There is, perhaps, no ruler who would be more deserving of the centuries-old memory of his compatriots than in Moscow, designed by the famous sculptor Z. Tsereteli and considered one of the author’s most controversial creations.
There have been ongoing discussions around this monument for a decade and a half; it evokes many different opinions. From the point of view of artistic value, it is 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 supporting base of the structure is mounted from 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 were lined up on a common pedestal prepared in advance.
The ship's shrouds are uniquely designed. They are made of metal cables connected to each other and swaying when the wind blows. In other words, the shrouds are made like real ones.
The monument is lined with high-quality bronze, protecting it from the destructive influences of the external environment. For additional protection, the figure of the emperor is coated with a special varnish that helps preserve the color.
The sails of the ship are made hollow to lighten the upper part of the monument. Their basis is lightweight. All fastenings of the monument are made of stainless steel to avoid corrosion. Inside the monument there is a staircase intended for restorers, installed to assess the internal condition of the structure.
As already mentioned, the bronze king stands on an artificial island. To simulate the movement of a ship on the waves, fountains are installed at the base of the island. When looking at the composition, it seems that the ship is cutting 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 Manneken Pis. The Monument to Peter I in Moscow can boast of its own attraction of the same kind; it entered the world’s top ten most “unattractive” buildings.
Monuments in other cities
Tsar Peter left the greatest mark on 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 1 did for Russia. The monument in Moscow and other cities will preserve 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. He received his higher education at the Tbilisi Academy of Arts. 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 of active work in the monumental genre. One of Tsereteli’s famous brainchildren is considered to be “Peter 1” - a monument in Moscow. His works are known not only in Russia and the CIS countries.
Tsereteli’s sculptures are available in America (“Tear of Sorrow”, “Good Conquers Evil”), Great Britain (“Break the Wall of Mistrust”), Spain (“Victory”).
"The 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 completely trusted.
Famous masters recommended Etienne-Maurice Falconet for this work, who had long dreamed of creating a monumental work. The wax sketch was made by the master in Paris, and after his arrival in Russia in 1766, work began on a plaster model the size of the statue.
Refusing the allegorical solution proposed to him by those around Catherine II, Falcone decided to present the king as “the creator, legislator and benefactor of his country,” who “extends his right hand over the country he travels around.” He instructed his student Marie Anne Collot to model the head of the statue, but subsequently 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 in one go, as Falcone had hoped. During casting, cracks formed in the mold, through which liquid metal began to flow. A fire started in the workshop.
The dedication and resourcefulness of the foundry master Emelyan Khailov allowed the flames to be extinguished, but the entire upper part of the casting from the rider's knees and the horse's chest to their heads was irreparably damaged and had to be cut down. During the time between the first and second casting, the craftsmen sealed and caulked the holes left in the cast part of the monument from the pipes (sprues) 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 the joining of the two parts of the sculpture and the sealing of the seam between them, chasing, polishing and patina of the bronze began. In the summer of 1778, the decoration of the monument was largely completed. In memory of this, Falconet engraved on one of the folds of Peter I’s cloak an inscription in Latin: “Sculpted and cast by Etienne Falconet, Parisian 1778.” In August of the same year, the sculptor left Russia without waiting for the opening of the monument.
Architect Yuri Felten monitored the progress of work on the construction of the monument after the French sculptor left Russia.
The support for the monument is a snake trampled by a horse by the sculptor Fyodor Gordeev, symbolizing envy, inertia and malice.
The base of the sculpture - a giant granite block, the so-called thunder stone, was found in 1768 on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, near the village of Konnaya Lakhta. The delivery of the 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 runners, which, through 32 bronze balls, rested on portable rails laid on a prepared surface, and then on a specially built barge. According to a drawing by architect Yuri Felten, the stone was given the shape of a rock; as a result of processing, its size was significantly reduced. On the pedestal there is an inscription in Russian and Latin: “Catherine the Second to Peter the Great.” 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 his horse on a steep cliff top, the unity of movement and rest is superbly conveyed; The monument is given special grandeur by the royally proud seat of the king, the commanding gesture of his hand, the turn of his raised head in a laurel wreath, personifying resistance to the elements and the affirmation of the sovereign will.
The monumental statue of a horseman, with an imperious hand squeezing the reins of a horse rearing in a swift rush, symbolizes the growth of the power of Russia.
The location of the monument to Peter I on Senate Square was not chosen by chance. Nearby are the Admiralty, founded by the emperor, and 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 Falconet, did things his own way by erecting the monument closer to the Neva.
After the opening of the monument, Senate Square received the name Petrovskaya; in 1925-2008 it was called Decembrists Square. In 2008, it was returned to its previous name - Senate.
Thanks to Alexander Pushkin, who used a fantastic story about a monument coming to life during a 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 restored several times. In particular, in 1909, the water that had accumulated inside the monument was drained and the cracks were sealed; in 1912, holes were drilled in the sculpture for water drainage; in 1935, all newly formed defects were eliminated. A complex of restoration work was carried out in 1976.
The monument to Peter I is an integral part of the city center ensemble.
On City Day in St. Petersburg, official festive events are traditionally held on Senate Square.
The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources
It must be said that among Muscovites the monument caused, to put it mildly, a mixed reaction. And, to put it bluntly, I didn’t like the monument. First of all, by its enormity and absurdity. Evil tongues say that this monument was originally conceived as a monument to Columbus as a gift to America for the 500th anniversary of its discovery, and only after it was abandoned both in America and St. Petersburg - Yu.M. Luzhkov agreed to place the monument in Moscow. They also say that Spain refused to accept the monument. Which is not surprising, since the installation of such a generous gift costs quite a lot of money, given the rather limited artistic value of the work. But Yuri Mikhalych did not feel sorry for anything for his friend.
Actually, this is not the only Tsereteli sculpture that he doesn’t know what to do with. Zurab Konstantinovich, of course, is a talented sculptor, but he works according to an anecdote: “I created a wonderful medicine, now I need to find a disease that it can treat.”
But, let's return to the "evil tongues". It immediately strikes the eye that neither Peter’s clothes nor the ship itself are in any way reminiscent of the Peter the Great’s era, but quite similar to the Spanish era of 500 years ago. And the ship is the spitting image of Columbus's caravel.
They will say that even at Falconet’s, Peter is not dressed according to Peter’s times. But this is another matter. In those days, it was customary to depict heroes in ancient Roman attire. But I don’t remember anything in the form of Spanish giants. Yes, and “not those times” now.
But there is one more nuance. In my opinion, no monument to Peter is appropriate in Moscow. It is known that Peter’s attitude towards Moscow was, as they say now, ambiguous. Simply put, he hated Moscow. Here, apparently, children's phobias took their toll - the horrors of the Streltsy riots, Sophia's reign and all that. And subsequently, in Moscow there was always mute opposition to Peter’s reforms.
Here are a few reviews about this monument on the Internet:
I see it every day. Either cry or laugh. Black, scary, not in the Moscow style, it made Red October look like the Crosses.
Nothing spoils the view of Moscow more than this monument. Even numerous signatures against it many years ago could not change Luzhkov’s decision.
I see every day a terribly scary, gloomy, gray converted monument to Columbus. "Thank you" Comrade Tsereteli
This cast-iron fool can be sent to hell at any moment (right on a barge, downstream towards the Caspian Sea, and wherever it lands! It would be better in Iran!
And finally, a politically correct statement from the current mayor:
Answering the question of how he felt about the monument to Peter the Great, the mayor said: “Absolutely neutral. A person gets used to everything. And Peter the Great is already part of the city, despite all the absurdity of his appearance on the Moscow River on a frigate,” Sobyanin said in an interview with Afisha magazine.
In other words: if you endure it, you will fall in love
| home |
On August 18, 1782, a monument to Peter I, the so-called “Bronze Horseman,” was unveiled in St. Petersburg. This is the very first monument to Peter. There are other famous monuments to the great reformer in Russia and Europe that are worth seeing.
Senate square,
The Bronze Horseman monument is located here not by chance. Catherine II insisted on this because the Admiralty, which the emperor founded, is located nearby. The monument was made by the French sculptor Etienne-Maurice Falconet, who was recommended to Catherine Diderot and Walter. Preparing a plaster model of the monument took twelve whole years, and casting the statue turned out to be so difficult that for a long time no one wanted to take on this work.
Finally, cannon master Emelyan Khailov took on this technologically very complex project and cast the statue in three years. And Catherine inscribed “Catherine II to Peter I” on the pedestal, thereby confirming her commitment to Peter’s reforms. The weight of the monument is eight tons, the height is more than five meters. Although Pushkin called it “The Bronze Horseman,” it is cast in bronze. But this name stuck so well that it became almost official. And the monument itself is one of the symbols of St. Petersburg.
Mikhailovsky Castle, St. Petersburg
The bronze monument was made by the famous Italian sculptor Rastrelli; the model of the monument existed during the life of Peter I, but it was installed later than the Bronze Horseman, in 1800. The pedestal of the monument is lined with multi-colored marble - white, pink and greenish shades. The great-grandson of Peter I, Emperor Paul I, made the inscription on the pedestal “Great-grandfather - great-grandson” by analogy with the Bronze Horseman, on which there is the inscription “Catherine II to Peter I.” During the Great Patriotic War, the monument was removed from its pedestal and put back in its original place only in 1945. Thus he was saved for posterity.
Riga,
The equestrian monument to the Tsar was erected in Riga in 1910, during Peter’s celebrations. Emperor Nicholas II and his family then arrived in Riga. The monument was built practically from donations from ordinary citizens of Riga, so Latvians respected and loved the great reformer. And, apparently, there was a reason. Peter I often came to the city and always brought something with him. Peter donated more than twenty merchant ships, financed the improvement of the city and the construction of some buildings. But nowhere did the monument to Peter face such a sad fate as in Riga. It was removed from its pedestal many times, returned, and moved from place to place. Now the monument, which is of great artistic and historical value, is located in the parking lot of a private enterprise at 223 Bribivas Street. I would like to believe that, despite political prejudices, it will still take its rightful place in the center of Riga.
Moscow
Perhaps the most odious and controversial monument to Peter I was unveiled by Zurab Tsereteli in 1997 on the occasion of his 850th anniversary. This monument is 98 meters high and is the tallest monument in Russia and one of the tallest monuments in the world. It took about a year and about twenty million dollars to design and build the monument. The monument has a very complex engineering design. The frame of the monument is made of stainless steel, onto which a bronze casing is attached.
In 2008, the monument was included in the top ten ugliest buildings in the world, taking, however, an honorable tenth place. There was even a fundraiser in Moscow for the demolition of this controversial monument, but in 2011 the Moscow Prefecture announced that the monument would still stand in its original place. But, just in case, you should not miss the opportunity to look at it and form your own opinion about its artistic value.
Monument to Peter I -“In commemoration of the 300th anniversary of the Russian fleet” is an incredibly tall sculpture installed on the spit of the Moskva River and the Vodootvodny Canal in 1997. The gigantic monument became the third tallest monument in Moscow, and in terms of its scandalousness it left far behind all imaginable competitors.
Peter I the Great(1672 - 1725) - the last Tsar of All Rus' and the first All-Russian Emperor, who went down in history as a progressive reformer of Russian statehood and military affairs, as well as as the creator of the regular Russian fleet. Modern historians assess his personality and contribution to the development of Russia rather contradictorily, but if they can question the significance of other achievements of the first Russian emperor, the creation of the fleet was definitely his triumph.
The sculpture depicts a gigantic Peter the Great at the helm of a disproportionately small sailing ship. The emperor's face is made with a portrait likeness, and the figure is dressed in ancient Roman armor and a cloak; He holds the steering wheel with his left hand, and raised his right hand, showing off a huge gilded scroll. The ship piloted by the bronze Peter is made disproportionately, even cartoonishly small compared to his figure; on its deck, like mushrooms, there are even smaller city buildings, on the roofs of which the emperor stands. The mast, huge compared to the size of the vessel, is highly detailed, and a double-headed eagle is mounted on the bowsprit. A stylized rostral column, the rostra of which is decorated with St. Andrew’s flags, serves as a pedestal for the large-scale monument. The monument is installed on a small artificial island, which is framed by fountains that create the effect of a ship cutting through the water.
The height of the monument is 98 meters. This is the third tallest monument in Moscow and Russia after the Victory Monuments (141.8 meters) and (107 meters).
Technical details
In an engineering sense, the monument is a unique structure.
Its supporting frame is made of stainless steel, on top of which bronze parts are hung. A staircase is provided inside the pedestal to monitor the condition of the monument. The figure of Peter and the ship were assembled separately and mounted ready-made. The sails, which seem monolithic from the outside, also have a metal frame inside, which serves to lighten their weight. It is curious that the ship's shrouds are real braided ropes: they were woven from several stainless steel cables and secured in such a way as to completely eliminate their mobility. 120 people were involved in the installation work.
High quality bronze was used for construction. During installation, it was coated with a special protective varnish to prevent corrosion and discoloration.
History of the monument
It is curious that the history of the installation of the gigantic Peter actually began with a completely different monument.
On October 20, 1996, Russia celebrated the 300th anniversary of the Russian fleet, and a year before that, Russian sailors, with the support of the First Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, Admiral Selivanov, appealed to the Russian government with a request to install a monument on the embankment opposite the Tretyakov Gallery based on a sketch by sculptor Lev Kerbel. However, the Moscow authorities undertook to resolve all issues with the monument on their own, and by decision of the Moscow government, special commissions were organized that found Tsereteli’s idea more interesting. At the same time, the sculptor was recommended to make some changes to the project: dress Peter in a traditional Russian uniform, place busts of outstanding naval commanders inside the monument and remove the double-headed eagle from the bowsprit. The author did not listen to the recommendations.
It was, of course, no longer possible to build a monument for the holiday: its design and construction took about a year, and it was opened on September 5, 1997 - on the day of the celebration of the 850th anniversary of Moscow.
It is curious that even during the construction of the monument, a loud incident happened to him: on July 6, 1997, members of the radical underground group “Revolutionary Military Council” mined Peter. However, they did not blow up the monument: according to different versions, the explosion was either canceled or prevented. Later, members of the organization were prosecuted for terrorism.
Unfortunately, the townspeople generally did not accept the new monument: it caused rejection and was sharply criticized, and they could not accept Peter even years after the installation of the sculpture. An active public has more than once initiated discussions and campaigns for the demolition of the monument, and some other Russian cities have even expressed their readiness to accept it, but so far it remains in place. And, apparently, it will remain forever: be that as it may, regardless of the attitude of the townspeople towards the monument, Muscovites are gradually getting used to it.
“You weren’t standing here”: criticism of the monument
The monument to Peter I became probably the most scandalous monument in the history of modern Moscow, becoming a living urban legend.
The first thing that confused the townspeople was rumors that the monument was a slightly reworked sculpture of Columbus, which Tsereteli unsuccessfully offered to buy to the United States and Spain for the 500th anniversary of the discovery of the American continent, but they refused. The sculptor denied these rumors, but they are still believed. In the museum-workshop of Zurab Tsereteli there are models of both monuments, which are specially shown side by side so that the public can see the differences between them.
Questions also arose about the rostral column in the pedestal of the monument - the fact is that the rostral columns are usually decorated with captured rostras (or their sculptural images) of enemy ships, but in the monument they are attached to St. Andrew's flags - the symbols of the Russian fleet. Thus, Peter from the monument seems to be at war with the Russian fleet. In addition, Muscovites were upset by the location and size of the monument: after all, Peter the Great is associated primarily with St. Petersburg, and it seemed illogical to the townspeople to build such a huge monument to him in Moscow, and even in the very center, where it greatly interferes with the city panoramas. The strange proportions of the giant emperor to the small ship were also confusing.
Over the years, individual public figures and organizations have repeatedly proposed demolishing, moving and even building a skyscraper around Peter. The debate was especially heated after the opening of the monument, the Moscow media published a large number of articles against the monument, and public figures collected signatures and campaigned for its demolition, but later everything calmed down. After the resignation of Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, controversy flared up again, but the monument survived them too.
It is curious that the abundance of criticism has given rise to a lot of ironic names that people call the monument: “Peter Khristoforovich”, “King Kong”, “Columbus with the Head of Peter”, “Gulliver” and a number of others.
One way or another, these days the monument to Peter I has become one of the most famous attractions in Moscow. And how can you not, if you can see it from half of the city center?
Monument to Peter I“In commemoration of the 300th anniversary of the Russian fleet” is located on the spit of the Moscow River and the Vodootvodny Canal in the area of the Red October factory. You can get to it on foot from metro stations "Park of Culture" Sokolnicheskaya and Circle lines, "Polyanka" Serpukhovsko-Timiryazevskaya and "Oktyabrskaya" Kaluga-Rizhskaya.
