· Other reforms · Uprising in Poland · Reform of autocracy · Economic development of the country · Foreign policy · Growth of public discontent · Awards · Results of reign · Ancestors · Family · In the eyes of historians and contemporaries · Some monuments to Alexander II · On coins and in philately · In phaleristics · Names of geographical objects · Facts · Related articles · Notes · Literature · Official site ·
Moscow
On May 14, 1893, in the Kremlin, next to the Small Nikolaevsky Palace, where Alexander was born (opposite the Chudov Monastery), it was founded, and on August 16, 1898, solemnly, after the liturgy in the Assumption Cathedral, in the Highest Presence (the service was officiated by Metropolitan Vladimir of Moscow (Bogoyavlensky) ), a monument to him was opened (the work of A. M. Opekushin, P. V. Zhukovsky and N. V. Sultanov). The emperor was sculpted standing under a pyramidal canopy in a general's uniform, in purple, with a scepter; a canopy made of dark pink granite with bronze ornaments was crowned with a gilded patterned hipped roof with a double-headed eagle; in the dome of the canopy was placed a chronicle of the life of the king. On three sides, a through gallery adjoined the monument, formed by vaults resting on columns. In the spring of 1918, the sculptural figure of the king was thrown off the monument; The monument was completely dismantled in 1928.
In June 2005, a monument to Alexander II was solemnly opened in Moscow. The author of the monument is Alexander Rukavishnikov. The monument is set on a granite platform on the northeast side of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. On the pedestal of the monument there is an inscription “Emperor Alexander II. He abolished serfdom in 1861 and freed millions of peasants from centuries of slavery. He carried out military and judicial reforms. He introduced a system of local self-government, city dumas and zemstvo councils. He completed the many years of the Caucasian War. He freed the Slavic peoples from the Ottoman yoke. He died on March 1 (13), 1881 as a result of a terrorist act.
Saint Petersburg
In St. Petersburg, on the site of the death of the Emperor, the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood was erected with funds collected from all over Russia. The cathedral was built by order of Emperor Alexander III in 1883-1907 according to the joint project of the architect Alfred Parland and Archimandrite Ignatius (Malyshev), and consecrated on August 6, 1907 - the day of the Transfiguration.
The tombstone set over the grave of Alexander II differs from the white marble tombstones of other emperors: it is made of gray-green jasper.
Read more: Savior on Blood
Bulgaria
In Bulgaria, Alexander II is known as Tsar Liberator. His manifesto of April 12 (24), 1877 declaring war on Turkey is studied in the school history course. The Treaty of San Stefano on March 3, 1878 brought freedom to Bulgaria, after five centuries of Ottoman rule that began in 1396. The grateful Bulgarian people erected many monuments to the Tsar-Liberator and named streets and institutions in his honor all over the country.
Sofia
More: Monument to the Tsar Liberator
Monument to the Tsar Liberator in Sofia
In the center of the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, on the square in front of the People's Assembly, stands one of the best monuments to the Tsar-Liberator.
General-Toshevo
On April 24, 2009, a monument to Alexander II was solemnly opened in the city of General Toshevo. The height of the monument is 4 meters, it is made of two types of volcanic stone: red and black. The monument was made in Armenia and is a gift from the Union of Armenians in Bulgaria. It took the Armenian craftsmen a year and four months to make the monument. The stone from which it is made is very ancient.
Kyiv
More: Monument to Alexander II (Kyiv)
In Kyiv from 1911 to 1919 there was a monument to Alexander II, which was demolished by the Bolsheviks after the October Revolution.
Ekaterinburg
In 1906, a monument to Alexander II cast from Ural cast iron was erected on the front pedestal opposite the Cathedral on Torgovaya Square, and the idea of autocracy and Orthodoxy was expressed in the ensemble of the square. The monument was overthrown from its pedestal by revolutionary-minded soldiers in 1917. Later, a monument to Lenin was erected on this site.
Kazan
More: Monument to Alexander II (Kazan)
The monument to Alexander II in Kazan was erected on the Alexander Square (formerly Ivanovskaya, now May 1) at the Spasskaya Tower of the Kazan Kremlin and solemnly opened on August 30, 1895. In February-March 1918, the bronze figure of the emperor was dismantled from the pedestal, until the end of the 1930s it lay on the territory of Gostiny Dvor, and in April 1938 it was melted down to make brake bushings for tram wheels. On the pedestal, the "monument of Labor" was first erected, after which the monument to Lenin. In 1966, a monumental memorial complex was built on this site as part of a monument to the Hero of the Soviet Union Musa Jalil and a bas-relief to the heroes of the Tatar resistance in the Nazi captivity of the Kurmashev group.
Nizhny Novgorod
Monument to the Sovereign Emperor Alexander II the Liberator in the Nizhny Novgorod Caves Ascension Monastery. The monument was erected in May 2013 in honor of the 400th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty and in memory of the stay of the Sovereign Emperor Alexander II together with his wife Empress Maria Alexandrovna in the Nizhny Novgorod Caves Ascension Monastery in 1858
Rybinsk
On January 12, 1914, the laying of a monument took place on the Red Square of the city of Rybinsk - in the presence of Bishop Sylvester (Bratanovsky) of Rybinsk and Yaroslavl Governor Count D. N. Tatishchev. On May 6, 1914, the monument was unveiled (work by A. M. Opekushin).
Repeated mob attempts to desecrate the monument began immediately after the February Revolution of 1917. In March 1918, the "hated" sculpture was finally wrapped and hidden under the matting, and in July it was completely thrown off the pedestal. First, the sculpture "Hammer and Sickle" was put in its place, and in 1923 - a monument to V. I. Lenin. The further fate of the sculpture is not exactly known; The pedestal of the monument has survived to this day. In 2009, Albert Serafimovich Charkin began to work on the reconstruction of the sculpture of Alexander II; the opening of the monument was originally planned in 2011, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the abolition of serfdom.
Samara
The laying of the monument according to the project of V. O. Sherwood on Alekseevskaya Square (now Revolution Square) took place on July 8, 1888 with the support of the mayor P. V. Alabin, and the grand opening on August 29, 1889. In 1918, all the figures of the monument were dismantled, their fate is unknown. From 1925 to the present day, in the center of the square on Revolution Square, on a royal pedestal, there is a statue of V. I. Lenin by sculptor M. G. Manizer.
Helsinki
In the capital of the Grand Duchy of Helsingfors, on the Senate Square in 1894, a monument to Alexander II, the work of Walter Runeberg, was erected. With the monument, the Finns expressed their gratitude for strengthening the foundations of Finnish culture and, in particular, for recognizing the Finnish language as the state language.
Czestochowa
The monument to Alexander II in Czestochowa (Kingdom of Poland) by A. M. Opekushin was opened in 1899.
Minsk
The monument to Alexander II on the Cathedral Square in Minsk was erected exclusively on donations from the townspeople and solemnly opened in January 1901. The inscription on the monument read: “To Emperor Alexander II. Grateful citizens of the city of Minsk. 1900". In 1917 the monument was destroyed by the Bolsheviks. Cathedral Square, where the Orthodox Peter and Paul Cathedral was located (blown up in 1936, later not restored), was renamed Freedom Square. In the Orthodox parish of the village of Belaruchi, Logoisk district of Belarus, a granite pedestal of the monument has been preserved, the fate of the sculpture is unknown (presumably melted down). In 2013, representatives of the Belarusian public, after public hearings, took the initiative to restore the monument to Alexander II in Minsk, but were refused by the authorities. According to the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of Belarus, the restoration of the monument to the reformer tsar "may be a demonstration of the symbolism of the Russian autocracy in the Belarusian lands."
Monuments of Opekushin's work
A. M. Opekushin erected monuments to Alexander II in Moscow (1898), Pskov (1886), Chisinau (1886), Astrakhan (1884), Czestokhov (1899), Vladimir (1913), Buturlinovka (1912), Rybinsk (1914) and in other cities of the empire. Each of them was unique; according to estimates, “the Czestochowa monument, created with donations from the Polish population, was very beautiful and elegant.” After 1917, most of those created by Opekushin were destroyed.
A country: Russia
Town: Moscow
Nearest metro: Kropotkinskaya
Was passed: 2005
Sculptor: Alexander Rukavishnikov
Description
The monument to Emperor Alexander II of Russia - the Liberator, is a large bronze figure of Emperor Alexander II in uniform with a mantle on his shoulders, mounted on a large, black, cylindrical pedestal.
On the pedestal there is an inscription in gold letters: “In 1861, Emperor Alexander II abolished serfdom in Russia and freed millions of peasants from centuries of slavery. He carried out military and judicial reforms, introduced a system of local self-government, city dumas and zemstvo councils. He completed the long-term Caucasian war. He freed the Slavic peoples from the Ottoman yoke. He died on March 1, 1881 as a result of a terrorist act.
The monument is set on a granite base. There are columns behind the monument.
History of creation
The monument to Alexander II was opened in 2005 at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
How to get there
Getting to the monument is very easy. Arrive at Kropotkinskaya station, Sokolnicheskaya line, and get off at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. At the exit from the metro there will be the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, and on the left there is a square in which the monument to Alexander II stands.
On the granite pedestal of the monument to Alexander II, which stands in the square in front of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, all the main merits of this emperor to his contemporaries and descendants are listed. Alexander II entered the history of Russia as a ruler who abolished serfdom and ended a long war in the Caucasus. He also carried out several reforms in the country, including military and judicial, and helped the fraternal Slavic peoples to free themselves from the yoke of the Ottoman Empire.
It is noteworthy that a monument to him was erected in the place where before the revolution there was a monument to his son and successor Alexander III. This monument by Alexander Opekushin was demolished by the Bolsheviks in 1918.
The place for the installation of the monument to Alexander II was not determined the first time. It was assumed that the monument would stand in the Alexander Garden, and at the Kremlin's Kutafya Tower. However, the size of the monument (the height of the statue is 6 meters and the height of the pedestal is 3 meters) forced the developers to look for a new place to place it. As a result, the bronze Alexander II ended up in a square at the intersection of Volkhonka, Vsekhsvyatsky passage and Prechistenskaya embankment. His figure is turned to face the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. The emperor is depicted in a military uniform with a mantle thrown over his shoulders.
The sculptor Alexander Rukavishnikov, the architect Igor Voskresensky and the artist Sergei Sharov presented the ruler like this. The initiative to install the monument came from members of the political party "Union of Right Forces", the government of the capital also took part in the creation of the monument. Work on the creation of the monument was carried out for five years. Its grand opening took place on June 7, 2005.
The All-Russian Emperor Alexander II did many good deeds for Russia. In St. Petersburg, the sovereign ruled the country, implemented great reforms and accepted a heroic death. It is paradoxical and sad that it was here that the monument was erected after a whole century, and even more, after the tragic events on Ekaterininskaya Embankment, now the Griboyedov Canal.
Unique monument
One of the most outstanding monuments to the tragically murdered emperor in St. Petersburg today is the monument on Suvorovsky Prospekt, presented by Ukraine to the city on the Neva on its 300th anniversary.
It is an exact copy of the monument created by Mark Antakolsky in 1910. The original was made at the behest of Baron Ginzburg for the city public library of Kyiv, in the lobby of which it was installed.
The monument to the Tsar - the Liberator was cast in bronze in Paris and presented as a gift to Kyiv by the aforementioned baron. Now the statue has found its home in the courtyard of the Kyiv Museum of Russian Art.
The height of the monument is two and a half meters. The sculptural concept is unique in that the emperor of Russia for the first time appeared before his loyal subjects not on a horse. But the Russian tsars, starting with Peter the Great, ending with Nicholas the First, were depicted in monumental compositions in the form of horsemen - commanders.
The meaning of sculpture
Here the sovereign stands at full height, his gaze rushing into the distance. His left hand holds an officer's "George" saber, leaning on a stone, his right hand, clenched into a fist, rests on his hip.
An amazing fact, not all fingers are closed in a fist. Leaving the index and middle fingers of the emperor's right hand open into a fist, in all likelihood, the author wanted to add Victoria's gesture to the image, shaped like the Latin letter "V", which means victory and peace.
The whole appearance of the king symbolizes triumph. Every detail of the composition is iconic. In a straight line, full of peace, there is a sculptural implication that the soul of a great man, relying on former great merits, has found blessed peace.
At the same time, with one foot, the sovereign seems to be stepping into the future. This means that the reformer was not going to stop there. His gaze catches his thought about the needs of Rus' and the accomplishment of new feats for the sake of its peoples.
This significant and majestic monument on Suvorovsky Prospekt was opened on May 31, 2003 in front of the building that housed the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff. The installation work was supervised by the architect Stanislav Pavlovich Odnovalov.
Today, Petersburgers are glad that the truth has triumphed, and they can honor the memory of the great reformer emperor by visiting a beautiful monument on Suvorovsky Prospekt.
At the same time, after the death of Alexander II at the hands of terrorists, monuments to him were erected throughout Russia. But their fate was tragic. In Nizhny Tagil, the Bolsheviks, having destroyed the sculpture to the ground, put first Lenin, then Stalin on a pedestal. Now there is an empty space. In Samara, Lenin still stands on the imperial pedestal. The monument to the Tsar-Liberator in the Kremlin did not last long either. And almost 90 years later, they decided to restore it according to the project of Alexander Rukavishnikov.
Alexander II is depicted in full growth in military uniform and with a royal mantle. The bronze figure of the emperor, more than 6 meters high and weighing 7 tons, is installed on a three-meter pedestal, which lists his services to Russia: the abolition of serfdom, the introduction of a local self-government system, military and judicial reforms, and the end of the Caucasian War. Behind the emperor are two bronze lions. They symbolize the old traditional Russia, dignity, fortitude and royal power.
They say that...... at first they wanted to erect a monument opposite, but there it would interfere with the passage of official motorcades. Found another place. But because of this, the sculpture had to change its head three times - so that the light fell on it correctly. One of them is kept in Rukavishnikov's creative workshop.
