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 Etienne-Maurice Falconet, who at that time worked as the chief sculptor at a porcelain factory, was recommended 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 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 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
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 Russian Academy 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 with a height of 11.2 meters, 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 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

Front side


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 it took place Grand opening monument.
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 EKATERINE second summer 1782”, and on the other side the same text is indicated on 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 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. All of Europe followed that operation and in honor of the delivery of the Thunder Stone to Senate Square was released commemorative medal with the inscription “Like boldness. 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

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

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 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 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 with a height of 11.2 meters, 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.

Bronze Horseman - history of creation

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. .. Does not know self-interest,” wrote Diderot 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 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 by Marie-Anne Collot.

Portrait of Marie Anne Collot. Hood. Pierre Etienne Falconet (son of Etienne Maurice Falconet)

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.

Etienne Maurice Falconet December 1, 1716 (Paris, Kingdom of France) - January 4, 1791 (age 74 Paris, Seine, Ile-de-France, France)

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.

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

In February 1767, the Office of the Construction of Houses and Gardens ordered the dismantling of the Temporary Winter Palace on Nevsky Prospekt. The place was freed up for Falcone's workshops. Two workshops were built: one for preliminary work, the second, much larger, for creating a model in life size. The former palace kitchen was converted into the sculptor's housing.

Falconet’s life story reveals something that is common to the biographies of many artists who worked in Russia but came from other countries. These are both Rastrelli, Vincenzo Brenna, Giacomo Quarenghi, Charles Cameron, and a little later Auguste Montferrand. All these the most talented people They did not come to Russia from childhood, and they were already invited as experienced, proven masters, but their highest achievements date back to those years when they gave their talent to Russia.

How to cast a bronze equestrian statue correctly

Casting a statue in metal is not an easy task. You can imagine how they do it now, but it is much more interesting to understand how sculptors coped with such a task in the 13th century. A series of engravings by Robert Benard from the Encyclopedia of Sciences, Arts and Crafts by Diderot and Alembert, which show the step-by-step technology of casting a bronze figure of a horseman.

This is a collapsible form made from blocks. Inside is a master model sculpted by a sculptor. The bricks fit together like puzzle pieces:

The molten metal was supplied through tubes designated as “1”, and gas and steam were discharged through “2”:

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.

. 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.”

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 with a height of 11.2 meters, 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.

Falcone himself went to inspect the rock and warmly approved of what he saw. Vishnyakov received 100 rubles.

In 1768, near Lakhta, a granite rock called the “Thunder Stone” was found, split by lightning.

The stone was huge. The shortest route to the shore of the Gulf of Finland, where it could be loaded onto a barge, passed mostly through damp lowlands. And so far, having dug up the stone from all sides, they were only examining it, figuring out where to start, the commander of the combined regiment, Captain Palibin, was preparing labor. About half a thousand soldiers and peasants were gathered under the command of the captain for the winter. Along the already marked future clearing to the shore of the bay, huts and barracks began to grow.

The hole around the stone, when everything around it was cleared of trees and bushes, and the stone itself was dug up, turned out to be two fathoms deep. But the eye fears, but the hands do: they scraped the moss off the stone and, along the crack left by lightning, hammering iron wedges into the crack, they separated a huge fragment. However, even without the broken part, the stone seemed huge. Its dimensions, translated into meters, were approximately as follows: 13.5 by 6.7 by 8.2.

"Thunder Stone"

What kind of stone is this? Are there others like him?

Millions of millions of blocks similar to the “Thunder Stone” are scattered throughout almost the entire territory of the European part of Russia. There are especially many of them in Karelia. And they are especially visible from an airplane.

These stones are boulders. They were moved by a giant glacier that once covered vast areas of our country. In Karelia, boulder fields alternate with lakes stretching from northwest to southeast. The glacier moved in this direction, rolling giant boulders. Its dimensions were such that not only these, but also others, large sizes he moved the blocks like feathers.

24.

Now such a glacier rests in Antarctica. Its thickness reaches 4-5 kilometers in places! Place even the largest boulder on such a layer, and it will turn out to be negligible compared to the entire mass of ice.

They moved by sea only in the fall - they waited for suitable winds and built a cargo ship - prime. With the greatest care, they loaded the stone onto the lift, and two sailing ships, with a fair wind, pulled it towards St. Petersburg. The head of all work on the transportation of the “Thunder Stone” was an experienced rigger Matvey Mikhailov. Captain-Lieutenant Yakov Lavrov led the ships to the Neva embankment.

On offer the best way A competition was announced for the delivery of the stone to Senate Square. The project of transporting such a huge monolith attracted everyone's attention, causing amazement throughout Europe. The winner of the competition was the Greek Martin Carbury (aka Lascari, aka Delaskari), who proposed moving a platform with a rock immersed on it on bronze balls rolling along gutters. There were persistent rumors that Carbury had cleverly bought this project from someone and for a pittance, but one way or another, the reward of seven thousand rubles went to him.

The cunning Greek was well known to the St. Petersburg police under the name Lascari or Delaskari as a swindler and swindler who came to Russia to make a decent fortune for himself by any means necessary. I can’t believe that such a person could invent something! That's not what his brain is set up for! According to many contemporaries, Carbury bought from an unnamed Russian blacksmith “a method of moving stone” and someone else’s glory for 20 rubles.

On March 12, 1769, with the help of gates and levers, soldiers and peasants lifted the rock from the pit and placed it on a log platform, under which there were copper-clad log rollers. And while one part of the people was busy lifting the stone and installing it on the platform, the other was already cutting a clearing to the shore of the Gulf of Finland.

On January 20, 1770, Catherine II came to see the movement of the Thunder Stone.

However, an attempt to start moving the platform immediately showed the danger of such haste. The thaw had already begun, and the coast was more than eight miles away. The places ahead were low-lying, swampy in parts. There was nothing left to do but wait for frost. The road was strengthened all summer. They filled up the holes, cut off the mounds, removed grass, fallen leaves and moss from the strip so that with cold weather the soil would freeze faster and deeper. Stumps were left from large trees on the sides of the road for ropes from the gates. Where there were no trees, piles were driven in every hundred fathoms for the same purpose. Finally, cold weather set in, tests showed that the ground was frozen to four feet, and on November 15 the platform with the stone was moved. The movement has begun.

In January 1770, Catherine II arrived in Lakhta to see with her own eyes the movements of the Thunder Stone. The empress was satisfied with what she saw. In honor of what was happening, it was ordered to mint a medal with the inscription: “Like daring. January 20, 1770.”

Medal “Like Daring” for the transportation of the monolith under the monument to Peter I. 1770

The inscription referred to those who moved the rock. But similar words of the empress could have been addressed to another cluster of events of those days. It was during these days that squadron after squadron of the Russian Baltic Fleet entered the Mediterranean Sea through the Strait of Gibraltar. The decisive stage of the Archipelago Expedition, the most important stage of the Russian-Turkish War of 1768-1774, was approaching.

If we assume that the simultaneity of the start of transportation of the “Thunder Stone” with the beginning of the movement of the Russian squadron across the Mediterranean Sea was a simple coincidence, we will have to admit that for brilliant directors and real life knows how to line up like a theater.

THE CAVALRYMAN HAD TO RISE ON THE DASHBOARD AND RESTRUCE HIS HORSE.
FALCONE AT THE OPEN WINDOW WAS CAPTURED MOVEMENT...

“When I decided to sculpt him as he completes his gallop by rearing,” Falcone wrote, “it was not in my memory, still less in my imagination, so that I could rely on it. To create an accurate model, I consulted nature. To do this, I ordered the construction of a platform, which I gave the same slope that my pedestal was supposed to have. A few inches more or less in tilt would make a significant difference in the animal's movement. I made the rider ride not just once, but with more than a hundred different techniques on different horses.”.

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Colonel, later General Peter Melissino (1726-1797), known for his amazing resemblance to Peter the Great, posed for the sculptor

Cavalryman (most often this role was played by a colonel Peter Melissino, similar in appearance and build to Peter I) was supposed to fly up onto the platform and rear his horse. Falcone, at the open window, sketched out the captured movement... Then he asked with a sign to repeat what he had just seen

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The largest stone, on the right in the picture, with an even cut, is called - " Big Stone". It is written nearby for the few tourists that this is really a fragment of the Thunder Stone.

Sources report different things about the weight of the stone. The highest is stated to be 2,400 tons, and the lowest is 1,500. And it is repeated many times that this is supposedly the heaviest monolithic stone ever transported. Neither confirming nor refuting what has been said, we nevertheless urge you to remember that what was described happened two and a half centuries ago, when there were no floating cranes, no electric welding, no hydraulic jacks. Watt's steam engine was about fifteen years away. And there were only ropes, blocks, an innate concept of leverage and the skillful grip of experienced men.

Pram moved across the Gulf of Finland with the help of 300 oarsmen. He sailed along the Malaya Neva between Vasilyevsky and St. Petersburg Islands and then entered the Bolshaya Neva. On September 22, the anniversary of the coronation of Catherine II, the pram was located opposite the Winter Palace.

ANY SUBJECT SHOULD HAVE KNOWN THAT THE NEW EMPRESS
- NOW ALREADY CATHERINE II - AND THERE IS A CONTINUER OF THE WORKS OF PETER I, WHOSE CONQUESTS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS ARE SACRED FOR HER

The appearance of the “Thunder Stone” in front of the Winter Palace on the anniversary of her coronation and on the days of grandiose successes in the most fateful of the Russian-Turkish wars is one such performance.

The huge light gray rock, which the whole of St. Petersburg had already seen, played its next, but still intermediate role in the play conceived by Catherine. The stone floated to the place where it was determined to stand forever - between the Admiralty and the Senate. The stone arrived on time and perfectly timed. The next day, September 23, another holiday was celebrated - St. Peter's Day.

It was impossible to unload the rock at Senate Square in the same way as it was immersed here due to the great depth of the Neva, and therefore piles had to be driven into the bottom at the unloading site. They were driven in in advance, in six rows, then sawed down at a depth of eight feet. Now that the barge with the stone was filled with water, it sank onto these sawn-off piles. And from it, which had already stood up steadily, they began to slowly pull out the rock in blocks... The crowd of those who wanted to see the unprecedented spectacle was huge.

This happened on September 26, 1770. "Thunder-stone" stood on the shore. And two weeks later, on October 11, the stone was moved to the place where it is now. The movement of the rock weighing 1600 tons was finally completed. Scaffolding was placed around the rock. And its processing began.

Quarrel between the sculptor and the empress.

Despite the fact that Catherine was delighted with Falcone’s project, the protracted work on casting the statue put her at odds with the sculptor.

The sculptor, who several times told Catherine the deadline for completing the work, time after time failed to fulfill his promises.

The Empress found it increasingly difficult to achieve the majestic calm with which she once called on Falcone not to pay attention to other people’s opinions. An impostor has been traveling around Europe for three years, posing as Princess Tarakanova, the daughter of Empress Elizabeth and Alexei Razumovsky.

Falcone was extremely vulnerable... And yet, despite the increasingly deteriorating attitude towards him of both the empress and officials, he found talented assistants in St. Petersburg, and in the end the second filling was successful. But the Empress's patience had obviously already run out. A. Sandots, a watchmaker, was sent to help Falcone, one of whose jobs had previously been the restoration of the clock in the bell tower of the Peter and Paul Cathedral after a fire. Sandots carefully minted the surface of the monument, actually doing the work of a sculptor, and architect Yuri Felten and assessor K. Krok were appointed to replace Delaskari.

Yuri Felten. Portrait by S. S. Shchukin. Around 1797

In 1778 in his last letter Falcone finally reported to Catherine II about the completion of the work. Here he refuted rumors about the lack of stability of the sculpture. But the empress no longer responded to this letter. Falcone was not destined to regain the favor of Empress Falcone. Without this, further stay in St. Petersburg seemed pointless and painful to him. And at the beginning of September 1778, having destroyed a small model of the monument, Falconet, together with Marie Anne Collot, left the city. The monument to Peter was the last of the sculptures created by the master.

Under Felten's guidance, the pedestal was given its final form. The installation of the Bronze Horseman on the pedestal was supervised by the architect F. G. Gordeev. After that, the horseman’s head was attached to the sculpture, and a snake made by Gordeev was placed under the horse’s feet.

Crushed under the hooves of a horse huge snake(made by Fyodor Gordeev), which became a symbol of the victory of Peter the Great over opponents of his reforms and enemies in arms, and is also a skillfully executed third point of support for the horse.

A rider on a rearing horse and a snake under his hooves are characters in the plot of Russian icon painting, known as “The Miracle of St. George about the Serpent.”

As before, your copper serpent curls,
A copper horse freezes over the serpent...
And the victorious one will not devour you
All-purifying fire.

By order of Catherine II, inscriptions were made on the pedestal in Latin and Russian:

TO THE FIRST - SECOND. In this way, the Empress, without a doubt, emphasized her commitment to Peter’s reforms.

The opening of the monument to Peter I, timed to coincide with the centenary of Peter’s accession to the throne, took place on August 7, 1782.

The crowd was great, although it had been raining since the morning, and the canvases with pictures of mountains and cliffs with which the monument was draped were soaked through. By noon the sky cleared and the Life Guards regiments lined up. Catherine arrived at Senate Square on a boat at four o'clock and, going up to the balcony of the Senate building, gave the sign for the opening of the monument.

The shields fell - and a mighty rider on a rearing horse was revealed. The cannons of the Peter and Paul Fortress, the Admiralty and ships on the Neva thundered. The regiments stationed in the square marched along the Neva embankment to the beat of drums in a solemn march. The Empress, wearing a crown and purple, looked on from the balcony.

Unveiling of the monument to Peter I on Senate Square in St. Petersburg. Engraving by A.K. Melnikova

On the occasion of the opening of the monument, the Empress issued a manifesto on the forgiveness of all those sentenced to death. death penalty and corporal punishment, termination of all criminal cases that lasted more than 10 years, release of all those held in custody for more than 10 years for public and private debts. The tax farmer I. I. Golikov was then released from debt prison, who vowed to collect materials for the history of Peter the Great. So, after many years of searching, a 30-volume work, “The Acts of Peter the Great,” appeared.

On the occasion of the opening of the monument, to which Falcone was not invited, a medal was issued. Catherine sent two such medals with the image of the monument - gold and silver - to Falconet. The prince handed them to the sculptor Dmitry Golitsyn. Falcone could not hold back his tears.

Falcone. Bust by Marie Anne Collot

This happened six months before he suffered from apoplexy. Paralyzed, Falcone spent the last eight years of his life in bed. He was courted by Marie Anne Collot, who became his son's wife. In 1791 life wonderful artist broke off. Few people noticed his death then. The waves of the Great Rolled across France french revolution. Russia again, for the fourth time this century, fought with Turkey.

Immediately after the appearance of the Bronze Horseman on Senate Square, the square was named Petrovskaya. This is what it was called in official documents. But in words, the townspeople often continued to call the square the old way - Senate Square.

The monument to Peter I was immediately received very positively by many St. Petersburg residents. Prince Trubetskoy wrote to his daughter:

“The Peter the Great monument has made a great decoration for the city, and this is the third time I’ve been touring it and I still can’t get enough of it. I went to Vasilyevsky Island on purpose, and it’s absolutely good to look at it from there.”

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

"Bronze Horseman" sculpture in his poem of the same name named by A.S. Pushkin. Meanwhile, in fact it is made of bronze. But the expression “Bronze Horseman” became so popular that it became 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.

A special military duty post for soldiers was established at the monument. It remained on Senate Square until it was in the Navy Department. With the transfer of the post in 1866 to the city department, it was abolished.

The models for the horse sculpture were Diamond and Caprice - from the stables of Catherine II

A fence was installed around the monument. A little later, four candelabra were placed in the corners. Two of them were moved to Kazanskaya Square in 1874, by order of the City Duma.

Bronze Horseman before the revolution (early 20th century)

By the way, until 1900 there was a high (under 2 meters) fence around the monument.

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 Senate and Synod buildings (all on the same Decembrist Square) were erected much later than the monument - in 1829-1834, according to the design of K.I. Russia.

The construction was supervised by A.E. Schaubert.

Above the arch is the sculpture “Justice and Piety” by V.I. Demut-Malinovsky.

Those that are lower and with wings are “Geniuses holding the law.” Even lower and white - Faith, Wisdom, Truth, etc. (16 pieces).

http://walkspb.ru/pam/medn_vsad.html

http://www.enlight.ru/camera/324/

etc.

· 02/15/2016

The Bronze Horseman is a monument to Peter the Great (Great) in St. Petersburg, located on Senate Square. If you ask native St. Petersburg residents what place they consider the heart of the city, many, without hesitation, will name this particular landmark of St. Petersburg. The monument to Peter the Great stands surrounded by the buildings of the Synod and Senate, the Admiralty and St. Isaac's Cathedral. Tens of thousands of tourists coming to the city consider it their duty to take pictures against the backdrop of this monument, so it is almost always crowded here.

Monument to Peter the Great in St. Petersburg - history of creation.

In the early sixties XVIII century Catherine II, wanting to emphasize her devotion to Peter's covenants, ordered the erection of a monument to the great reformer Peter I. To carry out the work, she, on the advice of her friend D. Diderot, invited the French sculptor Etienne Falconet. In mid-autumn 1766, he arrived in St. Petersburg, and work began to boil.

At the very beginning of the project, disagreements arose in the vision of the future monument to Peter the Great. The empress discussed his appearance with the great philosophers and thinkers of the time, Voltaire and Diderot. Everyone had a different idea about how to structure a composition. But the sculptor Etienne Falconet managed to convince the powerful ruler and defended his point of view. According to the sculptor, Peter the Great will symbolize not only the great strategist who won many victories, but also greatest creator, reformer and legislator.

Monument to Peter the Great Bronze Horseman - description.

The sculptor Etienne Falconet depicted Peter the Great as a horseman, dressed in simple robes, characteristic of all heroes. Peter 1 sits on a rearing horse, covered with a bearskin instead of a saddle. This symbolizes Russia’s victory over dense barbarism and its establishment as a civilized state, and the palm spread over it indicates under whose protection it is. The pedestal depicting a rock on which a bronze horseman is climbing speaks of the difficulties that had to be overcome along this path. A snake tangling under the horse's hind legs represents enemies trying to prevent him from moving forward. While working on the model, the sculptor couldn’t figure out Peter’s head; his student coped with this task brilliantly. Falconet entrusted the work on the snake to the Russian sculptor Fyodor Gordeev.

Pedestal for the Bronze Horseman monument in St. Petersburg.

To do so grand plan an appropriate pedestal was needed. For a long time, the search for a stone suitable for this purpose did not bring results. I had to turn to the population through the newspaper “St. Petersburg Vedomosti” for help in the search. The result was not long in coming. Not far from the village of Konnaya Lakhta, which is only 13 kilometers from St. Petersburg, peasant Semyon Vishnyakov discovered such a block long ago and intended to use it for his own purposes. It was called "Thunder Stone" because it was repeatedly struck by lightning.

The found granite monolith, weighing about 1,500 tons, delighted the sculptor Etienne Falconet, but now he was faced with the difficult task of moving the stone to St. Petersburg. Having promised a reward for a successful solution, Falcone received a lot of projects, from which the best was chosen. Movable trough-shaped rails were constructed, in which there were balls made of copper alloy. It was along them that a granite block moved, loaded onto a wooden platform. It is noteworthy that in the pit that remained after the removal of the “Thunder Stone”, soil water accumulated, forming a reservoir that has survived to this day.

After waiting for the cold weather, we began transporting the future pedestal. In mid-autumn 1769, the procession moved forward. Hundreds of people were recruited to complete the task. Among them were stonemasons who wasted no time in processing the stone block. At the end of March 1770, the pedestal was delivered to the place of loading onto the ship, and six months later it arrived in the capital.

Creation of the Bronze Horseman monument.

The Bronze Horseman, a monument to Peter the Great in St. Petersburg, conceived by the sculptor Falconet, was of such enormous proportions that the master B. Ersman, invited from France, refused to cast it. The difficulty was that the sculpture, which has only three points of support, had to be cast in such a way as to make the front part as light as possible. To achieve this, the thickness of the bronze walls should not exceed 10 mm. Russian foundry worker Emelyan Khailov came to the sculptor’s aid. During casting, the unexpected happened: the pipe through which the hot bronze entered the mold burst. Despite the threat to his life, Emelyan did not quit his job and saved most statues. Only the upper part of the monument to Peter the Great was damaged.

After three years of preparation, re-casting was carried out, which turned out to be completely successful. To commemorate the success, the French master left an inscription among the numerous folds of the cloak that read “Modeled and cast by Etienne Falconet, Parisian 1778.” For unknown reasons, the relationship between the empress and the master went wrong, and he, without waiting for the installation of the bronze horseman, left Russia. Fyodor Gordeev, who participated in the creation of the sculpture from the very beginning, took over the leadership, and on August 7, 1782, the monument to Peter the Great in the city of St. Petersburg was inaugurated. The height of the monument was 10.4 meters.

Why is the monument to Peter the Great in St. Petersburg called “The Bronze Horseman”?

The monument to Peter the Great “Bronze Horseman” immediately fell in love with St. Petersburg residents, acquiring legends and funny stories, becoming a popular subject in literature and poetry. It owes its current name to one of the poetic works. It was “The Bronze Horseman” by Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. There is a belief among the townspeople that during the war with Napoleon, one major had a dream in which Peter the Great addressed him and said that as long as the monument stood in its place, no misfortunes would threaten St. Petersburg. Having listened to this dream, Emperor Alexander I canceled the upcoming evacuation of the monument. During the difficult years of the blockade, the monument was carefully protected from bombing.

Over the years of existence of the Bronze Horseman monument in St. Petersburg, restoration work has been carried out several times. The first time I had to release more than a ton of water that had accumulated in the horse’s stomach. Later, to prevent this from happening, special drainage holes were made. Already in Soviet time minor defects were eliminated and the pedestal was cleaned. Last works with the involvement of scientific specialists were produced in 1976. The originally conceived statue did not have a fence. But perhaps soon the Bronze Horseman monument to Peter the Great will have to be protected from vandals who desecrate it for fun.

History of the monument

The equestrian statue of Peter was made by sculptor Etienne Falconet in -. Peter's head was sculpted by Falcone's student, Marie-Anna Collot. According to Falconet's design, the snake was sculpted by Fyodor Gordeev. The casting of the statue under the direction of master Emelyan Khailov was completed in 1778.

For the pedestal of the monument, a giant granite boulder was brought from the outskirts of Lakhta, “ Thunder-stone" The stone weighed 1600 tons. Its transportation to the shore of the Gulf of Finland (about 8 versts) was carried out on a log platform along two special chutes, into which 30 bronze five-inch balls were placed. The platform was driven by several gates. This unique operation lasted from November 15, 1769 to March 27, 1770. Transportation of the stone by water was carried out on a vessel specially built for this purpose according to the drawing of the famous shipwright Grigory Korchebnikov and began only in the fall. The giant “Thunder Stone”, with a huge crowd of people, arrived in St. Petersburg on Senate Square on September 26, 1770. In honor of the transportation of the stone, a commemorative medal was stamped with the inscription “Like daring.”

In 1778, due to a sharp change in Catherine II's attitude towards Falcone, he was forced to leave Russia. And the work to complete the monument was entrusted to Yu. M. Felten. The monument was inaugurated on August 7, 1782. Ironically, Falcone was never invited to its opening.

This was the first equestrian monument to the Russian Tsar. In conventional attire, on a rearing horse, Peter is depicted by Falcone primarily as a legislator: in the hierarchy of classicism, legislators are higher than generals. Here is what Falcone himself wrote about this: “My monument will be simple... 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 and legislator is much higher...” The sculptor depicted Peter in an emphatically dynamic state, dressed him in simple and light clothes, and replaced the rich saddle with an animal skin, so that all this would not be conspicuous and would not distract attention from the main thing. The pedestal in the form of a huge rock is a symbol of the difficulties Peter I overcame, and the snake under the feet of a rearing horse depicts hostile forces. And only the laurel wreath crowning the head and the sword hanging at the belt indicate Peter’s role as a victorious commander.

Catherine II, Diderot and Voltaire took part in the discussion of the concept of the monument. The monument was supposed to depict the victory of civilization, reason, and human will over wild nature. The pedestal of the monument was intended to symbolize nature, barbarism, and the fact that Falcone carved the grandiose Thunder Stone, polished it, caused indignation and criticism of his contemporaries.

The inscription on the pedestal reads: “Catherine the second to Peter the Great, summer 1782” on one side, and “Petro primo Catharina secunda” on the other, thereby emphasizing the empress’s intention: to establish a line of succession, inheritance between the actions of Peter and her own activities.

The monument to Peter I is already in late XVIII century became the object of urban legends and jokes, and in early XIX century - one of the most popular themes in Russian poetry.

The Legend of Major Baturin

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.

Literature

• Architectural monuments of Leningrad. - Leningrad, Stroyizdat. 1975.
• Knabe G. S. Imagination of the sign: The Bronze Horseman of Falcone and Pushkin. M., 1993.
• Toporov V. N. On the dynamic context of three-dimensional works visual arts(semiotic view). Falconet monument to Peter I // Lotmanov collection. 1. M., 1995.
• Proskurina V. Petersburg myth and the politics of monuments: Peter the First to Catherine the Second // New Literary Review. 2005. No. 72.

Footnotes

Links

• The story of the Bronze Horseman. Photos, how to get there, what’s nearby
• The Bronze Horseman in the Wedding Encyclopedia

Coordinates: 59°56′11″ n. w. 30°18′08″ E. d. /  59.936389° s. w. 30.302222° E. d.(G)59.936389 , 30.302222

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See what “Bronze Horseman (monument)” is in other dictionaries:

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"Bronze Horseman"- CROSS HORSEMAN Pushkin's name. monument to Peter I in St. Petersburg. After publication by one. poems became widespread. The monument, the first equestrian monument in Russia, was opened in 1782. Its creators were sculptors E. Falcone, M. A. Collo, F. Gordeev, architect. YU.… … Russian humanitarian encyclopedic dictionary

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