The Bronze Horseman connection with history. Bronze Horseman (monument). 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

P The monument to Peter I ("The Bronze Horseman") is located in the heart of St. Petersburg - on Senate Square.
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.

In 1710, on the site of the present Bronze Horseman The very first wooden St. Isaac's Church was located in the “drafting shed”.

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.

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 colossal size." The sculptor's fee was offered quite modest (200 thousand livres), other masters asked twice as much.

Falconet arrived in St. Petersburg with his seventeen-year-old assistant Marie-Anne Collot. Most likely, she also helped him in bed, but history is silent about this...
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 people. My king does not hold any rod, he extends his beneficent right hand over the country he travels around. He rises to the top of the rock that serves as his pedestal - this is the emblem of the difficulties he has conquered."

Defending the right to his opinion regarding the appearance of the monument, Falcone wrote to I. I. Betsky:

“Could you imagine that the sculptor chosen to create such a significant monument would be deprived of the ability to think and that the movements of his hands 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 Elizaveta Petrovna.
In 1769, passersby 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 Russian Academy 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.

Bust of Falconet Marie-Anne Collot 1773

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 two fulcrum points (the snake is not a fulcrum, more on that below).

Filling alone, which began on August 25, 1775, did not solve the problem. Khailov was entrusted with her supervision. 1,350 pounds of bronze were prepared, and when all of it, molten, flowed into the mold, the mold cracked and the metal poured onto the floor. A fire started. Falcone ran out of the workshop in horror, the workers ran after him, and only Khailov remained in place. Risking his life, he wrapped the mold in his homespun and coated it with clay, picked up the spilled bronze and poured it back into the mold. The monument was saved, and the errors that arose due to the accident were later corrected when polishing the statue.

The St. Petersburg Gazette wrote about these events:
“The casting was successful except in places about 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 were afraid that the entire building would go up in flames, but, Therefore, the whole business would not have failed. Khailov remained motionless and carried the molten metal into the mold, without losing his courage in the least in the face of the danger to his life. Touched by such courage, Falconet, at the end of the matter, rushed to him and kissed him with all his heart and gave him a gift from himself money."

However, as a result of the accident, numerous large defects (underfilling, adhesions) were formed in the horse’s head and the figure of the rider above the waist.

A bold plan was developed to save the statue. It was decided to cut off the defective part of the statue and refill it, increasing new uniform directly onto the surviving parts of the monument. Using pieces of plaster mold, a wax model of the top of the casting was obtained, which was a continuation of the wall of the previously cast part of the statue.

The second filling was carried out in November 1777, and it was a complete success. In memory of this unique operation, on one of the folds of Peter I’s cloak, the sculptor left the inscription “Modeled and cast by Etienne Falconet, Parisian 1778.” Not a word about Khailov.

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. There were rumors that in the old days there was a temple on it. And sacrifices were made.

The initial weight of the monolith is about 2000 tons. Catherine II announced a reward of 7,000 rubles to the one who comes up with the most effective method deliver the rock to Senate Square. 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 poet Vasily Rubin wrote in the same year:
The Russian Mountain, not made by hands 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.

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.

Portrait of Marie-Anne Collot

The offended master did not wait for the opening of the monument; in September 1778, together with Marie-Anne Collot, he left for Paris.

And the monument, weighing about 10 tons, still had to be erected...

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.

"Bronze Horseman" sculpture in his poem of the same name named by A.S. 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.

Neither the wind nor the terrible floods could defeat the monument.

Legends

One evening, Pavel, accompanied by his friend Prince Kurakin, walked through the streets of St. Petersburg. Suddenly a man appeared ahead, wrapped in a wide cloak. It seemed that he was waiting for the travelers and, when they approached, he walked next to them. Pavel shuddered and turned to Kurakin: “Someone is walking next to us.” However, he did not see anyone and tried to convince the Grand Duke of this. Suddenly the ghost spoke: “Paul! Poor Pavel! I am the one who takes part in you.” Then the ghost walked ahead of the travelers, as if leading them along. Approaching the middle of the square, he indicated the place for the future monument. “Goodbye, Pavel,” said the ghost, “you will see me here again.” And when, leaving, he raised his hat, Pavel saw Peter’s face with horror.

The legend is believed to date back to the memoirs of Baroness von Oberkirch, who details the circumstances under which Paul himself publicly told the story. Bearing in mind the high reliability of the memoirs based on many years diary entries and the friendship between the Baroness and Maria Feodorovna, Paul’s wife, most likely, the source of the legend is indeed the future sovereign himself...

There is another legend. During the War of 1812, when the threat of Napoleonic invasion was real, Alexander I decided to transport the monument to Peter to Vologda. A certain captain Baturin dreamed a strange dream: as if the Bronze Horseman is moving off the pedestal and galloping towards Kamenny Island, where Emperor Alexander I was at that time. “Young man, what have you brought my Russia to?” Peter tells him. “But as long as I stand in my place , my city has nothing to fear." Then the horseman, announcing the city with a “heavy ringing gallop,” returned to Senate Square. According to legend, the dream of the unknown captain was brought to the attention of the emperor, as a result of which the statue of Peter the Great remained in St. Petersburg.
As you know, the boot of a Napoleonic soldier, like a fascist one, did not touch the St. Petersburg pavements.

The famous mystic and spirit seer of the 20th century, Daniil Andreev, in “The Rose of the World,” described one of the hellish worlds. There he reports that in infernal Petersburg, the torch in the hand of the Bronze Horseman is the only source of light, while Peter is sitting not on a horse, but on a terrible dragon...

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

When after the war the monument was freed from boards and bags, the Star of the Hero appeared on Peter’s chest Soviet Union. Someone drew it with chalk...

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 space 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 still serve long years. Inside the figure was a capsule with a note about the restoration and its participants, a newspaper dated September 3, 1976.

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 left their autographs on the thunder stone and the sculpture itself, the idea of ​​restoring the fence was realized.

Recent studies of the monument have brought two sensations:

1. The monument rests not on three points of support, as previously thought, but on two. The snake and the horse's tail do not carry any load.

The snake that the horse tramples and the tail serve only to separate the air currents and reduce the windage of the monument.

2. Peter’s pupils are made in the shape of hearts. Peter looks at the city with loving eyes. So Falcone conveyed to his descendants the news of Peter’s love for his brainchild - St. Petersburg.

3. Thanks to Pushkin and his poem, the monument is called “Copper”, but it is not made of copper, but of bronze.

4. The monument was depicted on Yudenich’s money.

The monument is covered in myths and legends. It is also in foreign collections. This is how the Japanese imagined it.

Illustration from the 11th scroll "Kankai Ibun". The monument was drawn by a Japanese artist from the words of sailors)))

Late in the evening the monument is no less mysterious and beautiful...

Info and part of the photo (C) Wikipedia, the site "Legends of St. Petersburg" and other places on the Internet

Most tourists who want to see all the sights of the Northern capital are interested in where exactly in St. Petersburg the legendary Bronze Horseman monument, depicting Peter 1, is located. This symbol of the city dates back more than two centuries and is covered in many legends and myths.

Find famous statue, to which the famous poem of the same name by A. S. Pushkin is dedicated, will not be difficult. The Bronze Horseman monument is located on one of the central squares of St. Petersburg - former square Decembrists (now Senate) - in an open park. It is very convenient to get to it through the Alexander Garden, passing through its western part.

The exact address of the Bronze Horseman in St. Petersburg: Senate Square, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation, 190000.

Bronze Horseman history of the creation of the monument

The idea of ​​​​creating a monument designed to perpetuate the memory of the outstanding monarch belongs to Empress Catherine II. She believed that such a responsible task could only be entrusted to true master. In search of such a person, Prince Golitsyn - the empress's confidant - turned for help to the venerable representatives of French culture of that time, Diderot and Voltaire. The great philosophers advised their royal correspondent Etienne-Maurice Falconet, at that time the author of not very well-known sculptural compositions.

Falcone worked at a porcelain factory, but in the depths of his soul he had long dreamed of trying his hand at monumental art. In 1766, he signed a contract with representatives of Catherine II to create bronze monument, according to which his remuneration was only 200,000 livres.

It is interesting that Etienne-Maurice came to Russia together with a talented 17-year-old student, Marie-Anne Collot, who later married his son. Various rumors, and not always decent ones, circulated for a long time about the relationship between the sculptor and his young assistant.

Opinions about what the symbol of Russian autocracy should look like turned out to be very different:

• The head of the Imperial Academy of Arts, Belsky, believed that Peter I should be depicted standing majestically at full height and with a scepter in his hand.
• Empress Catherine II wanted to see her predecessor on a horse, but always with symbols royal power in hand.
• The enlightener Diderot intended to create a large fountain with allegorical figures instead of a statue.
• The modest official Shtelin sent a letter to the Academy of Arts in which he proposed to surround the statue of the emperor with images of virtues such as Honesty and Justice, trampling underfoot vices (Bragging, Deception, Laziness, etc.).

However, the author of the future Bronze Horseman monument had his own idea of ​​what his creation should look like. Falcone abandoned the allegorical interpretation of the image of the emperor and intended to show him as a great legislator and guardian of the well-being of his country. According to plan sculptural composition, it was supposed to demonstrate the triumph of human will and reason over spontaneous natural forces.

Sculptor of the Bronze Horseman Etienne Maurice Falconet

Falcone approached the creation of the Bronze Horseman in St. Petersburg very responsibly. The model of the statue was created during 1768-1770 on the territory of the former summer residence of Empress Elizabeth. The prototype of the horse for the monument was two Oryol trotters, Brilliant and Caprice, which were considered an adornment of the royal stables. At the request of the sculptor, a platform was made, the height of which practically coincided with the future pedestal. One of the officers on horseback flew up to its edge and reared his horse, so that Falcone could sketch all the structural features of the horse’s body and muscles.

The emperor's head was sculpted by Maria Anna Collo, since her mentor’s options were not approved by Catherine II. The wide-opened facial features of Peter I reflected the main qualities of the sovereign: courage, strong will, high intelligence, justice. For this work, the Empress awarded the talented girl membership in the Imperial Academy of Arts and a lifelong pension.

The horse on which the sovereign sits tramples with its hooves a snake made by the Russian master Gordeev.

After making a plaster model, Falcone began casting the statue, but encountered a number of problems:

• Due to the size of the monument, even foundries with a good reputation refused to cast because they could not vouch for the quality of the work.
• When the sculptor finally found an assistant, the cannon maker Khailov, it turned out to be very difficult to choose the correct composition of the alloy. Since the monument had only 3 points of support, the walls of its front part should have been no thicker than 1 cm.
• The first casting of the sculptural composition in 1775 was unsuccessful. While working in the workshop, a pipe through which molten bronze flowed burst. The catastrophic consequences were averted thanks to the courage of Khailov, who plugged the hole with his own clothes and sealed it with clay. For this reason, the upper part of the monument had to be refilled two years later.

The origin of the Bronze Horseman pedestal is surrounded by many legends. It is popularly known as the Thunder Stone. In alternative historical theories regarding the construction of St. Petersburg, he ranks key place. Some researchers suggest that official version, according to which the Thunder Stone was transported to the city from the vicinity of the small settlement of Konnaya Lakhta, was falsified.

However, historical documents and eyewitness accounts, including foreign origin, refute the assumption that the giant granite block for the Bronze Horseman monument was located on the territory of St. Petersburg before processing. Any attempts to connect it with the mythological civilization of the Atlanteans, who allegedly were the founders of the city in this place, are unfounded. The technologies of that time made it possible to transport even such a huge rock to the site of the monument.

The Thunder Stone weighed more than 1,600 tons and its height exceeded 11 meters, so it was delivered to the shores of the Gulf of Finland on a special platform. It moved along 2 gutters located strictly parallel to each other. They housed three dozen large balls made of copper alloy. Moving the platform was possible only in winter, when the soil froze and could better withstand heavy loads. Transporting this natural pedestal to the coast took about six months, after which it was transported by water to St. Petersburg and took its assigned place on the square in 1770. As a result of hewing, the size of the Thunder Stone was significantly reduced.

12 years after Falcone's arrival in Northern capital his relationship with the empress deteriorated significantly, so he was forced to leave the country. Felten supervised the completion of the statue, and its grand opening took place in 1782.

Symbolism and legends of the monument

Falconet depicted Peter I in simple and light attire, without excessive luxury befitting his status as emperor. By this, he sought to show the merits of the monarch as a person, and not as a great commander and winner. Instead of a saddle, the horse is covered with an animal skin, symbolizing the arrival of enlightenment and the benefits of civilization in the country thanks to Peter I.

The head of the statue is crowned Laurel wreath, and a sword is attached to the belt, which indicates the ruler’s readiness to come to the defense of the Fatherland at any moment. The rock represents the difficulties that Peter had to overcome during his reign. The pedestal is decorated with an inscription, which is a tribute to Empress Catherine II to her great predecessor, in Russian and Latin languages. Another inscription is hidden in the folds of the cloak, indicating the authorship of the monument. The weight of the monument is 8 tons, and the height is 5 meters.

There are many legends associated with the Bronze Horseman, one of which was reflected by Pushkin in his poem of the same name. According to some of them:

• Allegedly, even before the installation of the sculptural composition, the ghost of Peter I met the future Emperor Paul I at the place where the monument is now located. The deceased monarch warned his heir of the danger that threatened him.
• In 1812, the Bronze Horseman was about to be evacuated because the city was threatened by the French. However, the emperor appeared in a dream to Major Baturin and said that as long as he remained in place, nothing threatened St. Petersburg.
• Some people believed that the monument was Peter I himself, who decided to jump the Neva on his favorite horse with the words “All is God and mine.” However, he got confused and said “Everything is mine and God’s”, for which he was punished higher powers and instantly petrified right on the square.

Where is the Bronze Horseman

The monument is available for free visits. You can listen to a fascinating story about the creation of the statue and the legends associated with it by taking part in sightseeing tours in St. Petersburg. Their cost ranges on average from 780 RUR per person to 2800 RUR - 8000 RUR per group (depending on the duration of the tour).

There are several ways to get to the monument:

• From the Admiralteyskaya metro station, turn left to Malaya Morskaya Street, then turn left onto Dekabristov Avenue and then turn right to the banks of the Neva. The journey will take no more than 10 minutes.
• From the Nevsky Prospekt metro station, walk along the Griboyedov Canal to the end of Nevsky Prospekt and walk towards the Alexander Garden.
• Buses No. 27, 22 and 3, as well as trolleybus No. 5, also run to Senate Square.

The Bronze Horseman is the most popular attraction in St. Petersburg, without which it is impossible to get a complete picture of the city.

Pushkin took as a basis for writing the poem real case floods of 1824 in St. Petersburg. At this time, Alexander Sergeevich was in exile, in Mikhailovskoye, which is why he wrote the poem based on the stories of eyewitnesses of the incident.

"The Bronze Horseman" is one of the most interesting poems Pushkin. A peculiarity of the work can be noted in its obvious similarity with works that were published much later than the poem itself, devoted to the themes of St. Petersburg and problems of conflict of interests little man and administrative apparatus.

Work on the poem took place in a fast, intensive mode. “The Bronze Horseman” was written in less than one month - in just 25 days, from October 6 to October 30, 1833. During the same period, Pushkin worked on such works as “Angelo”, “ Queen of Spades" The final manuscript of the poem is dated: “October 31, 1833. Boldino. 5h 5".

Perhaps thoughts about creating the “Bronze Horseman” visited Alexander Sergeevich even before his arrival in Boldino. Some recordings could have been made in St. Petersburg itself. The author invested a large number of time and effort into his work: he could rewrite even one verse up to ten times before the latter acquired the ideal form for him.

The poem was criticized and was not even allowed to be published by modern power. “The Bronze Horseman” received criticism from Nicholas I himself, who returned the manuscript to the author with nine notes. Pushkin, in turn, printed the introduction to the poem with blank spaces exactly in those places where the sovereign’s notes were. Over time, Alexander Sergeevich nevertheless redid the text of the work, but redid it so that the original meaning remained in it. Nicholas I allows the manuscript to be published.

According to another version, censorship was carried out not by the sovereign himself, but by employees of the political police. They made, in Pushkin's opinion, too many changes to the work, which for the latter was tantamount to a ban on publication.

Pushkin was concerned with the topic of the influence of big events on a small person, which is reflected in The Bronze Horseman. The poem, oddly enough, fits very harmoniously into the cultural and historical context of its time.

In fact, there are only two main characters in the poem. Evgeniy is an official of insignificant rank, with quite ordinary dreams and desires, no different from his peers. It is interesting that the work does not indicate the surname, age, or any character traits of the hero, which further emphasizes his “small role.” The author deprives him of any features in order to emphasize his “ordinariness.”

The Bronze Horseman himself is nothing more than the embodiment of the image of Peter I. The author’s attitude towards the horseman is ambiguous. At the beginning of the work, Pushkin praises Peter, who created the “young city.” On the other hand, the image of the king as a horseman made of metal, devoid of humanity, embodies the features of a strict soulless statehood.

The work is ambiguous and evokes mixed impressions. But one thing is for sure - Pushkin’s genius permeated every stanza of the poem.

A. S. Pushkin’s poem “The Bronze Horseman” combines both historical and social issues. This is the author's reflection on Peter the Great as a reformer, collection different opinions and assessments of his actions. This poem is one of his perfect works, having philosophical meaning. We offer for your information brief analysis poems, the material can be used for work in literature lessons in the 7th grade.

Brief Analysis

Year of writing– 1833

History of creation– During the period of his “golden autumn”, when Pushkin was forced to stay on the Boldinsky estate, the poet had a creative upsurge. During that “golden” time, the author created many brilliant works that made a great impression on both the public and critics. One of such works of the Boldino period was the poem “The Bronze Horseman”.

Subject– The reign of Peter the Great, the attitude of society to his reforms – main topic"The Bronze Horseman"

Composition– The composition consists of a large introduction, it can be considered as a separate poem, and two parts in which we're talking about about the main character, the devastating flood of 1824, and about the hero’s meeting with the Bronze Horseman.

Genre– The genre of “The Bronze Horseman” is a poem.

Direction - Historical poem, describing actual events, direction– realism.

History of creation

At the very beginning of the history of the creation of the poem, the writer was in the Boldinsky estate. He thought a lot about history Russian state, about its rulers and autocratic power. At that time, society was divided into two types of people - some fully supported the policies of Peter the Great, treated him with adoration, and the other type of people found in the great emperor similarities with evil spirits, considered him a fiend from hell, and treated him accordingly.

The writer listened to different opinions about the reign of Peter, the result of his thoughts and collection of various information was the poem “The Bronze Horseman”, which completed his Boldino heyday of creativity, the year the poem was written was 1833.

Subject

In “The Bronze Horseman” the analysis of the work reflects one of the main topics– power and the little man. The author reflects on the government of the state, on the collision of a small man with a huge colossus.

Myself meaning of the name– “The Bronze Horseman” – contains the main idea of ​​the poetic work. The monument to Peter is made of bronze, but the author preferred a different epithet, more ponderous and gloomy. So, through expressive artistic means, the poet outlines a powerful state machine, which is indifferent to the problems of little people suffering from the power of autocratic rule.

In this poem, conflict between a small person and the authorities has no continuation, a person is so petty for the state when “the forest is cut down - the chips fly.”

One can judge the role of one individual in the fate of the state in different ways. In his introduction to the poem, the author characterizes Peter the Great as a man of amazing intelligence, far-sighted and decisive. While in power, Peter looked far ahead; he thought about the future of Russia, about its power and indestructibility. The actions of Peter the Great can be judged differently, accusing him of despotism and tyranny in relation to to the common people. It is impossible to justify the actions of a ruler who built power on the bones of people.

Composition

Pushkin's brilliant idea in the compositional features of the poem serves as proof of the poet's creative skill. The long introduction, dedicated to Peter the Great and the city he built, can be read as an independent work.

The language of the poem has absorbed everything genre originality, emphasizing the author’s attitude to the events he describes. In the description of Peter and St. Petersburg, the language is pathetic, majestic, completely in harmony with the appearance of the emperor, great and powerful.

The story is told in a completely different language simple Evgenia. The narrative speech about the hero is in ordinary language, reflecting the essence of the “little man”.

The greatest genius of Pushkin is clearly visible in this poem; it is all written in the same poetic meter, but in different places of the work it sounds completely different. The two parts of the poem following the introduction can also be considered a separate work. These parts talk about an ordinary person, who lost his girlfriend in a flood.

Eugene blames the monument to Peter for this, implying that it is the emperor himself - the autocrat. A person who dreams of simple human happiness has lost the meaning of life, having lost the most precious thing - he has lost his beloved girl, his future. It seems to Evgeniy that the Bronze Horseman is chasing him. Eugene understands that the autocrat is cruel and merciless. Crushed by grief, the young man goes crazy and then dies, left without the meaning of life.

We can come to the conclusion that in this way the author continues the theme of the “little man”, developed at that time in Russian literature. By this he proves how despotic the government is towards the common people.

Main characters

Genre

The work “The Bronze Horseman” belongs to the genre of a poetic poem with a realistic direction.

The poem is large-scale in its deep content; it includes both historical and philosophical issues. There is no epilogue in the poem, and the contradictions between the little man and the whole state remain open.

Having studied and analyzed the sources, we can say with certainty that the history of the appearance of the “Bronze Horseman” is not clear-cut. There are many versions and assumptions on this topic. In this work we will consider some aspects of the origin and, in the future, the chronology of the writing of this work. Mention of one literary history this story, which begins with the message “Where did Pushkin get the plot of The Bronze Horseman,” published by critic and teacher A.P. Miliukov in the newspaper “Son of the Fatherland” in 1869; this text, subjected to stylistic corrections, was included in the author’s memoirs, which appeared in 1872. According to Miliukov, once, during an exam in a women’s college, educational institution, Count Mikhail Yuryevich Vielgorsky told him the following: “In 1812, when Napoleon was marching towards Moscow, the French corps of Marshal Oudinot, moving towards Polotsk, created fears for St. Petersburg. An alarm was raised in the capital. Knowing, among other things, that Napoleon loved to remove monuments from capitals, we began to fear that he might take the monument to Peter the Great to Paris. Someone suggested, in case of serious danger, to remove Falconev’s statue from its pedestal, put it on a ship and send it to one of the remote provinces. The Emperor approved this idea.

At this time, Prince Alexander Nikolaevich Golitsyn dreamed that he was going “with a report to the sovereign on Elagin Island, along Bolshaya Millionnaya, in the direction from the Winter Palace.” Suddenly, behind, “as if on Admiralty Square, there was a rumble, like the distant tramp of a horse. And then in the houses I passed, the glass began to clink, and the pavement itself seemed to be shaking. Then I turned around in horror. A few fathoms from me, in the gloomy light early morning, a huge rider galloped on a gigantic horse, shaking the entire neighborhood with the tramp of his heavy hooves. I recognized this figure by the majestically raised head and hand imperiously outstretched in the air. That was our bronze Peter on his bronze horse.” Bronze Peter rode across the Trinity Bridge and Kamennoostrovsky Avenue into the palace, and Golitsyn, hurrying after him, sees how Emperor Alexander (his face “was sad and worried”) quickly approached the “royal horseman.” Having exclaimed: “You sympathize with Russia!”, Peter further said: “Don’t be afraid! While I stand on a granite rock in front of the Neva, my beloved city has nothing to fear. Don’t touch me - not a single enemy will touch me.” And after these words the Horseman left. “Count Vielgorsky added that Prince Golitsyn, at the next report to the sovereign, told him his wonderful dream. This story had such an effect on the emperor that he ordered the cancellation of all orders for the dispatch of the monument to Peter the Great from St. Petersburg. When they subsequently retold this dream to Pushkin, he was delighted and repeated for a long time: “... what poetry! What poetry!” He admitted to Count Vielgorsky that at the same time he began to think about the content of his “Bronze Horseman,” and although he later gave the poem a different idea and furnished it with other details, it is clear that interesting dream Prince Golitsyn served as the main basis for the story" [Ospovat, 1984: 238-239].

This story was reprinted several times in publications of those years. The authors, narrators, eyewitnesses and even the text changed. But the essence remained the same. Whether this story is reliable is also difficult to say. But many believe that if the events were actually true, then the legend has a right to exist.

According to many critics and literary scholars, Pushkin’s idea was inspired by the flood that occurred in St. Petersburg on November 7, 1824 - the worst flood in the history of the city.

Pushkin lived for three months in Mikhailovskoye, exiled from Odessa “to the distant northern district.” He really wants to return to St. Petersburg, as evidenced by numerous correspondence with his brother. Therefore, having not witnessed such a tragic moment in the city, he gets a little angry and immediately jokes frivolously on this topic when addressing the ladies of St. Petersburg. Somewhat later, obviously having read more detailed descriptions floods in St. Petersburg newspapers and in letters from family and friends, after hearing the stories of eyewitnesses, Pushkin changed his initial opinion.

Probably, soon after returning from exile to Moscow, and then to St. Petersburg, he acquired a book by the historian V.N., published in 1826. Berkha Berkh V.N. Detailed historical information about all the floods that occurred in St. Petersburg. - St. Petersburg, 1826; see this edition, p. 107., mentioned as the most important and first source of information in the “Preface” to the “Petersburg Tale”. “Berkh in his book reprinted an article published in Literary Sheets as an eyewitness account. Pushkin obviously did not want to refer directly to the source in his poem, and Berkh’s reprint gave him a legal opportunity to do so; he limited himself to a vague reference to the “journals of that time”, from which the “details of the flood” were borrowed, thereby deflecting possible reproaches of inaccuracies, that he, without having witnessed the “flood”, was inventing its details” [Izmailov, 1930: 151-152].

Berkh's book was undoubtedly taken with him by Pushkin on his 1833 trip to the “Pugachev” places and was before his eyes while working on the poem in Boldin.

At the very moment of Pushkin’s departure on his journey, “on August 17, 1833, when he, having left his dacha on the Chernaya Rechka, was supposed to cross the Neva, he witnessed the beginning of a flood, which almost forced him to return back and postpone the trip. Flooding in St. Petersburg that day did not occur due to a change in the wind, but in those hours when Pushkin saw the swelling Neva, there was a fear that there would be a disaster no less than in 1824. What is important, however, is the poet’s close attention to the rise of water in the river and his fear, his annoyance at the thought that he missed this flood too. This is another indicator that the theme of the flood had already been determined in his creative consciousness long before the start of work on “The Bronze Horseman”” [Izmailov, 1930: 152].

There is no doubt that the impression of the “St. Petersburg flood” and the reflections caused by it, its definition as a “social disaster”, which hit with all its weight the “people”, the poorest layer of the capital’s population - all this sank deeply into the consciousness and feeling of the poet, sank , to be reflected nine years later in The Bronze Horseman.

On the way back from Orenburg and Uralsk, arriving in Boldino on October 1, 1833, he immediately began processing all the material he had written, as well as the material collected during the trip, while simultaneously working on many other creative endeavors, but primarily the poem “The Bronze Horseman.”

Peter's theme also had a great influence on Pushkin. However, Pushkin became interested in it only from the end of 1826. The reasons for this are manifold. During the Lyceum years, interest in Peter was overshadowed by modern events - Patriotic War 1812 and European campaigns. Later, Karamzin’s “History of the Russian State,” published in 1818, determined for a long time the themes of poetry of the Decembrist movement. It was also reflected in the works of Pushkin. Much was written almost on the eve of the Decembrist uprising - an event that caused a deep reflection in the worldview and work of the poet. The events of December 14, 1825 and the investigation, trial and verdict of the Decembrist nobles that followed the defeat of the uprising, and finally the poet’s return from exile and his meeting with Nicholas I on September 8, 1826, forced Pushkin to reconsider much in his views on the past and present Russia. From this moment on, Peter’s theme can be seen in lyrics, poems, prose novels, journalism and criticism, memoirs, historical studies, and increasingly occupies his thoughts.

However, Pushkin’s attitude towards Peter was not clear-cut. “He outlined a conclusion about the two sides of Peter’s activity, which fully expresses his thought, his concept of Peter’s reign. For some, this is great and creative for those entering new era state, for others - difficult and even painful, which had to bear the full weight of the new empire, including not only peasants, but also other “tax-paying” classes. In Pushkin’s view, this part includes the scions of the ancient nobility, humiliated and, ultimately, ruined by Peter’s reforms, which brought forward new people. The same phenomenon is represented by the hero of his poem Eugene in The Bronze Horseman.

"For understanding last work one cannot help but keep in mind the above maxim, which expresses with complete clarity Pushkin’s dual perception of the personality and activity of Peter - a great creator and at the same time a merciless despot, who, according to young Pushkin, expressed many years before the work, “he despised humanity, perhaps more than Napoleon.” [Izmailov, 1930: 164].

Pushkin seemed to try on the image of his hero Eugene for himself, because he himself was from an impoverished family with a large family that had to be supported. He himself writes about this: “Besides the salary determined for me by the generosity of His Majesty, I have no permanent income; Meanwhile, life in the capital is expensive and as my family multiplies, so do my expenses...” Pushkin. Letters, vol. III, p. 594-597.

In December 1833, he submitted “The Bronze Horseman” to Nicholas I for censorship. The Tsar returned the poem indicating the amendments that needed to be corrected (he crossed out all definitions like “idol”, “idol” in relation to the monument to Peter), but Pushkin edited He refused the poem, but he also didn’t dare print it without permission. That is why, until the end of 1833, the “Petersburg Tale” was not known to anyone.

The severity of the censor was probably due to the coincidence of the appearance of Pushkin’s poem and important event, which took place in St. Petersburg and was directly related to the monument to Peter I. “In 1834, work on the opening of the famous monument was completed - “ alexandrian pillar" Back in August 1832, a huge rock appeared on the palace square, delivered from Finland, from which the column was to be made. On August 30, 1834, that is, on the name day of Alexander I, the opening of a monument to the emperor, the Alexander Column, the tallest structure in the world (47.5 meters versus 46.5 meters of the Vendôme Column in Paris), took place. This event was given great ideological significance, most fully and clearly expressed by Zhukovsky: “What had to happen in Russia so that in such a city, such a meeting of the people, such an army could unite at the foot of such a column?.. There, on the banks of the Neva, a rock rises, wild and ugly, and on that rock a rider as almost as huge as she herself; and this horseman, having reached the height, reined in his mighty horse at the edge of the rapids; and on this rock it is written Peter, and next to him Catherine; and in view of this rock, another, incomparably larger, has now been erected, but no longer a wild mass scattered from ugly stones, but a slender, majestic, artistically rounded column<…>and at its height it is no longer a transient man, but an ever-shining angel, and under the cross of this angel that monster expires, which there, on the rock, half-crushed, writhes under the horse’s hooves<…>. And the angel crowning this column, doesn’t it mean that the days of being a fighting creature are over for us?<…>that the time has come to create peace; that Russia, which has taken everything it owns, is safe from the outside. Inaccessible or disastrous to the enemy, not fear, but the guardian of Europe, which has become related to it, has now entered a new great period of his existence, during the period of development of internal, firm legality, serene acquisition of all the treasures of the community...” Zhukovsky V.A. “Memories of the celebration of August 30, 1834” - M.: Book on Demand, 2012. - 18 p. (reprint St. Petersburg: typ. N. Grech, cens. 1834). The monument to Peter I with a monument in the form of a wild rock and the monument to Alexander I with a monument in the form of a geometrically correct and even perfect column were contrasted as symbols of two eras Russian life"[Abromovich, 1984: 112].

Nicholas I was familiar with Zhukovsky's thoughts and agreed with the idea that in modern Russian history a clear line was drawn between two periods: war and peace.

Pushkin did not share these views, considered them far-fetched, and he was right. “Very soon it was discovered that the Alexander Column was just a new monument that adorned the capital, and the Bronze Horseman was still its symbol, “the most wonderful miracle of wonderful St. Petersburg”<…>The Alexander Column became an object of ridicule" [Makogonenko, 1982: 157].

Not wanting to edit the poem, Pushkin published the Introduction to The Bronze Horseman in 1834. This is the only lifetime edition of the text of the poem; it did not attract the attention of readers, as it looked like a hymn to the “military capital”. But rumors began about some unpublished poem by Pushkin about St. Petersburg.

“In August 1836, Pushkin decided to publish The Bronze Horseman and made the necessary amendments for this. Why did he not allow the thought of editing before, but now he does it? Apparently, because he considered it necessary to make himself known to readers, among whom an opinion arose about the end of the Pushkin period of Russian literature" [Kunin, 1990: 543]

Contrary to this opinion, the decision to publish The Bronze Horseman was obvious. Leaned family problems, lack of money, dependence on the mercy of the sovereign - all this affected Pushkin’s morale. Therefore, “The Bronze Horseman” became a kind of challenge to the state system and all “well-wishers.”

The Bronze Horseman was published in full after Pushkin’s death in 1837 in the Sovremennik magazine.