Monument to the Bronze Horseman. The most iconic monument of Russia

Bronze Horseman in St. Petersburg - a monument to Peter I

The Bronze Horseman in St. Petersburg is the most famous monument Peter I. It is located in an open park on Senate Square and is a unique work of Russian and world culture. The Bronze Horseman is surrounded by famous landmarks: the Senate and Synod buildings are located to the west, the Admiralty to the east, and St. Isaac's Cathedral to the south.

History of the creation of the monument
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, who was working at that time as the chief sculptor at porcelain factory. “He has an abyss of subtle taste, intelligence and delicacy, and at the same time he is uncouth, stern, and does not believe in anything. .. He does not know self-interest,” Diderot wrote about Falcon.

Etienne-Maurice Falconet always dreamed of monumental art, and having received an offer to create an equestrian statue of colossal size, he agreed without hesitation. On September 6, 1766, he signed a contract in which the remuneration for the work was set at 200 thousand livres, which was a fairly modest amount - other masters asked for much more. The 50-year-old master came to Russia with his 17-year-old assistant Marie-Anne Collot.
Opinions about the appearance of the future sculpture were very different. Thus, the President of the Imperial Academy of Arts, Ivan Ivanovich Belskoy, who supervised the creation of the monument, presented a sculpture of Peter I standing in full height with a rod in his hand. Catherine II saw the emperor sitting on a horse with a staff or scepter, and there were other proposals. Thus, Diderot conceived a monument in the form of a fountain with allegorical figures, and State Councilor Shtelin sent Belsky detailed description his project, according to which Peter I was supposed to appear surrounded by allegorical statues of Prudence and Hard work, Justice and Victory, which support the vices Ignorance and Laziness, Deception and Envy with their feet. Falcone rejected the traditional image of a victorious monarch and abandoned the depiction of allegories. “My monument will be simple. There will be no Barbarism, no Love of peoples, no personification of the People... I will limit myself only to the statue of this hero, whom I do not interpret either as a great commander or as a winner, although he, of course, was both. The personality of the creator, legislator, benefactor of his country is much higher, and this is what needs to be shown to people,” he wrote to Diderot.

Work on the monument to Peter I
Falconet created a model of the sculpture on the territory of the former temporary Winter Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna from 1768 to 1770. Two horses of the Oryol breed, Caprice and Brilliant, were taken from the imperial stables. Falcone made sketches, watching how the guards officer flew up on his horse onto the platform and reared it. Falconet reworked the model of the head of Peter I several times, but never achieved the approval of Catherine II, and as a result, the head of the Bronze Horseman was successfully sculpted
Marie-Anne Collot.

The face of Peter I turned out to be courageous and strong-willed, with a wide with open eyes and illuminated by deep thought.

For this work, the girl was accepted as a member of the Russian Academy of Arts and Catherine II assigned her a lifelong pension of 10,000 livres.
The snake under the horse’s feet was created by Russian sculptor Fyodor Gordeev.

The plaster model of the Bronze Horseman was made by 1778 and opinions about the work were mixed. While Diderot was pleased, Catherine II did not like the arbitrarily chosen appearance of the monument.

Casting of the Bronze Horseman
The sculpture was conceived to be of colossal size and the foundry workers did not undertake this complex work. Foreign craftsmen demanded huge amounts of money for casting, and some openly said that the casting would not be successful. Finally, a foundry worker was found, cannon master Emelyan Khailov, who took up the casting of the Bronze Horseman. Together with Falcone, they selected the composition of the alloy and made samples. The difficulty was that the sculpture had three support points and therefore the thickness of the walls of the front part of the statue had to be small - no more than one centimeter.

During the first casting, the pipe through which bronze was poured burst. In despair, Falconet ran out of the workshop, but Master Khailov was not at a loss, took off his coat and wet it with water, coated it with clay and applied it as a patch to the pipe. Risking his life, he prevented the fire, although he himself suffered burns to his hands and partially damaged his eyesight. The upper part of the Bronze Horseman was still damaged and had to be cut down. Preparation for the new casting took another three years, but this time it went well and in honor of the successful completion of the work, the sculptor left the inscription “Sculpted and cast by Etienne Falconet, Parisian 1788,” in one of the folds of Peter I’s cloak.

Installation of the Bronze Horseman
Falcone wanted to install the monument on a pedestal in the shape of a wave, carved from a natural piece of rock. It was very difficult to find the required block of 11.2 meters in height, and therefore the St. Petersburg News newspaper published an appeal to individuals wishing to find a suitable piece of rock. And soon the peasant Semyon Vishnyakov responded, having long ago noticed a suitable block near the village of Lakhta and reported this to the head of the search work.

The weight of the monolith is about 1600 tons and was called the Thunder Stone; according to legend, lightning struck it and broke off a piece of the block. To deliver the stone, piles were driven, a road was laid, a wooden platform was made moving along two parallel gutters, into which 30 balls made of copper alloy were placed. This operation was carried out in winter from November 15, 1769, when the ground was frozen and on March 27, 1770 the stone was delivered to the shore of the Gulf of Finland. Then the monolith was loaded onto a special raft, built by master Grigory Korchebnikov, strengthened between two ships. Thousands of people were involved in extracting and transporting the stone. On September 25, 1770, crowds of people greeted the Thunder Stone on the banks of the Neva near Senate Square. During transportation, dozens of stonemasons gave it the necessary shape. This event was marked by the minting of a medal “Like daring. January 1770.”
Reverse side

Face

In 1778, Falconet's relationship with Catherine II finally deteriorated and, together with Marie-Anne Collot, he was forced to leave for Paris.
The installation of the Bronze Horseman was led by Fyodor Gordeev and on August 7, 1782, the grand opening of the monument took place.
The military parade at the celebration was led by Prince Alexander Golitsyn, and Catherine II arrived along the Neva in a boat and climbed to the balcony of the Senate building. The Empress came out wearing a crown and purple and gave the sign to open the monument. The shields covering the monument opened to the beat of drums, an exclamation of admiration rang out... and regiments of guardsmen marched along the Neva embankment.

But the author was not among the enthusiastic audience; he was not even invited to the opening ceremony. Only later did Prince Golitsyn in France present Falcone with gold and silver medals from Catherine II. This was a clear recognition of his talent, which the queen could not appreciate earlier. They say that at this Falcone, who spent 15 years of his life on his main sculpture, began to cry.

Bronze Horseman - title
The monument received the name Bronze Horseman later thanks to the poem of the same name by A.S. Pushkin, although in fact the monument is made of bronze.

Monument to the Bronze Horseman
Falconet 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. We see the emperor in simple clothes, and instead of a rich saddle - an animal skin. Only the laurel wreath crowning the head and the sword at the belt tell us about the winner and commander. 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. The monument is unique in that it has only three support points. On the pedestal there is an inscription “To PETER the first EKATHERINE second summer 1782”, and on the other side the same text is indicated in Latin. The weight of the Bronze Horseman is eight tons, and the height is five meters.

Legends and Myths about the Bronze Horseman
There is a legend that Peter I, being in a cheerful mood, decided to cross the Neva on his favorite horse Lisette. He exclaimed: “Everything is 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 misspoke and said: “Everything is mine and God’s” and was immediately punished - he was petrified on Senate Square, in the place where the Bronze Horseman now stands.
They say that Peter I, who was ill, lay in a fever and imagined that the Swedes were advancing. He jumped on his horse and wanted to rush to the Neva towards the enemy, but then a snake crawled out and wrapped itself around the horse’s legs and stopped him, preventing Peter I from jumping into the water and dying. So the Bronze Horseman stands in this place - a monument to How a Snake Saved Peter I.
There are several myths and legends in which Peter I prophesies: “As long as I am in place, my city has nothing to fear.” And indeed, the Bronze Horseman remained in his place during Patriotic War 1812 and during the Great Patriotic War. During the siege of Leningrad, it was lined with logs and boards and bags of sand and earth were placed around it.
Peter I points with his hand towards Sweden, and in the center of Stockholm there is a monument to Charles XII, Peter’s opponent in the Northern War, left hand which is directed towards Russia.

Interesting facts about the Bronze Horseman monument
Transportation of the stone pedestal was accompanied by difficulties and unforeseen circumstances, and emergency situations often occurred. The whole of Europe followed that operation, and in honor of the delivery of the Thunder Stone to Senate Square, a commemorative medal was issued with the inscription “Like daring. Genvarya, 20, 1770"
Falcone conceived a monument without a fence, although the fence was still installed, but has not survived to this day. Now there are people who leave inscriptions on the monument and damage the pedestal and the Bronze Horseman. It is possible that a fence will soon be installed around the Bronze Horseman
In 1909 and 1976, restoration of the Bronze Horseman was carried out. The latest examination, carried out using gamma rays, showed that the sculpture's frame is in good condition. Inside the monument was placed a capsule with a note about the restoration carried out and a newspaper dated September 3, 1976

The Bronze Horseman in St. Petersburg is the main symbol of the Northern capital, and newlyweds and numerous tourists come to Senate Square to admire one of the most famous sights of the city.

In 1782, the centenary of Peter I's accession to the Russian throne was celebrated in St. Petersburg with the opening of a monument to the Tsar by sculptor Etienne Maurice Falconet. The monument began to be called the Bronze Horseman thanks to A.S. Pushkin.

The monument to Peter I (“Bronze Horseman”) is located in the center of Senate Square. The author of the sculpture is the French sculptor Etienne-Maurice Falconet.

The location of the monument to Peter I was not chosen by chance. Nearby are the Admiralty, the building of the main legislative body founded by the emperor. Tsarist Russia- Senate. Catherine II insisted on placing the monument in the center of Senate Square. The author of the sculpture, Etienne-Maurice Falconet, did his own thing by installing 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, advised to turn to this 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, without hesitation, signed the contract on September 6, 1766. Its conditions determined: the monument to Peter should consist of “mainly 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, imagined it as a full-length figure, holding a commander’s staff in his hand. Falconet was advised to direct the emperor's right eye to the Admiralty, and his left to the building of the Twelve Colleges. Diderot, who visited St. Petersburg in 1773, conceived a monument in the form of a fountain decorated with allegorical figures.

Falcone had something completely different in mind. He turned out to be stubborn and persistent. The sculptor wrote:
“I will limit myself only to the statue of this hero, whom I do not interpret either as a great commander or as a winner, although he, of course, was both. The personality of the creator, legislator, benefactor of his country is much higher, and this is what needs to be shown to people. My king does not hold any rod, he extends his beneficent right hand over the country he travels around. He climbs to the top of the rock, which serves as his pedestal - this is an emblem of the difficulties he has overcome.”

Defending the right to his opinion regarding the appearance of the Falcone monument, I.I. wrote. 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 would be 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 of Elizabeth Petrovna. In 1769, passers-by could watch here as a guards officer took off on a horse onto a wooden platform and reared it. This went on for several hours a day. Falcone sat at the window in front of the platform and carefully sketched what he saw. The horses for work on the monument were taken from the imperial stables: the horses Brilliant and Caprice. The sculptor chose the Russian “Oryol” breed for the monument.

Falconet's student Marie-Anne Collot sculpted the head of the Bronze Horseman. The sculptor himself took on this work three times, but each time Catherine II advised to remake the model. Marie herself proposed 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 assigned her a lifelong pension of 10,000 livres.

The snake under the horse’s foot was sculpted by the Russian sculptor F.G. Gordeev.

Preparing the life-size plaster model of the monument took twelve years; it was ready by 1778. The model was open for public viewing in the workshop on the corner of Brick Lane and Bolshaya Morskaya Street. Various opinions were expressed. The Chief Prosecutor of the Synod resolutely did not accept the project. Diderot was pleased with what he saw. Catherine II 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.

For a long time no one wanted to take on the task of casting the statue. Foreign craftsmen demanded too much money, and local craftsmen were frightened by its size and complexity of work. According to the sculptor’s calculations, 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 foundry worker from France refused such work. He called Falcone crazy and said that there was no such example of casting in the world, that it would not succeed.

Finally, a foundry worker was found - cannon master Emelyan Khailov. Together with him, Falcone selected the alloy and made samples. In three years, the sculptor mastered casting to perfection. They began casting the Bronze Horseman in 1774.

Filling the statue alone was not enough. During the first, the pipe through which hot bronze was supplied to the mold burst. 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 a success. In memory of her, on one of the folds of Peter I’s cloak, the sculptor left the inscription “Sculpted and cast by Etienne Falconet, a Parisian of 1778.”

The St. Petersburg Gazette wrote about these events:
“On August 24, 1775, Falconet cast a statue of Peter the Great on horseback here. The casting was successful except in places two feet by two at the top. This regrettable failure occurred through an incident that was not at all foreseeable, and therefore impossible to prevent. The above-mentioned incident seemed so terrible that they feared that the entire building would catch fire, and, consequently, the whole business would fail. Khailov remained motionless and carried the molten metal into the mold, without losing his vigor in the least in the face of danger to his life. 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 plan, the base of the monument is a natural rock in the shape of a wave. The shape of the wave serves as a reminder that it was Peter I who led Russia to the sea. The Academy of Arts began searching for the monolith stone when the model of the monument was not yet ready. A stone was needed whose height would be 11.2 meters.

The granite monolith was found in the Lakhta region, twelve miles from St. Petersburg. Once upon a time, according to local legends, lightning struck the rock, forming a crack in it. Among local residents The rock was called "Thunder Stone". That’s what they later began to call it 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 way deliver the rock to Senate Square. From many projects, the method proposed by a certain Carbury was chosen. There were rumors that he had bought this project from some Russian merchant.

A clearing was cut from the location of the stone to the shore of the bay and the soil was strengthened. The rock was freed from excess layers, and it immediately became lighter by 600 tons. The thunder-stone was hoisted with levers onto a wooden platform resting on copper balls. These balls moved on grooved wooden rails lined with copper. The clearing was winding. Work on transporting the rock continued in both cold and hot weather. Hundreds of people worked. Many St. Petersburg residents came to watch this action. Some of the observers collected fragments of stone and used them to make cane knobs or cufflinks. In honor of the extraordinary transport operation, Catherine II ordered the minting of a medal on which it was written “Like daring. January 20, 1770.”

The poet Vasily Rubin wrote in the same year:
The Russian Mountain, not made by hands, is here,
Hearing the voice of God from the lips of Catherine,
Came to the city of Petrov through the Neva abyss
And she fell under the feet of the Great Peter.

The installation of the “Bronze Horseman” on the pedestal was supervised by the architect F.G. Gordeev.

The grand opening of the monument to Peter I took place on August 7, 1782 (old style). The sculpture was hidden from the eyes of observers by a canvas fence depicting mountain landscapes. It had been raining since the morning, but it did not stop a significant number of people from gathering on Senate Square. By noon the clouds had cleared. The guards entered the square. The military parade was led by Prince A.M. Golitsyn. At four o'clock, Empress Catherine II herself arrived on the boat. She climbed onto the balcony of the Senate building in a crown and purple and gave a sign for the opening of the monument. The fence fell, and to the beat of drums the regiments moved along the Neva embankment.

By order of Catherine II, the following is inscribed on the pedestal: “Catherine II to Peter I.” Thus, the Empress emphasized her commitment to Peter's reforms.

Immediately after the appearance of the Bronze Horseman on Senate Square, the square was named Petrovskaya.

A.S. called the sculpture “Bronze Horseman” in his poem of the same name. Pushkin. This expression has become so popular that it has become almost official. And the monument to Peter I itself became one of the symbols of St. Petersburg.

The weight of the “Bronze Horseman” is 8 tons, the height is more than 5 meters.

Legend of the Bronze Horseman

From the very day of its installation it became the subject of many myths and legends. Opponents of Peter himself and his reforms warned that the monument depicts the “horseman of the Apocalypse,” bringing death and suffering to the city and all of Russia. Peter's supporters said that the monument symbolizes greatness and glory Russian Empire, and that Russia will remain so until the rider leaves his pedestal.

By the way, there are also legends about the pedestal of the Bronze Horseman. According to the sculptor Falcone, it was supposed to be made in the shape of a wave. A suitable stone was found near the village of Lakhta: supposedly a local holy fool pointed out the stone. Some historians find it possible that this is exactly the stone that Peter climbed more than once during the Northern War in order to better see the location of the troops.

The fame of the Bronze Horseman spread far beyond the borders of St. Petersburg. One of the remote settlements had its own version of the origin of the monument. The version was that one day Peter the Great amused himself by jumping on his horse from one bank of the Neva to the other. The first time he exclaimed: “Everything is God’s and mine!”, and jumped over the river. The second time he repeated: “Everything is God’s and mine!”, and again the jump was successful. However, the third time the emperor mixed up the words and said: “Everything is mine and God’s!” At that moment, God's punishment overtook him: he became petrified and forever remained a monument to himself.

The Legend of Major Baturin

During the Patriotic War of 1812, as a result of the retreat of Russian troops, there was a threat of the capture of St. Petersburg by French troops. Concerned about this prospect, Alexander I ordered particularly valuable works of art to be removed from the city. In particular, State Secretary Molchanov was instructed to take the monument to Peter I to the Vologda province, and several thousand rubles were allocated for this. At this time, a certain Major Baturin secured a meeting with the Tsar’s personal friend, Prince Golitsyn, and told him that he and Baturin were haunted by the same dream. He sees himself on Senate Square. Peter's face turns. The horseman rides off his cliff and heads along the streets of St. Petersburg to Kamenny Island, where Alexander I then lived. The horseman enters the courtyard of the Kamenoostrovsky Palace, from which the sovereign comes out to meet him. “Young man, what have you brought my Russia to,” Peter the Great tells him, “but as long as I’m in place, my city has nothing to fear!” Then the rider turns back, and the “heavy, ringing gallop” is heard again. Struck by Baturin’s story, Prince Golitsyn conveyed the dream to the sovereign. As a result, Alexander I reversed his decision to evacuate the monument. The monument remained in place.

There is an assumption that the legend of Major Baturin formed the basis of the plot of A. S. Pushkin’s poem “The Bronze Horseman”. There is also an assumption that the legend of Major Baturin was the reason that during the Great Patriotic War the monument remained in place and was not hidden, like other sculptures.

During the siege of Leningrad, the Bronze Horseman was covered with bags of earth and sand, lined with logs and boards.

Restorations of the monument took place in 1909 and 1976. During the last of them, the sculpture was studied using gamma rays. To do this, the area around the monument was fenced off with sandbags and concrete blocks. The cobalt gun was controlled from a nearby bus. Thanks to this research, it turned out that the frame of the monument can serve for many years to come. Inside the figure was a capsule with a note about the restoration and its participants, a newspaper dated September 3, 1976.

Currently, the Bronze Horseman is a popular place for newlyweds.

Etienne-Maurice Falconet conceived The Bronze Horseman without a fence. But it was still created and 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.

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, who at that time worked as the chief sculptor at a porcelain factory, for this work. “He has an abyss of subtle taste, intelligence and delicacy, and at the same time he is uncouth, stern, and does not believe in anything. .. He does not know self-interest,” Diderot wrote about Falcon.

Etienne-Maurice Falconet always dreamed of monumental art, and having received an offer to create an equestrian statue of colossal size, he agreed without hesitation. On September 6, 1766, he signed a contract in which the remuneration for the work was set at 200 thousand livres, which was a fairly modest amount - other masters asked for much more. The 50-year-old master came to Russia with his 17-year-old assistant Marie-Anne Collot.

Opinions about the appearance of the future sculpture were very different. Thus, the President of the Imperial Academy of Arts, Ivan Ivanovich Belskoy, who supervised the creation of the monument, presented a sculpture of Peter I, standing at full height with a staff in his hand. Catherine II saw the emperor sitting on a horse with a staff or scepter, and there were other proposals. Thus, Diderot conceived a monument in the form of a fountain with allegorical figures, and State Councilor Shtelin sent Belsky a detailed description of his project, according to which Peter I was to appear surrounded by allegorical statues of Prudence and Diligence, Justice and Victory, which support the vices Ignorance and Laziness with their feet, Deception and Envy. Falcone rejected the traditional image of a victorious monarch and abandoned the depiction of allegories. “My monument will be simple. There will be no Barbarism, no Love of peoples, no personification of the People... I will limit myself only to the statue of this hero, whom I do not interpret either as a great commander or as a winner, although he, of course, was both. The personality of the creator, legislator, benefactor of his country is much higher, and this is what needs to be shown to people,” he wrote to Diderot.

Work on the monument to Peter I - Bronze Horseman

Falconet created a model of the sculpture on the territory of the former temporary Winter Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna from 1768 to 1770. Two horses of the Oryol breed, Caprice and Brilliant, were taken from the imperial stables. Falcone made sketches, watching how the guards officer flew up on his horse onto the platform and reared it. Falconet redid the model of the head of Peter I several times, but never achieved 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 eyes wide open and illuminated by deep thought. For this work, the girl was accepted as a member of the Russian Academy of Arts and Catherine II assigned her a lifelong pension of 10,000 livres. The snake under the horse’s feet was created by Russian sculptor Fyodor Gordeev.

The plaster model of the Bronze Horseman was made by 1778 and opinions about the work were mixed. While Diderot was pleased, Catherine II did not like the arbitrarily chosen appearance of the monument.

Casting of the Bronze Horseman

The sculpture was conceived to be of colossal size and the foundry workers did not undertake this complex work. Foreign craftsmen demanded huge amounts of money for casting, and some openly said that the casting would not be successful. Finally, a foundry worker was found, cannon master Emelyan Khailov, who took up the casting of the Bronze Horseman. Together with Falcone, they selected the composition of the alloy and made samples. The difficulty was that the sculpture had three support points and therefore the thickness of the walls of the front part of the statue had to be small - no more than one centimeter.

During the first casting, the pipe through which bronze was poured burst. In despair, Falconet ran out of the workshop, but Master Khailov was not at a loss, took off his coat and wet it with water, coated it with clay and applied it as a patch to the pipe. Risking his life, he prevented the fire, although he himself suffered burns to his hands and partially damaged his eyesight. The upper part of the Bronze Horseman was still damaged and had to be cut down. Preparation for the new casting took another three years, but this time it went well and in honor of the successful completion of the work, the sculptor left the inscription “Sculpted and cast by Etienne Falconet, Parisian 1788,” in one of the folds of Peter I’s cloak.

Installation of the Bronze Horseman

Falcone wanted to install the monument on a pedestal in the shape of a wave, carved from a natural piece of rock. It was very difficult to find the required block of 11.2 meters in height, and therefore an appeal was published in the St. Petersburg News newspaper to individuals wishing to find a suitable piece of rock. And soon the peasant Semyon Vishnyakov responded, having long noticed a suitable block near the village of Lakhta and reported this to the head of the search work.

The stone, weighing about 1,600 tons and called the Thunder Stone, was delivered first on a platform to the coast of the Gulf of Finland, then by water to Senate Square. Thousands of people were involved in extracting and transporting the stone. The stone was placed on a platform that moved along two parallel gutters, into which 30 balls made of copper alloy were placed. This operation was carried out in winter from November 15, 1769, when the ground was frozen and on March 27, 1770 the stone was delivered to the shore of the Gulf of Finland. In the fall, the block was loaded onto a ship specially built by master Grigory Korchebnikov, and on September 25, 1770, crowds of people greeted the Thunder Stone on the banks of the Neva near Senate Square.

In 1778, Falconet's relationship with Catherine II finally deteriorated and, together with Marie-Anne Collot, he was forced to leave for Paris.

The installation of the Bronze Horseman was led by Fyodor Gordeev and on August 7, 1782, the grand opening of the monument took place, but its creator was never invited to this event. The military parade at the celebration was led by Prince Alexander Golitsyn, and Catherine II arrived along the Neva in a boat and climbed to the balcony of the Senate building. The Empress came out wearing a crown and purple and gave the sign to open the monument. To the beat of drums, the canvas fence from the monument fell and regiments of guards marched along the Neva embankment.

Monument to the Bronze Horseman

Falconet 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. We see the emperor in simple clothes, and instead of a rich saddle - an animal skin. Only the laurel wreath crowning the head and the sword at the belt tell us about the winner and commander. 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. The monument is unique in that it has only three support points. On the pedestal there is an inscription “To PETER the first EKATHERINE second summer 1782”, and on the other side the same text is indicated in Latin. The weight of the Bronze Horseman is eight tons, and the height is five meters.

Bronze Horseman - title

The monument received the name Bronze Horseman later thanks to the poem of the same name by A.S. Pushkin, although in fact the monument is made of bronze.

Legends and Myths about the Bronze Horseman

There is a legend that Peter I, being in a cheerful mood, decided to cross the Neva on his favorite horse Lisette. He exclaimed: “Everything is 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 misspoke and said: “Everything is mine and God’s” and was immediately punished - he was petrified on Senate Square, in the place where the Bronze Horseman now stands
They say that Peter I, who was ill, lay in a fever and imagined that the Swedes were advancing. He jumped on his horse and wanted to rush to the Neva towards the enemy, but then a snake crawled out and wrapped itself around the horse’s legs and stopped him, preventing Peter I from jumping into the water and dying. So the Bronze Horseman stands in this place - a monument to How a snake saved Peter I
There are several myths and legends in which Peter I prophesies: “As long as I am in place, my city has nothing to fear.” Indeed, the Bronze Horseman remained in his place during the Patriotic War of 1812 and during the Great Patriotic War. During the siege of Leningrad, it was lined with logs and boards and bags of sand and earth were placed around it
Peter I points his hand towards Sweden, and in the center of Stockholm there is a monument to Charles XII, Peter’s opponent in the Northern War, whose left hand is directed towards Russia

Interesting facts about the Bronze Horseman monument

Transportation of the stone pedestal was accompanied by difficulties and unforeseen circumstances, and emergency situations often occurred. The whole of Europe followed that operation, and in honor of the delivery of the Thunder Stone to Senate Square, a commemorative medal was issued with the inscription “Like daring. Genvarya, 20, 1770"
Falcone conceived a monument without a fence, although the fence was still installed, but has not survived to this day. Now there are people who leave inscriptions on the monument and damage the pedestal and the Bronze Horseman. It is possible that a fence will soon be installed around the Bronze Horseman
In 1909 and 1976, restoration of the Bronze Horseman was carried out. The latest examination, carried out using gamma rays, showed that the sculpture's frame is in good condition. Inside the monument was placed a capsule with a note about the restoration carried out and a newspaper dated September 3, 1976

The Bronze Horseman in St. Petersburg is the main symbol of the Northern capital, and newlyweds and numerous tourists come to Senate Square to admire one of the most famous sights of the city.

The monument “Millennium of Russia” is installed in the center of the Novgorod Detinets (Kremlin) opposite the St. Sophia Cathedral and former building Office places

The monument was opened 154 years ago, on September 21 (old style - September 8), 1862, when Veliky Novgorod for several days became the center of political life of the state, almost the capital: Russia celebrated the 1000th anniversary of its history, and Veliky Novgorod attended the celebrations On the occasion of the opening of the monument, Emperor Alexander II with his heir and members of the Imperial House arrived.

Monument "Millennium of Russia" in the Novgorod Detinets (Kremlin)

"Laboratory for the revival of patriotism"

It is believed that the idea of opening the monument belonged to the emperor himself, Alexander II. However, as follows from historical documents, Minister of Internal Affairs Sergei Lanskoy proposed to celebrate the 1000th anniversary of Russia in Veliky Novgorod and commemorate this date with the opening of a monument on which the first Russian ruler, Prince Rurik, would be immortalized. His proposal, voiced in 1857, was supported by the young Tsar Alexander II. Soon a competition was announced, and they decided to raise funds for the creation of the monument “from the whole world.” A circular about collecting donations was sent to all provinces. “After the Crimean tragedy, work on this monument turned into a laboratory for the revival of patriotism,” noted the authors of the article “Tsar-Monument” Arseny Zamostyanov and Irina Savinova on the 150th anniversary of the opening of the monument in the magazine “Historian”.

Novgorod child

Even before the creation of the monument, it was decided to install it in Veliky Novgorod, namely in the center of the Novgorod Detinets (Kremlin). True, on the Kremlin square between the St. Sophia Cathedral and the building of the Government Offices there was already a monument to the Novgorod militias. But, following the wishes of the emperor, it was decided to move it outside the Kremlin, moving it to Sophia Square, to the building of the Noble Assembly. There were no objections.

According to the Tale of Bygone Years, the thousand-year anniversary of the Russian state was to be celebrated in 1862. Competition for best project The monument was announced three years before the celebrations, in 1859, while sculptors were given only six months to prepare projects: from April to November. The conditions were as follows: six periods should be reflected in the sculptural groups on the monument Russian history, and the height of the monument should not exceed 18 meters. The competition council created at the Academy of Arts selected three out of 52 projects, but the project by architect Antipov turned out to be disproportionately large for the Kremlin square in Novgorod, and the project by academician Gornostaev seemed too allegorical. The task was to make the monument understandable to as many people as possible, and, of course, to make an impression.

Mikhail Osipovich Mikeshin. Russian artist and sculptor

This turned out to be the project of an unknown 23-year-old recent graduate of the Academy of Arts, Mikhail Mikeshin - not even a sculptor, an artist. Having no experience working with sculpture, Mikeshin asked his peer, a student in Ivan Schroeder’s sculpture class, to help implement his idea. He sculpted a smaller model of the monument, and then, while still attending classes at the Academy, created ten large-scale statues for the monument itself.

Power on the veche bell

What attracted you to the monument project invented by Mikhail Mikeshin?

The monument “Millennium of Russia” consists of three tiers

It was considered successful by everyone, almost without exception. general solution monument. Its silhouette was a huge orb on a bell-shaped pedestal. It was associated both with the veche bell - a symbol of Novgorod history, and with the attributes of royal power, reminiscent of the outlines of Monomakh's cap. In addition, visually the monument was divided into three levels, which in the language of sculpture reflected the formula of the official doctrine of that time: “Orthodoxy, autocracy, nationality.”

Accommodating 126 figures, the monument was not bulky: its height, including the 3-meter cross on the orb, was only 15.7 meters. The grille, lanterns (all this, like all the figures, were cast in St. Petersburg) and a 100-ton bronze monument fit into the landscape of the Novgorod Kremlin even with grace.

A group of two figures - an angel with a cross in his hand (the personification of Orthodoxy) and a kneeling woman (the personification of Russia) - crowns the composition

The Monument to the Millennium of Russia is crowned by two figures. An angel with a cross in his hand, personifying Orthodoxy, blesses a kneeling woman - Russia. The power with a relief ornament of crosses is surrounded by the inscription: “To the accomplishment of the millennium of the Russian state during the prosperous reign of Emperor Alexander II in 1862.”

The middle tier of the monument consists of 17 “colossal” figures, more than three meters each, grouped into six sculptural scenes. They symbolize key periods in the history of the country, according to the official historiography of that time: the calling of Rurik, the baptism of Rus', the Battle of Kulikovo, the autocracy of Ivan III, the beginning of the Romanov dynasty and the formation of the empire under Peter I. Historians note that the monument could also include a seventh story - about the victorious the end of the Patriotic War of 1812, especially since in 1862 the 50th anniversary of the expulsion of the French was celebrated. However, for political reasons, a reminder of this triumph was considered premature and inappropriate.

The densest tier of the monument is the lower one. There are high reliefs of 109 figures, which are also grouped into groups: statesmen, military men and heroes, cultural figures, educators. All figures were approved by the sovereign personally.

Sculptural group “Enlighteners” at the monument “Millennium of Russia” in Veliky Novgorod (31 figures)

Russia without Grozny

It is expected that the approval of such a significant list took a long time. The original “Mikeshin list”, still stored in the Russian State Historical Archive, underwent significant changes towards the end of work on the monument. Most loud scandal erupted in connection with the image of Ivan the Terrible. No one in Novgorod was going to forget or forgive the tsar the pogrom of 1570. After all, then the guardsmen of Ivan IV destroyed many townspeople, including women and children, using various tortures - it is difficult to name the exact number of victims, but it could reach 15 thousand people with a population of 30 thousand of Novgorod.

But among the ranks of military men and heroes appeared the wife of the Novgorod mayor Boretsky - Marfa Posadnitsa. Apparently, as a tribute to the Novgorodians and their love of freedom. On the monument, she bowed her head over the broken veche bell.

Great controversy arose over the figure of the poet Taras Shevchenko. Initially, he was not on the lists for the simple reason that it was not customary to erect monuments during his lifetime, but on February 26, 1861, the poet died, and young Mikeshin, under the influence of one of his advisers, historian Nikolai Kostomarov, decided that Shevchenko should be depicted on the monument. But this amendment of his, as they would say now, did not pass. The instruction stated that “the sovereign ordered the image of Gogol, located on the Highest approved drawing of the bas-relief, to be preserved, and Shevchenko, admitted arbitrarily, to be excluded.”

Writer Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. Portrait by Fyodor Moller. 1840s

Also excluded from the lists were the poets Alexei Koltsov (he was sometimes included and then excluded) and Antioch Cantemir, naval commander Fyodor Ushakov, actor Ivan Dmitrievsky, and famous icon painters are not on the monument - neither Andrei Rublev, nor Theophanes the Greek...

Millennium in faces

Who found a place on the monument?

IN sculpture group writers and artists - 16 figures. This series begins with Mikhail Lomonosov, who, together with Alexander Kokorinov, Dmitry Fonvizin and Gavriil Derzhavin, listen to the founder of the Russian drama theater Fyodor Volkov. Composer Dmitry Bortnyansky concludes. Next to him are the artist Karl Bryullov and the composer Mikhail Glinka.

The famous fabulist Ivan Krylov sits next to Alexander Griboyedov, and Nikolai Karamzin, Vasily Zhukovsky and Nikolai Gnedich are bending over them. Literary classics Nikolai Gogol, Mikhail Lermontov and Alexander Pushkin are dressed in Roman togas on the monument: precisely because they are classics. At the same time, Pushkin seems taller than Gogol and Lermontov standing next to him, although in life he was shorter than them. Of course, there is also a symbolic moment in this. Pushkin rises above their bent figures, as, in the opinion of the public, the second half of the 19th century century, the creativity of “our everything” was more significant.

Cyril and Methodius. Modern icon

There are 31 figures in the series of enlighteners. It begins with Cyril and Methodius, the creators Slavic alphabet, to which every year, on the Days Slavic writing and culture, Novgorodians bring flowers. At the same time, it often turns out that flowers are laid not so much on the holy brothers, but on the font, above which the figure of Vladimir the Baptist rises - he is next to Princess Olga. In the same row are the founder of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery Theodosius of Pechersk and the founders of other famous monasteries: Sergius of Radonezh, Zosima of Solovetsky. Metropolitans and bishops, Patriarch Nikon, Feofan Prokopovich. And, of course, Nestor the Chronicler, author of The Tale of Bygone Years.

State people. There are 26 of them on the monument. The first are Yaroslav the Wise and Vladimir Monomakh, behind the group of Lithuanian princes (Gediminas, Olgerd, Vytautas) is Ivan III. The figures of Lithuanian princes appeared on the monument for a reason: all three fought on the side of Russia against Poland, and during these years anti-Russian protests by nationalists there escalated. In addition, the presence of figures of Lithuanian princes on the monument to thousand years of history Russia was supposed to emphasize Lithuania’s original belonging to Russian lands.

Kuksha Pechersky in the sculptural group “Enlighteners” at the monument “Millennium of Russia” in Veliky Novgorod

Ivan the Terrible, as we remember, is not on the monument, but his first wife, Anastasia Romanova, as well as his associate Sylvester are immortalized. The group of figures from the reign of Mikhail and Alexei Romanov included Patriarchs Hermogenes and Filaret, diplomats Afanasy Ordin-Nashchekin and Artamon Matveev. Peter the Great is depicted with Yakov Dolgoruky, and Grigory Potemkin kneels before Catherine II. Next to the empress are other nobles. Behind Alexander I are Mikhail Speransky and Mikhail Vorontsov, and this row is completed by Nicholas I. His figure was cast at the very last moment, because there was no clear opinion about the “previous emperor” - not much time had passed since his death. But Alexander II’s entourage convinced him that his father should still be on the monument.

The most numerous row of figures on the monument is “Military Men and Heroes”, 36 characters.

These are historical figures, the Grand Duke of Kiev Svyatoslav, princes Mstistav Udaloy, Daniil Galitsky, Prince of Lithuania and Pskov Dovmont. Here are Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Donskoy, the conqueror of Siberia Ermak Timofeevich, and Minin and Pozharsky. Here is the already named Marfa Boretskaya, bending over the broken veche bell. The monument also includes the Ukrainian Hetman Bogdan Khmelnitsky, and folk hero Ivan Susanin. AND a whole series famous commanders and naval commanders: Boris Sheremetev, Mikhail Golitsyn, Pyotr Saltykov, Alexey Orlov, Pyotr Rumyantsev, Alexander Suvorov, Burchard Minich, Mikhail Barclay de Tolly, Mikhail Kutuzov, Dmitry Senyavin, Matvey Platov, Pyotr Bagration, Ivan Dibich, Ivan Paskevich , Mikhail Lazarev, Vladimir Kornilov and Pavel Nakhimov.

Painting

The creation of the monument cost more than 500 thousand rubles. Collected folk remedies Of course, it was not enough: almost 400 thousand was added from the state treasury. For the opening ceremony, provincial Novgorod itself was transformed - it was renovated and re-paved.

Monument "Millennium of Russia". 1862 d

The entire august family, almost 12 thousand soldiers, as well as just spectators arrived in the city for the three-day celebrations. I wonder what imperial family arrived in Novgorod by water, because the railway connection in those years ended in Chudovo, from where it was possible to get further either along the Volkhov or along the postal route. Witnesses of those events claim that for three days the population of Novgorod practically doubled.

The Monument to the Millennium of Russia was opened on the second day of the celebrations, September 8. This date was not chosen by chance. Firstly, this is the anniversary of the Battle of Kulikovo. Secondly, - Orthodox holiday Nativity of the Virgin Mary. Thirdly, on September 8, the heir to the throne, Tsarevich Nicholas, celebrated his birthday.

Bogdan Villevalde. Opening of the monument to the 1000th anniversary of Russia in Novgorod in 1862

On the morning of September 8, 1862, the emperor and empress celebrated the liturgy in the St. Sophia Cathedral of the Novgorod Kremlin, from where they then proceeded in procession to the monument.

As evidenced historical chronicles that day, the veil was removed from the monument, followed by a 62-gun salute and a military parade. This ceremony was depicted two years later by the artist Bogdan Villevalde. His painting entitled “Opening of the Monument to the Millennium of Russia in Novgorod” is now a special exhibit in the collection of the Novgorod Museum-Reserve. It is located in the Museum building fine arts in the building of the Noble Assembly and in preparation for the 1150th anniversary of Russian statehood in 2012, it became a favorite canvas of the Novgorod establishment. Thematic briefings for the press were held at the painting, a copy of the painting was given to distinguished guests to create a similar painting, but 150 years later, competitions were announced... For the anniversary celebrations of 2012, the image of Villevalde’s painting was printed on a million postal envelopes and on a special anniversary stamp.

“The monument is ours!”

The fascist occupiers, who entered Novgorod after fierce fighting in August 1941, liked the monument. As Novgorod historian Viktor Smirnov testifies, German soldiers happily took photographs against its background (there are such photographs in his book “Monument of the Russian State: Millennium in Bronze”), and then decided to take it to Germany as a war trophy. For transportation, the monument was broken into pieces, and a narrow-gauge railway was built into the Kremlin to transport the massive figures. But they only managed to take away the bronze grille and lanterns - on January 20, 1944, Novgorod was liberated.

Kukryniksy. Flight of the Nazis from Novgorod. 1944 - 1946. In the foreground are fragments of a broken sculpture

Instead of a monument to the liberators, a terrible sight appeared: the monument itself was practically gone, only the lower half of the power sphere remained on the pedestal. The figures were lying in the snow on the square, many of them were damaged. Some small details (swords, staves, shields) disappeared without a trace. The desecrated “Millennium of Russia” was immediately placed under round-the-clock police protection, surrounded by barbed wire. Without waiting for instructions from Moscow, they decided to restore the monument immediately. Not destroyed communications and houses razed to the ground, but a monument - a symbol of Russia, which has become a symbol of Novgorod. The missing bronze parts of the monument were cast again in the northern capital, at the Leningrad foundries.

The monument was opened for the second time, without waiting for the end of the war, on November 2, 1944. Rare film footage from this modest ceremony has been preserved in the funds of the Novgorod Museum-Reserve: they accommodated almost the entire population of the city, which gathered at the monument on this chilly November day. Eyewitnesses of the events recall that there was no electricity in the city yet, the monument was illuminated by the light of car headlights, and Novgorod boys shouted enthusiastically: “The monument is ours!”

Monument "Millennium of Russia" in Novgorod Detinets
Illustration: novgorodmuseum.ru

On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the monument and the 1150th anniversary of Russia in Veliky Novgorod, a competition was announced to create a “virtual tier” for the famous monument.

Novgorodians were asked to choose historical figures who could take a place on such a monument after another century and a half. According to the results of the voting, Yuri Gagarin took first place in terms of the number of mentions, Georgy Zhukov took second place, and Joseph Stalin took third place. They named Vladimir Putin, Sergei Mavrodi, Joseph Brodsky, and even D’Artagnan, Alyosha Popovich and Andrei Arshavin. In short, it’s good that the idea of a virtual tier remained virtual.

The monument to Peter I ("Bronze Horseman") is located in the center of Senate Square. The author of the sculpture is the French sculptor Etienne-Maurice Falconet.
The location of the monument to Peter I 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-Maurice Falconet, did his own thing by installing 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, advised to turn to this 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, without hesitation, signed the contract 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, imagined it as a full-length figure, holding a commander’s staff in his hand. Falcone was advised to direct the emperor's right eye to the Admiralty, and his left to the building of the Twelve Colleges. Diderot, who visited St. Petersburg in 1773, conceived a monument in the form of a fountain decorated with allegorical figures.
Falcone had something completely different in mind. He turned out to be stubborn and persistent. The sculptor wrote: “I will limit myself only to the statue of this hero, whom I do not interpret either as a great commander or as a winner, although he, of course, was both. The personality of the creator, legislator, benefactor of his country is much higher, and this is her and it is necessary to show people. My king does not hold any rod, he extends his beneficent right hand over the country he is traveling around. He rises to the top of the rock that serves as his pedestal - this is an emblem of the difficulties he has conquered.”

Defending the right to his opinion regarding the appearance of the monument, Falconet wrote to I. I. Betsky: “Could you imagine that a sculptor chosen to create such a significant monument would be deprived of the ability to think and that the movements of his hands would be controlled by someone else’s head, and not his your own?"
Disputes also arose around the clothes of Peter I. The sculptor wrote to Diderot: “You know that I will not dress him in the Roman style, just as I would not dress Julius Caesar or Scipio in the Russian style.”
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 of Elizabeth Petrovna. In 1769, passers-by could watch here as a guards officer took off on a horse onto a wooden platform and reared it. This went on for several hours a day. Falcone sat at the window in front of the platform and carefully sketched what he saw. The horses for work on the monument were taken from the imperial stables: the horses Brilliant and Caprice. The sculptor chose the Russian “Oryol” breed for the monument.

The snake under the horse’s foot was sculpted by the Russian sculptor F. G. Gordeev.
Preparing the life-size plaster model of the monument took twelve years; it was ready by 1778. The model was open for public viewing in the workshop on the corner of Brick Lane and Bolshaya Morskaya Street. Various opinions were expressed. The Chief Prosecutor of the Synod resolutely did not accept the project. Diderot was pleased with what he saw. Catherine II 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.
For a long time, no one wanted to take on the task of casting the statue. Foreign craftsmen demanded too much money, and local craftsmen were frightened by its size and complexity of work. According to the sculptor's calculations, 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 foundry worker from France refused such work. He called Falcone crazy and said that there was no such example of casting in the world, that it would not succeed.
Finally, a foundry worker was found - cannon master Emelyan Khailov. Together with him, Falcone selected the alloy and made samples. In three years, the sculptor mastered casting to perfection. They began casting the Bronze Horseman in 1774.

The technology was very complex. The thickness of the front walls had to be less than the thickness of the rear ones. At the same time, the back part became heavier, which gave stability to the statue, which rested on only three points of support.
Filling the statue alone was not enough. During the first, the pipe through which hot bronze was supplied to the mold burst. 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 a success. In memory of her, on one of the folds of Peter I’s cloak, the sculptor left the inscription “Sculpted and cast by Etienne Falconet, a Parisian in 1778.”
The St. Petersburg Gazette wrote about these events: “On August 24, 1775, Falconet cast a statue of Peter the Great on horseback here. The casting was successful except in places two feet by two at the top. This regrettable failure occurred due to an incident that could have been foreseen, and therefore prevented it was not at all. The above-mentioned incident seemed so terrible that they feared that the entire building would catch fire, and, therefore, that the whole business would not fail and carried the molten metal into the mold, without losing his courage in the face of the danger presented to him. life. Falconet, 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 plan, the base of the monument is a natural rock in the shape of a wave. The shape of the wave serves as a reminder that it was Peter I who led Russia to the sea. The Academy of Arts began searching for the monolith stone when the model of the monument was not yet ready. A stone was needed whose height would be 11.2 meters.
The granite monolith was found in the Lakhta area, twelve miles from St. Petersburg. Once upon a time, according to local legends, lightning struck the rock, forming a crack in it. Among the locals, the rock was called "Thunder Stone". That’s what they later began to call it when they installed it on the banks of the Neva under the 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 way to deliver the rock to Senate Square. From many projects, the method proposed by a certain Carbury was chosen. There were rumors that he had bought this project from some Russian merchant.
A clearing was cut from the location of the stone to the shore of the bay and the soil was strengthened. The rock was freed from excess layers, and it immediately became lighter by 600 tons. The thunder-stone was hoisted with levers onto a wooden platform resting on copper balls. These balls moved on grooved wooden rails lined with copper. The clearing was winding. Work on transporting the rock continued in both cold and hot weather. Hundreds of people worked. Many St. Petersburg residents came to watch this action. Some of the observers collected fragments of stone and used them to make cane knobs or cufflinks. In honor of the extraordinary transport operation, Catherine II ordered the minting of a medal with the inscription “Like daring. January 20, 1770.”
The rock was dragged overland for almost a year. Further along the Gulf of Finland it was transported on a barge. During transportation, dozens of stonemasons 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 the imperial court had completely deteriorated. It got to the point that Falcone was credited with only a technical attitude towards 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 supervised by the architect F. G. Gordeev.
The grand opening of the monument to Peter I took place on August 7, 1782 (old style). The sculpture was hidden from the eyes of observers by a canvas fence depicting mountain landscapes. It had been raining since the morning, but it did not stop a significant number of people from gathering on Senate Square. By noon the clouds had cleared. The guards entered the square. The military parade was led by Prince A. M. Golitsyn. At four o'clock, Empress Catherine II herself arrived on the boat. She climbed onto the balcony of the Senate building in a crown and purple and gave a sign for the opening of the monument. The fence fell, and to the beat of drums the regiments moved along the Neva embankment.
By order of Catherine II, the following is inscribed on the pedestal: “Catherine II to Peter I.” Thus, the Empress emphasized her commitment to Peter's reforms.
Immediately after the appearance of the Bronze Horseman on Senate Square, the square was named Petrovskaya.
A. S. Pushkin called the sculpture “The Bronze Horseman” in his poem of the same name. This expression has become so popular that it has become almost official. And the monument to Peter I itself became 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 siege of Leningrad, the Bronze Horseman was covered with bags of earth and sand, lined with logs and boards.
Restorations of the monument took place in 1909 and 1976. During the last of them, the sculpture was studied using gamma rays. To do this, the area around the monument was fenced off with sandbags and concrete blocks. The cobalt gun was controlled from a nearby bus. Thanks to this research, it turned out that the frame of the monument can serve for many years to come. Inside the figure was a capsule with a note about the restoration and its participants, a newspaper dated September 3, 1976.
Currently, the Bronze Horseman is a popular place for newlyweds.
Etienne-Maurice Falconet conceived The Bronze Horseman without a fence. But it was still created and 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.