River and represents the figure of Peter I, firmly standing on the deck of the ship. In turn, the ship rests on a kind of pedestal of several smaller frigates. Fountains gush around the platform.
Due to the huge size of the monument, its installation took place in parts. First, a reinforced concrete foundation was built, a strong platform was erected on it, which is the basis of the entire structure. A pedestal, a ship, a figure of the emperor, as well as a mast and sails with movable shrouds made of metal cables were hoisted onto the pedestal in turn.
The frame of the structure is very durable, as it consists entirely of stainless steel. The cladding is made of bronze and fixed to a steel frame. Each bronze part of the monument is carefully processed with special means and varnished in order to protect the surface of the sculpture from adverse weather conditions.
In the hand of Peter the Great is a scroll covered with gilding, like the St. Andrew's crosses on the banners of the ships that form the basis of the pedestal. For the production of the sails of the main ship, copper knockout technology was used, and all fastening mechanisms were made of stainless steel.
History of creation
Peter I was opened on September 5, 1997. According to official documents, its creation was timed to coincide with the celebration of the 300th anniversary of Russian fleet. However, this anniversary was celebrated much earlier - in the fall of 1996. In addition, a completely different project was initially approved by the maritime community, but in the end, the Tsereteli project was recognized as more suitable for a significant date.
According to the legend in the Russian media, the monument to Peter is nothing more than a remade statue of Christopher Columbus, the discoverer of America, which Tsereteli could not sell to the United States. Indeed, there are similar features between the projects of the monuments to Columbus and Peter I: both majestic figures stand on the deck of the ship, lifting up right hand, and the ship is installed on a pedestal that is complex in its structure. However, there are a lot of differences between them, as, for example, between any monuments to emperors riding a galloping horse. You can compare both projects in Moscow, in the gallery of Zurab Tsereteli: they are specially installed side by side so that doubters and skeptics can see the differences between them.
There are several controversial points in the very design of the monument: for some reason, the figure of the emperor is dressed in the costume of a Spanish sailor, the rostra of enemy ships is crowned with Russian flags. Opponents of the installation of the monument found other historical inconsistencies, but no changes were made to the original project.
Apart from vague history creation, the monument also has an unequal reputation among the public. People are divided into two camps: for one, the sculpture seems bulky and awkward, for the other - majestic and beautiful.
Despite all the gossip, legends and gossip that have been multiplying around the monument over the years, today it is already difficult to imagine the appearance of the capital without the majestic figure of Peter, towering over the waters of the Moscow River.
How to get there:
Address: Moscow, Krymskaya embankment, 10, the nearest metro stations are Park Kultury, Polyanka and Oktyabrskaya stations.
There is, perhaps, no ruler who would be more deserving of the centuries-old memory of his compatriots than in Moscow according to the project famous sculptor Z. Tsereteli is considered one of the most controversial creations of the author.
Discussions around this monument have not ceased for a decade and a half, it causes many different opinions. From point of view artistic value are treated differently. Despite this, as an example of engineering art, it is unique.
Description of the monument
The monument to Peter the Great in Moscow is located on a reinforced concrete island, created specifically for its installation. The load-bearing base of the structure is made of stainless steel in the form of a frame on which a bronze cladding is installed. The figure of Peter, the ship and the lower segment of the monument were assembled separately and only after that they lined up on a common pedestal prepared in advance.
The ship's shrouds are peculiarly designed. They are made of metal cables connected to each other and swinging when the wind blows. In other words, the guys are made like real ones.
The monument is lined with high-quality bronze, which protects it from destructive influences. external environment. The figure of the emperor is covered with a special varnish for additional protection, which helps to preserve the color.
The ship's sails are hollow to lighten the top of the monument. They are based on a lightweight All fasteners of the monument are made of stainless steel to prevent corrosion. Inside the monument there is a staircase intended for restorers, installed for evaluation internal state designs.
As already mentioned, the bronze king stands on an artificial island. To imitate the movement of the ship on the waves, fountains are equipped in the bases of the island. When looking at the composition, it seems that the ship cuts through the waves.
History of creation
There are many cases in world culture when unusual or strange sculptural compositions glorified their heroes and authors. For example, the monument to Wenceslas on a dead horse, located in the center of Prague, the Haddington pedestal depicting a shark crashing into the roof of a house, or the well-known Brussels pissing boy. The Monument to Peter I in Moscow can boast of its own attraction in the same way and entered the world's ten most "unsympathetic" buildings.
Monuments in other cities
Tsar Peter left the greatest mark in the history of our Fatherland as an extraordinary reformer, ruler, military leader and, undoubtedly, a great despot. Not only Moscow and St. Petersburg are famous for Peter's monuments.
There are monuments to Peter in Kaliningrad, Voronezh, Vyborg, Makhachkala, Samara, Sochi, Taganrog, Lipetsk and even in European cities - Riga, Antwerp, Rotterdam, London.
Several volumes are not enough to tell about how much Peter the Great did for Russia. The monument in Moscow and other cities will retain the appearance of the greatest of Russian monarchs for many decades.
A few words about the author
And the artist Zurab Konstantinovich Tsereteli was born in the city of Tbilisi, in 1934, three days before Christmas. Higher education he received at the Academy of Arts of the city of Tbilisi. Then he studied in France, where he met outstanding painters- Chagall and Picasso.
The 60s in the life of the sculptor were marked by the beginning active work V monumental genre. One of the famous brainchild of Tsereteli is considered to be "Peter 1" - a monument in Moscow. His works are known not only in Russia and the CIS countries.
There are sculptures by Tsereteli in America (“Tear of Sorrow”, “Good Defeats Evil”), Great Britain (“Destroy the Wall of Distrust”), Spain (“Victory”).
Today, Zamoskvorechye, like all of Moscow, continues to change. For example, on the arrow of the Moscow River in 1997. there was a monument to the 300th anniversary of the Russian fleet work of Zurab Tsereteli. The total height of the monument is 98m, which makes the monument the highest in Russia and one of the highest in the world.
The monument is unique in technical terms. The supporting frame is made of stainless steel with bronze cladding details hung on it. The pedestal, the ship and the figure of Peter were assembled separately from each other. The ship's shrouds were cast from stainless steel and woven from several cables to prevent them from moving. Inside the monument, a staircase was arranged to monitor its condition. The reinforced concrete foundation on which the monument rests forms an artificial island and is framed by fountains. All this creates the effect of a ship cutting through the water.
An independent public commission, assessing the artistic qualities of the monument in 1997, a few months before its opening, pointed out that "Peter I", announced as a gift to sailors for the 300th anniversary of the Russian Navy, is actually not such.
First of all, because the holiday took place already in October last year. Secondly, back in 1995, the sailors, signed by the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, Admiral Selivanov, asked Russian government and personally Viktor Chernomyrdin to erect a completely different monument in honor of the holiday in Moscow. Its sketch was made by People's Artist Academician Lev Kerbel... It was planned to open the monument in September 1996 opposite the Tretyakov Gallery, for which they made a new pedestrian bridge across the Vodootvodny Canal and decorated the embankment there....
However, Moscow undertook to resolve all issues with this monument on its own, without the help of Russia, about which the Government of the Motherland was informed by a special letter. And around the spring of 1996, in the 300-year history of the Russian Navy, the name Tsereteli first appeared. By the decisions of the city government and the former chief architect of the city, Leonid Vavakin, special commissions were suddenly created, which examined the projects of Karbel and Tsereteli and recognized that the ideas of Zurab Konstantinovich were uniquely beautiful.
A monument to Peter the work of Kerbel was installed in Izmailovo. The city committee for the celebration of the 300th anniversary of the Fleet, on the recommendation of the Moscow Government, went to the workshop of Tsereteli and got acquainted with the project of the monument. Committee members asked the authorities to recommend 3. Tsereteli to include in the draft following changes: - depict a statue of Peter I in the traditional form of a Russian military sailor of the early 18th century; - install (place) busts of prominent naval commanders inside the monument; - remove the eagle from the bowsprit, but this was not done.
May 16, 1997 public commission, created by the mayor of Moscow because of the great public outcry in connection with the appearance of the monument, got acquainted with the results of sociological surveys conducted by the foundation " Public opinion”and VCIOM - half of the Muscovites surveyed did not like the monument. After examining the results, the commission held its own vote: 13 of its members voted "for" to leave the monument in this place, 3 voted "against". And July 6, 1997. the Revolutionary Military Council group tried to blow up the monument. According to them, explosives had already been planted, but the explosion was canceled due to possible casualties among passers-by. According to another version, the explosion was prevented thanks to an anonymous call. Since then, public access to the monument has been closed.
The monument caused such a number of criticisms that even a legend was born that it was originally a monument to Christopher Columbus for the Dominican Republic. But the Dominican state refused the monument, and Columbus turned into Peter the Great. But it has nothing to do with reality.
However, there is still an absurdity in the monument: Peter I is standing in a small boat (“the father of the Russian fleet”) on rostral column. At the same time, the ships are decorated with St. Andrew's flags, while the rosters are the bows of enemy ships. It turns out that the Emperor fought against his own fleet.
On September 28, 2010, on the day Yu.M. Luzhkov was removed from the post of mayor of Moscow, Marat Gelman proposed to demolish the monument. October 4, 2010 And. O. Mayor of Moscow Vladimir Resin at a meeting in the administration proposed to think about moving the monument to another place. After that, individual representatives of the authorities and groups of residents of the following cities announced their intention to host a monument to the founder of the Russian fleet: Azov, Transnistria, Petrozavodsk, Voronezh, Ivanovo, Orel, Arkhangelsk, Pereslavl-Zalessky, Kamyshin, Izhevsk. And even earlier, similar letters came from England and France. Finally, July 28, 2011. At a press conference, the prefect of the Central Administrative District (CAO) of Moscow Sergey Baidakov said:
Peter I, as he stood, will continue to stand. In general, I believe that everything should be the way our ancestors created it.
And in Oleg Divov's post-apocalyptic novel "The Best Crew of Solnechnaya", the monument to Peter I and the Cathedral of Christ the Savior are among the few that have survived in Moscow. Moreover, the mutants consider the monument to be an image of a certain pagan god and worship him, making pilgrimages along the dried-up river bed, which is considered a special road, and the charred Cathedral of Christ the Savior ("Black Church") - a special religious building erected for performing rituals. In the novel, the monument to Peter looks like this:
The oversized statue looked straight into the screen at the astronauts gathered in the wheelhouse. An evil, ugly face with small eyes and a twisted mustache was striking in the paranoid thirst for power masterfully conveyed by the sculptor. The giant's single hand gripped an archaic-looking helm. With its feet, the monster trampled on a tiny sea boat.
The monument to Peter I in Moscow, created by Zurab Tsereteli, is the highest in Russia and one of the highest in the world. It was installed on September 5, 1997 for the 850th anniversary of Moscow and caused almost unanimous rejection of both the public and architects. According to the results of voting by activists and experts of the Virtual Tourist website, the Monument to Peter the Great in Moscow entered the top ten ugliest monuments in the world. And, meanwhile, in technical terms, this is a unique engineering structure.
History of creation
The official name of the monument, commissioned by the Moscow Government, is a monument to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the Russian fleet. However, it was not a gift to sailors for the anniversary, since the holiday was celebrated a year earlier - in October 1996. In addition, the sailors asked Viktor Chernomyrdin to install a completely different monument to Peter I in the capital - made according to the sketch folk artist Academician Lev Kerbel, This statue was planned to be installed opposite the Tretyakov Gallery.
At the same time, the commissions created by the Government of the capital, having compared the two projects, decided that Tsereteli's ideas are beautiful and his creation carries great aesthetic value and high information saturation, and the work of Lev Kerbel should be "evicted" to Izmailovo.
It is surprising that the appearance of this monument caused a much greater public outcry than any election to power or some kind of emergency.
Among Muscovites, the opinion regarding the monument was also ambiguous. Opponents of Tsereteli's work found many contradictions and historically unreliable details in it:
- Information appeared in the media that the monument is a modified statue of Columbus, which Tsereteli created for the 500th anniversary of the discovery of the American continent and unsuccessfully offered to buy the United States, Spain and countries Latin America in 1991-1992. Opponents of this version believe that the monument in the capital has nothing to do with Columbus. It must be admitted that the two sculptures are similar only in composition, and in the creation of the monument to Peter I in Moscow, in addition to the workshop of Zurab Tsereteli, specialists from five institutes participated
- Muscovites did not like the place where the monument was erected. The name of the emperor is more associated with St. Petersburg, and the sculpture of the navigator appeared at the confluence of the Obvodny Canal into the Moscow River near the Red October chocolate factory - residents also saw this as nonsense
- The pedestal of the structure is decorated with rosters and, according to navigation experts, these were always trophies from enemy ships. Here, each rostrum is crowned with the St. Andrew's flag, which means that the king fought against his own fleet. In addition, in the Russian Navy, the St. Andrew's flag is hung out at the stern, and on the forecastle (on the bow) of the ships on the guis-stock, the guis rises
- Tsereteli dressed the emperor in Roman armor, and a bird sits on the bow of a boat the size of half of his figure, although the festive commission recommended that the sculptor change the statue of the king into the traditional uniform of a Russian sailor early XVIII century and remove the eagle from the bow of the ship.
In 2010, when Yuri Luzhkov left the chair of the mayor, they started talking about dismantling and moving the building to another location. However, according to experts, these works would cost the budget a billion rubles, and with this money it is possible to build two kindergartens.
Among the proposals to improve the monument is to arrange an observation deck on it. Stunning views of the capital open up from the deck of the ship, and Petrovsky's small boat could become no less attractive than the Eiffel Tower or a monument in memory of the London fire by Christopher Wren.
At the same time, Zurab Konstantinovich himself said that all these scandals are good advertising for him, and disputes arise for the reason that some are simply allergic to tsars.
Monument to Peter I in Moscow - description
In technical terms, the monument to Peter is a unique engineering structure. Its total height is 98 meters, the supporting frame is made of stainless steel, the cladding details are made of bronze. The ship and the figure of the king were assembled separately and then mounted on a pedestal.
The ship's shrouds, made of stainless steel, are woven from cables and fixed in such a way that their mobility is completely excluded. Sails to reduce their weight have a spatial metal frame inside.
The bronze used for the monument High Quality, many details are gilded. The artificial island is surrounded by fountains, which creates the effect of a ship cutting through the water.
The creation of a monument to Peter I in Moscow cost 100 million denominated rubles, that is, 16.5 million dollars at the 1997 exchange rate.
Caring for the monument to Peter I is difficult. Inside there is a ladder to monitor its condition. To ensure the rotation of the flags, they need to be lubricated regularly, moreover, it is quite easy to get to the flag on the bow of the ship, and taking care of the rest requires not only experience, but also mountaineering training. The hatch to the monument is located in the head and in order to get into the sails or into the figure of the king, it is necessary to climb along the mast struts to the very top.
We can say that Zurab Tsereteli fulfilled his mission and achieved his goals, because he made an impression, did not leave people indifferent, making them worry, and this the main task sculptor.
Assess whether the monument to Peter I in Moscow by Tsereteli is a masterpiece high art or an ugly sculpture, only our descendants will be able to. Recall that the Eiffel Tower in Paris was also controversial and wanted to be demolished, and then became a symbol of the city and a tourist attraction. Even the writer Guy de Maupassant dined in the restaurant of the tower, and said that "this the only place in all vast Paris, from where it is not visible!
- Other names: Monument to Peter the Great. Monument to Peter I. Monument to the 300th anniversary of the Russian fleet / In commemoration of the 300th anniversary of the Russian fleet
- Date of construction: 1997
- Architect, sculptor, restorer: Sculptor Zurab Tsareteli
- Address: Bersenevskaya emb., 2
- Metro: Polyanka
- Coordinates: 37°36′30.06″E; 55°44′19.17″N
The monument "In Commemoration of the 300th Anniversary of the Russian Fleet" on a man-made island near Bersenevskaya Embankment at the section of the Moscow River and the Vodootvodny Canal was opened on September 5, 1997, to mark the 850th anniversary of Moscow.
The monument is one of the highest not only in the capital and the country, but also in the world. Its height is 98 meters, its total weight is more than 2 thousand tons.
The monument, better known as the monument to Peter I, was created by sculptor Zurab Tsereteli and represents an 18-meter figure of Peter I at the helm of a ship on a high pedestal. Fountains are built into the base of the monument, which create the effect of a moving ship cutting through the waves.
The grandiose sculpture made of bronze sheets on a stainless steel frame, crowning the artificial island of the Moskva River, despite its "extravaganism", gained great fame. Many guests of Moscow aspire to look at this "miracle".
Public opinion about the sculpture is ambiguous. Some believe that trying to emphasize the importance of the event, Tsereteli, as usual, went too far with the details. Firstly, a bulky pedestal, replete with bas-reliefs and sculptures. The tower of ships, obviously, should emphasize the might and power of the Russian fleet. A bizarre pile of ships crosswise - obviously symbolizes the St. Andrew's flag, established by Peter the Great as the flag of the Russian Navy. Why it was necessary to go for such tricks, if all the same, each of the ships is literally hung with St. Andrew's flags, remains a mystery.
Secondly, the attire of the king is very surprising. The upper part of the attire is secular clothing of the 18th century, the lower part is the antique clothes of a Roman legionnaire, and, in addition, over the knee boots on bare feet. Of course, Peter the Great is an eccentric extraordinary person, and yet not enough to dress like that. What the author wanted to say, dressing the king in this way, also remains a mystery.
From an aesthetic point of view, representatives of the cultural community believe that the upper ship is categorically incommensurable in proportion to the mast and rudder, which makes it look a little ridiculous. In a word, this whole monumental ensemble - an explosive mixture of realism, avant-garde and the sculptor's violent imagination, is still very popular.
sculptural composition has a complex and unique device. To keep track of the status monument inside the object there is a staircase.
The amazing sculpture is visible from different parts of Moscow; its size and eccentricity overshadows all the surrounding sights. Good or bad - judge for yourself. Tsereteli's work is very ambiguous, having become better acquainted with his creations, everyone draws their own conclusions. One thing is certain - the monument "In Commemoration of the 300th Anniversary of the Russian Fleet" is certainly a bright, memorable monument.
