Equestrian statue of Peter I Falcone. Monument to the Bronze Horseman. Unveiling of the monument to Peter I

It all started when the Senate Russian Empire decided to erect a monument in honor of the reigning Empress Catherine II. However, far-sighted and understanding political situation and the mood of the people, Catherine refused this honor, declaring that it was inappropriate to erect a monument to her before her great predecessor Peter I was immortalized. Today, the history of the creation of this masterpiece is remembered not only in St. Petersburg, but also wherever there are monuments to Peter I.

Catherine II set out to create something grandiose, and she succeeded. Monument to Peter 1 " Bronze Horseman"is a masterpiece and the story of its creation is similar to an adventure novel.

Where to find an architect

Ekaterina approached the issue of choosing a suitable master very seriously. In the end, on the recommendation of the Paris Academy professor Denis Diderot, with whom she regularly corresponded, and his colleague Voltaire, the master was invited to St. Petersburg. The monument to Peter 1 was to be created by Etienne Maurice Falconet, a French architect who enjoyed the patronage of the Marquise de Pompadour herself, who was the legalized favorite of the French king.

Long awaited opportunity

Falcone dreamed all his life of creating something monumental, but he had to work with sculptures of ordinary sizes. Therefore, the future author of the monument to Peter 1 happily concluded a contract, despite the fact that a large amount fee.

He, in fact, began working on it back in Paris. The sculptor comes to Russia with a ready-made sketch and a fully formed idea of what the monument should look like.

Heated debate

However, the problem was that literally everyone who had any influence on the final decision on the composition of the statue imagined it differently. The history of the Bronze Horseman monument has preserved some of these proposals.

Catherine herself wanted to see a statue of the emperor, made in the ancient Roman style. He had to be dressed in a Roman toga, hold a scepter in his hands and radiate the greatness of a victorious warrior with his entire appearance.

Representative of the Russian Academy of Sciences, actual state councilor Yakov Yakovlevich Shtelin gravitated towards allegories. He persistently proposed depicting the king surrounded by other statues, which, according to his plan, were supposed to personify victory, prudence and hard work.

Catherine II's personal secretary, Ivan Ivanovich Betskoy, who was president Imperial Academy arts, wanted the statue to be made in the classic pose of a man standing at full height.

He who recommended hiring Falcone also contributed to the boiling cup of contention by proposing to make the monument in the form of a fountain. So there was a possibility that where the monument to Peter 1 is located today, there could be an elegant pond.

And some very creative advisers suggested that one eye of the emperor should be directed to and the other to the Twelve Colleges. It’s scary to imagine what the expression on that face must have been like.

However, Falcone was not going to back down. He wanted the first monument to reflect the real personal qualities of the emperor, and not turn into a three-dimensional visualization of a collage of flattering epithets for the sovereign. And the master managed to defend his position.

Creating a Model

The sculptor spent the next three years creating a plaster model. He worked together with a young assistant - his student Marie Anne Colot, who came with him from France. Falcone devoted a lot of time to studying the personality and character of the emperor. I examined plaster busts and masks of Peter I, made during his lifetime.

The sculptor turned to General Melissino, who was similar in height and figure to the king, and he agreed to pose for him. But the sculptor couldn’t manage to create the face of Peter I. So he entrusted this job to his 20-year-old assistant, Marie Anne.

For her valuable contribution to the creation of the monument, Catherine II ordered that Marie Anne Colot be accepted as a member Russian Academy arts and assigned a very substantial lifelong pension.

Working with a horse

And again the sculptor had to withstand the opposition of the courtiers. This time, the cause of the dispute was the breed of horse on which Peter I was supposed to sit. Representatives of the nobility insisted that this figure should be sculpted in the likeness of horses, which had long been accepted in ancient art.

But the master did not intend to create a calm and solemnly marching draft horse. The monument to Peter 1 on horseback was supposed to be unique. Etienne Maurice Falconet set himself a daunting task- depict a rider on a rearing animal. To bring this idea to life, a wooden platform was built, onto which the rider had to fly, raising the horse on its hind legs.

Two magnificent trotters of the Oryol breed were chosen from the royal stables. History has even preserved their nicknames - Caprice and Diamond. The riders (this is the name of a specialist who teaches horse riding and trains horses) Afanasy Telechnikov, Khailov and others literally took off along the platform hundreds of times a day and noble animals, obedient to the will of the rider, each time reared up, freezing for a moment.

It was this very moment that Etienne Maurice tried to capture. He himself froze on his haunches, peering at the quivering muscles on the horse’s legs, examining the curve of his neck and the proud look of his huge eyes. The sculptor immediately sketched everything he saw so that later he would be able to calmly work with the model.

First he sketched pictures. The monument to Peter 1 was depicted on them with different angles. Then he transferred his ideas to paper. And only after that he began working on a three-dimensional model of the sculpture.

The exercises of the bereitors continued for several years. During this time, several people managed to change positions in this position. But the efforts were not wasted. The monument to Peter 1 “The Bronze Horseman” has no analogues in the world.

Thunder stone

Meanwhile, another equally ambitious project was being implemented in parallel.

The height of the monument to Peter 1 is 10.4 meters. It was necessary to select a footstool to match it. Etienne Maurice assumed that it should be a block made in the form of a wave. It was supposed to symbolize that Peter I opened access to the sea for Russia.

However, they could not find anything suitable. The option of making a pedestal from several pieces of granite has already been considered. And then someone suggested announcing a competition to find and deliver a suitable stone. The corresponding announcement was immediately published in the St. Petersburg Gazette.

Not much time passed before a peasant from the village of Lakhty appeared. He said that in their forests there is a stone that meets all the described requirements. In addition, the peasants claimed that Emperor Peter I himself climbed this stone more than once to survey the surrounding area.

This assertion, by the way, is not without some basis. After all, the estate of Peter the Great was located near the village of Lakhta. However, it does not matter whether the emperor once climbed there or not, but an expedition was sent to the stone, authorized to decide whether it was suitable for its intended purpose.

Local peasants called it Thunder Stone. According to legend, a long time ago lightning struck the rock and broke off this piece.

Transportation difficulties

The Thunder Stone was considered suitable to serve as a pedestal, but its size created serious difficulties for transportation. Imagine a block 8 meters high (like a three-story house), 13 meters long (like 3-4 standard entrances) and 6 meters wide. Of course, there was no question of any heavy equipment then, and the distance to Senate Square in St. Petersburg (the place where the monument to Peter 1 stands today) was quite decent.

Part of the journey was supposed to be done by water, but to the point of loading onto the ship, the boulder had to be dragged over rough terrain over a distance of 8.5 kilometers.

Ivan Ivanovich Betskoy found a way out. At his suggestion, special wooden rails in the form of gutters were designed. They were covered with sheets of copper and 32 bronze balls of suitable diameter were prepared. The mechanism was supposed to work on the principle of a bearing.

First, a smaller model was tried. The original should have been ten times larger. After successfully passing the tests, we began manufacturing a full-size mobile mechanism.

Ground part of the route

Meanwhile, the first thing they began to do was remove the stuck earth and other deposits from the stone. This operation made it possible to lighten it by 600 tons. Five hundred soldiers and peasants were employed daily in the clearing work.

After this, they began to clear the area directly around the Thunder Stone, surround it with scaffolding and prepare the ground for laying the rails. This work took four months.

Along the entire route, it was necessary to first clear a road 20 meters wide, strengthen it with thick piles, and then lay some of the dismountable rails on top of this. After the stone was moved, the rails were removed from the traversed path and moved forward.

The whole of Europe followed the progress of work on transporting the giant stone. This was an unprecedented event. Never before had such a huge monolith been moved such a long distance.

Not an easy road

Using levers, the Thunder Stone was placed on a special platform, which was installed on rails. This operation required a lot of time and incredible effort, but in the end a piece of rock, which had lain in the damp earth for centuries, was torn from its place. That's how it started long haul to the capital, where the monument to Peter 1 “The Bronze Horseman” was to be erected on him.

Thirty copper balls were installed in the rail grooves at a distance of about half a meter from each other. To ensure that none of these balls stopped and came close to the neighboring one, people specially appointed for this had to be monitored. They had iron poles with which, if necessary, they could push or slow down the spherical part.

During the first jerk, the structure, loaded with stone, was able to move half a meter. During the next one I managed to overcome a few more meters. And it was about nine kilometers to the bay, where the Thunder Stone was to be loaded onto a special barge...

In order not to waste time, 46 stonemasons began to process the Thunder Stone right there on the road. Their task was to give the rock the shape conceived by Etienne Falconet. At this stage, the sculptor again had to endure an exhausting ideological battle, since all the courtiers unanimously declared that the stone should be left as is and nothing should be changed in it.

However, this time the master managed to insist on his own. And although opponents tried to present this as a desecration of a foreigner over the beauty of Russian nature, Catherine gave permission to process the pedestal.

Some sources indicate that on the road the boulder cracked and split into two parts. Whether this happened as a result of the work being done on the stone or for some other reason, history is silent. We also know nothing about the reaction of the people involved in the transportation to this incident. Whether they perceived this as a disaster or, on the contrary, as a blessing, we will no longer know.

The fallen part of the Thunder Stone was left lying in the clearing, where it can still be seen today, and the team continued their journey to the Gulf of Finland.

Preparation for transportation by water

Meanwhile, a pier and a special vessel for transporting the huge stone were built on the shore of the Gulf of Finland. No barge existing at that time could have withstood the weight of this cargo. Therefore, the talented shipwright Grigory Korchebnikov began to develop drawings according to which they were supposed to build a pram - a flat-bottomed vessel that could keep a significant weight afloat.

Rams were intended for moving heavy artillery. In essence, these were compact mobile fortresses equipped with cannons along the entire perimeter. Moreover, the number of guns could reach 38 units. Add to this the weight of the cannonballs, gunpowder and the men who operated the cannons, and you can get a rough idea of the lifting capacity of the frame.

However, even this was not enough. I had to design a more powerful vessel. In order to be able to immerse the Thunder Stone, the frame was sunk by filling it with water. When the stone was placed on the ship, the water was drawn out, and the journey along the sea section of the route began. The voyage went well, and on September 26, 1770, the stone was delivered to where the monument to Peter 1 is located today.

The last stages of work on the monument

During this entire transportation epic, Etienne Falconet did not stop working on the sculpture. The height of the monument to Peter 1 amazed the imagination of the townspeople. In truth, many simply did not understand why such a huge thing was being built. We should not forget that at that time there was not a single monument to anyone in the country. And the plaster model, made in full size, which everyone could freely view in the workshop courtyard, caused a lot of gossip.

But the bewilderment of ordinary citizens could not be compared with the reaction of the masters. When the time came to start casting the statue, no one agreed to take on this work.

Falconet invited to cast a bronze monument to Peter 1, a description of which he gave only in general outline, one skilled French master. However, when he arrived and saw the scale of the work, and also became familiar with the sculptor’s requirements, he simply called Etienne crazy and went home.

In the end, Etienne Falconet managed to find a foundry worker who agreed to take on a truly daring project. When preparations were underway for transportation of the Thunder Stone, parts for the mechanisms by which transportation was carried out were cast by cannon maker Emelyan Khailov. Even then, Falcone noted his diligence and accuracy. And now he invited him to cooperate in casting the monument itself.

The work was difficult. Moreover, it was not just a matter of gigantic size. The design of the monument itself created unprecedented problems. If you look at the monument to Peter 1 in St. Petersburg, you will see that it has only three points of support - the horse’s hind legs and tail. Maintaining the necessary balance is not an easy task. But there was no opportunity to train. The masters had only one attempt.

To ensure the stability of the sculpture, Falcone resorted to several original solutions. Firstly, he introduced into the composition a snake that is being trampled by a horse, secondly, according to his plan, the walls of the front part of the statue were disproportionately thinner than the thickness of the rest of the monument, and thirdly, four tons of iron were additionally added to the horse’s croup so that keep her balance. Thus, Peter 1 on horseback had to be securely installed.

Casting disaster

Three years lasted preparatory work for the casting of the statue. Finally everything was ready, and the craftsmen got to work. The shape of the monument was in a special pit. A little higher up was a smelting furnace, from which pipes ran at an angle. Through these pipes, the hot metal was supposed to flow into the mold, filling it evenly.

To prevent these pipes from bursting, a fire was lit under each of them and they were continuously heated. But during the casting process, one of the fires went out. This went unnoticed, and the cooled pipe cracked, through which molten metal began to flow. And this, in turn, led to a fire.

People rushed out of the workshop, Falcone fainted, and only Khailov was not taken aback. He quickly put out the incipient fire, filled up the crack in the pipe with fresh clay, tore off his clothes, wet them and wrapped them around the cracked pipe.

This was a real feat. And not only because Khailov managed to keep his cool in an emergency situation. Fighting the fire was not easy. The foundry worker suffered numerous serious burns and lost an eye. But thanks to him most of the statue was saved.

Monument to Peter 1 “Bronze Horseman” today

A lot of historical events I had a chance to see the bronze Peter I, seated on an eternally rearing horse. Business card The Bronze Horseman monument remains for visitors to St. Petersburg. Tourists rush to take photos against its background, feverishly clicking camera shutters. And native St. Petersburg residents traditionally come here to conduct part of the wedding ceremony.

You might want to see the Bronze Horseman monument (St. Petersburg) in person. As you view this work by the great master, do not allow the rush and bustle to which we are so accustomed to deprive you of the pleasure of carefully contemplating this beautiful sculpture. Try to get around it and look at the details with different sides. You will notice the depth and richness of the design in this seemingly simple monument.

Pay attention to the details: instead of a saddle on the horse’s back, you will see an animal skin, and the clothes the emperor is wearing, in fact, did not exist in any historical period. The sculptor tried to combine the original Russian attire with elements of the vestments of the ancient Romans. And it must be admitted that he managed to do this very organically.

Having examined the Bronze Horseman monument, the photo of which is so popular among tourists, without haste, you will be taken away from ancient capital not just another photograph of a famous landmark, but you will be able to truly touch the historical past of a great country.

The monument to Peter I ("Bronze Horseman") is located in the center of Senate Square. The author of the sculpture is the French sculptor Etienne-Maurice Falconet.
The location of the monument to Peter I was not chosen by chance. Nearby are the Admiralty, the building of the main legislative body founded by the emperor. Tsarist Russia- Senate. Catherine II insisted on placing the monument in the center of Senate Square. The author of the sculpture, Etienne-Maurice Falconet, did his own thing by installing the “Bronze Horseman” closer to the Neva.
By order of Catherine II, Falcone was invited to St. Petersburg by Prince Golitsyn. Professors of the Paris Academy of Painting Diderot and Voltaire, whose taste Catherine II trusted, advised to turn to this master.
Falcone was already fifty years old. He worked at a porcelain factory, but dreamed of big and monumental art. When an invitation was received to erect a monument in Russia, Falcone, without hesitation, signed the contract on September 6, 1766. Its conditions determined: the monument to Peter should consist of “mainly an equestrian statue of colossal size.” The sculptor was offered a rather modest fee (200 thousand livres), other masters asked twice as much.

Falcone arrived in St. Petersburg with his seventeen-year-old assistant Marie-Anne Collot.
The vision of the monument to Peter I by the author of the sculpture was strikingly different from the desire of the empress and the majority of the Russian nobility. Catherine II expected to see Peter I with a rod or scepter in his hand, sitting on a horse like a Roman emperor. State Councilor Shtelin saw the figure of Peter surrounded by allegories of Prudence, Diligence, Justice and Victory. I. I. Betskoy, who supervised the construction of the monument, imagined it as a full-length figure, holding a commander’s staff in his hand. 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.
Falconet had something completely different in mind. He turned out to be stubborn and persistent. The sculptor wrote: “I will limit myself only to the statue of this hero, whom I do not interpret either as a great commander or as a winner, although he, of course, was both. The personality of the creator, legislator, benefactor of his country is much higher, and this is her and it is necessary to show people. My king does not hold any rod, he extends his beneficent right hand over the country he is traveling around. He rises to the top of the rock that serves as his pedestal - this is an emblem of the difficulties he has conquered.”

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

Falconet's student Marie-Anne Collot sculpted the head of the Bronze Horseman. The sculptor himself took on this work three times, but each time Catherine II advised to remake the model. Marie herself proposed her sketch, which was accepted by the empress. For her work, the girl was accepted as a member of the Russian Academy of Arts, Catherine II assigned her a lifelong pension of 10,000 livres.

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

The technology was very complex. The thickness of the front walls had to be less than the thickness of the rear ones. At the same time, the back part became heavier, which gave stability to the statue, which rested on only three points of support.
Filling the statue alone was not enough. During the first, the pipe through which hot bronze was supplied to the mold burst. The upper part of the sculpture was damaged. I had to cut it down and prepare for the second filling for another three years. This time the job was a success. In memory of her, on one of the folds of Peter I’s cloak, the sculptor left the inscription “Sculpted and cast by Etienne Falconet, a Parisian in 1778.”
The St. Petersburg Gazette wrote about these events: “On August 24, 1775, Falcone cast a statue of Peter the Great on horseback here. The casting was successful except in places two feet by two at the top. This regrettable failure occurred due to an incident that could have been foreseen, and therefore prevented it was not at all. The above-mentioned incident seemed so terrible that they feared that the entire building would catch fire, and, therefore, that the whole business would not fail and carried the molten metal into the mold, without losing his courage in the face of the danger presented to him. life. Falconet, touched by such courage at the end of the case, rushed to him and kissed him with all his heart and gave him money from himself.”
According to the sculptor’s plan, the base of the monument is a natural rock in the shape of a wave. The shape of the wave serves as a reminder that it was Peter I who led Russia to the sea. The Academy of Arts began searching for the monolith stone when the model of the monument was not yet ready. A stone was needed whose height would be 11.2 meters.
The granite monolith was found in the Lakhta region, twelve miles from St. Petersburg. Once upon a time, according to local legends, lightning struck the rock, forming a crack in it. Among local residents The rock was called "Thunder Stone". That’s what they later began to call it when they installed it on the banks of the Neva under famous monument.
The initial weight of the monolith is about 2000 tons. Catherine II announced a reward of 7,000 rubles to the one who comes up with the most effective method deliver the rock to Senate Square. Of the 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 along grooved wooden rails lined with copper. The clearing was winding. Work on transporting the rock continued in both cold and hot weather. Hundreds of people worked. Many St. Petersburg residents came to watch this action. Some of the observers collected fragments of stone and used them to make cane knobs or cufflinks. In honor of the extraordinary transport operation Catherine II ordered the minting of a medal on which is written “Like daring. January 20, 1770.”
The rock was dragged overland for almost a year. Further along the Gulf of Finland it was transported on a barge. During transportation, dozens of stonemasons gave it the necessary shape. The rock arrived at Senate Square on September 23, 1770.

By the time the monument to Peter I was erected, the relationship between the sculptor and the imperial court had completely deteriorated. It got to the point that Falcone was credited with only a technical attitude towards the monument. The offended master did not wait for the opening of the monument; in September 1778, together with Marie-Anne Collot, he left for Paris.
The installation of the Bronze Horseman on the pedestal was supervised by the architect F. G. Gordeev.
The grand opening of the monument to Peter I took place on August 7, 1782 (old style). The sculpture was hidden from the eyes of observers by a canvas fence depicting mountain landscapes. It had been raining since the morning, but it did not stop a significant number of people from gathering on Senate Square. By noon the clouds had cleared. The guards entered the square. The military parade was led by Prince A. M. Golitsyn. At four o'clock, Empress Catherine II herself arrived on the boat. She climbed onto the balcony of the Senate building in a crown and purple and gave a sign for the opening of the monument. The fence fell, and to the beat of drums the regiments moved along the Neva embankment.
By order of Catherine II, the following is inscribed on the pedestal: “Catherine II to Peter I.” Thus, the Empress emphasized her commitment to Peter's reforms.
Immediately after the appearance of the Bronze Horseman on Senate Square, the square was named Petrovskaya.
A. S. Pushkin called the sculpture “The Bronze Horseman” in his poem of the same name. This expression has become so popular that it has become almost official. And the monument to Peter I itself became one of the symbols of St. Petersburg.
The weight of the "Bronze Horseman" is 8 tons, the height is more than 5 meters.
During the siege of Leningrad, the Bronze Horseman was covered with bags of earth and sand, lined with logs and boards.
Restorations of the monument took place in 1909 and 1976. During the last of them, the sculpture was studied using gamma rays. To do this, the 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.
Currently, the Bronze Horseman is a popular place for newlyweds.
Etienne-Maurice Falconet conceived The Bronze Horseman without a fence. But it was still created and has not survived to this day. “Thanks to” the vandals who leave their autographs on the thunder stone and the sculpture itself, the idea of restoring the fence may soon be realized.

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

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

The location of the monument to Peter I was not chosen by chance. Nearby are the Admiralty, founded by the emperor, and the building of the main legislative body of tsarist Russia - the Senate. Catherine II insisted on placing the monument in the center of Senate Square. The author of the sculpture, Etienne-Maurice Falconet, did his own thing by installing the “Bronze Horseman” closer to the Neva.

By order of Catherine II, Falcone was invited to St. Petersburg by Prince Golitsyn. Professors of the Paris Academy of Painting Diderot and Voltaire, whose taste Catherine II trusted, advised to turn to this master.

Falcone was already fifty years old. He worked at a porcelain factory, but dreamed of great and monumental art. When an invitation was received to erect a monument in Russia, Falcone, without hesitation, signed the contract on September 6, 1766. Its conditions determined: the monument to Peter should consist of “mainly an equestrian statue of colossal size.” The sculptor was offered a rather modest fee (200 thousand livres), other masters asked twice as much.

Falcone arrived in St. Petersburg with his seventeen-year-old assistant Marie-Anne Collot.

The vision of the monument to Peter I by the author of the sculpture was strikingly different from the desire of the empress and the majority of the Russian nobility. Catherine II expected to see Peter I with a rod or scepter in his hand, sitting on a horse like a Roman emperor. State Councilor Shtelin saw the figure of Peter surrounded by allegories of Prudence, Diligence, Justice and Victory. I.I. Betskoy, who supervised the construction of the monument, imagined it as a full-length figure, holding a commander’s staff in his hand. 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.

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

Defending the right to his opinion regarding the appearance of the Falcone monument, I.I. wrote. Betsky:
“Could you imagine that the sculptor chosen to create such a significant monument would be deprived of the ability to think and that the movements of his hands would be controlled by someone else’s head, and not his own?”

Disputes also arose around the clothes of Peter I. The sculptor wrote to Diderot:
“You know that I will not dress him in Roman style, just as I would not dress Julius Caesar or Scipio in Russian.”

Falcone worked on a life-size model of the monument for three years. Work on “The Bronze Horseman” was carried out on the site of the former temporary Winter Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna. In 1769, passers-by could watch here as a guards officer took off on a horse onto a wooden platform and reared it. This went on for several hours a day. Falcone sat at the window in front of the platform and carefully sketched what he saw. The horses for work on the monument were taken from the imperial stables: the horses Brilliant and Caprice. The sculptor chose the Russian “Oryol” breed for the monument.

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

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

For a long time, no one wanted to take on the task of casting the statue. Foreign craftsmen demanded too much money, and local craftsmen were frightened by its size and complexity of work. According to the sculptor’s calculations, in order to maintain the balance of the monument, the front walls of the monument had to be made very thin - no more than a centimeter. Even a specially invited foundry worker from France refused such work. He called Falcone crazy and said that there was no such example of casting in the world, that it would not succeed.

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

Filling the statue alone was not enough. During the first, the pipe through which hot bronze was supplied to the mold burst. The upper part of the sculpture was damaged. I had to cut it down and prepare for the second filling for another three years. This time the job was a success. In memory of her, on one of the folds of Peter I’s cloak, the sculptor left the inscription “Sculpted and cast by Etienne Falconet, a Parisian in 1778.”

The St. Petersburg Gazette wrote about these events:
“On August 24, 1775, Falconet cast a statue of Peter the Great on horseback here. The casting was successful except in places two feet by two at the top. This regrettable failure occurred through an incident that was not at all foreseeable, and therefore impossible to prevent. The above-mentioned incident seemed so terrible that they feared that the entire building would catch fire, and, consequently, the whole business would fail. Khailov remained motionless and carried the molten metal into the mold, without losing his vigor in the least in the face of danger to his life. Falcone, touched by such courage at the end of the case, rushed to him and kissed him with all his heart and gave him money from himself.”

According to the sculptor’s plan, the base of the monument is a natural rock in the shape of a wave. The shape of the wave serves as a reminder that it was Peter I who led Russia to the sea. The Academy of Arts began searching for the monolith stone when the model of the monument was not yet ready. A stone was needed whose height would be 11.2 meters.

The granite monolith was found in the Lakhta region, twelve miles from St. Petersburg. Once upon a time, according to local legends, lightning struck the rock, forming a crack in it. Among the locals, the rock was called “Thunder Stone”. That’s what they later began to call it when they installed it on the banks of the Neva under the famous monument.

The initial weight of the monolith is about 2000 tons. Catherine II announced a reward of 7,000 rubles to the one who comes up with the most effective way to deliver the rock to Senate Square. Of the 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 along grooved wooden rails lined with copper. The clearing was winding. Work on transporting the rock continued in both cold and hot weather. Hundreds of people worked. Many St. Petersburg residents came to watch this action. Some of the observers collected fragments of stone and used them to make cane knobs or cufflinks. In honor of the extraordinary transport operation, Catherine II ordered the minting of a medal on which it was written “Like daring. January 20, 1770.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Legend of the Bronze Horseman

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

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

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

The Legend of Major Baturin

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

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

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

Restorations of the monument took place in 1909 and 1976. During the last of them, the sculpture was studied using gamma rays. To do this, the 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 serve for many years to come. Inside the figure was a capsule with a note about the restoration and its participants, a newspaper dated September 3, 1976.

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

Etienne-Maurice Falconet conceived The Bronze Horseman without a fence. But it was still created and has not survived to this day. “Thanks to” the vandals who leave their autographs on the thunder stone and the sculpture itself, the idea of restoring the fence may soon be realized.

The initiative to create a monument to Peter I belongs to Catherine II. It was on her orders that Prince Alexander Mikhailovich Golitsyn turned to the professors of the Paris Academy of Painting and Sculpture Diderot and Voltaire, whose opinion Catherine II completely trusted. Famous masters 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,” 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 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 - 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 a wide with open eyes and illuminated by deep thought. For this work, the girl was accepted as a member of the Russian Academy of Arts and Catherine II assigned her a lifelong pension of 10,000 livres. The snake under the horse’s feet was created by Russian sculptor Fyodor Gordeev.

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

Casting of the Bronze Horseman

The sculpture was conceived to be of colossal size and the foundry workers did not undertake this difficult 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, Falcone 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. Preparations for the new casting took another three years, but this time it was successful and in honor of successful completion work, the sculptor left the inscription in one of the folds of Peter I’s cloak “Modeled and cast by Etienne Falconet, Parisian 1788.”

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 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.

Bronze Horseman - title

The monument received the name Bronze Horseman later thanks to poem of the same name 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 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. 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

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

Where is the monument to Peter I “The Bronze Horseman” located, and why is it called that? Many will answer the first question, but almost everyone will probably think about the second. Meanwhile, the history of one of the symbols of St. Petersburg is worth knowing.

Since childhood, the famous lines “I love you, Peter’s creation...”, dedicated to St. Petersburg, “The Bronze Horseman”. The poem gave the “folk” name to one of the most famous monuments Russia - the monument to the Tsar-Reformer Peter the Great. This name has become firmly established in everyday life, and few people realize that in fact the equestrian statue of Peter is cast from bronze.

Catherine the Second, who considered herself a follower of his reforms, planned to perpetuate the memory of the creator of the northern capital. The enlightened empress was friendly correspondence with Voltaire and Diderot, who gave excellent recommendations French sculptor Etienne-Maurice Falconet. The contract was concluded without unnecessary delay, and in 1766 the sculptor arrived in Russia and began work.

It is interesting that the Frenchman’s creation was radically different from how Russian government officials and even Catherine herself imagined it. According to their idea, Peter the Great was to be depicted as a sovereign ruler, majestically sitting on a horse, like the Roman emperors. Incredibly, the author managed to defend his ideas. Who is depicted on the Bronze Horseman monument in the end? We see not just an autocrat and military leader, but a great king - the benefactor of his country, who turned its history towards development and prosperity.

It took more than ten years to create the masterpiece. First, a plaster statue of Peter sitting on horseback was created. Falconet's assistant Marie Anne Collot was entrusted with sculpting the emperor's head. The master himself was focused on the horse - the plasticity of the horse, the need to accurately convey its movement, were so important for the embodiment of his ideas. He sculpted from life - in the former wooden palace of Empress Elizabeth, a workshop was created with a special platform where riders reared their horses.

It took three years to complete the statue. The next 10 years were spent casting the statue, which was supervised first by the French master Ersman, then by Falcone himself, and the work was completed by the architect Yu.M. Felten and foundry master Ekimov. The process proceeded with great difficulties, and Falcone left Russia in 1778 without completing the casting.

The monument was first presented to the public in 1769, after work on the plaster statue was completed. The bronze monument was inaugurated on the centennial anniversary of Peter the Great's accession to the throne on August 7, 1782, in the supreme presence of Empress Catherine II. It is noteworthy that Falcone himself was not at the opening - he was simply not invited.

The huge Thunder Stone, found in a small village near St. Petersburg, was chosen as the pedestal. Delivery took six months. During this time, the Thunder Stone traveled almost eight kilometers by land, then was loaded onto a ship and transported across the Gulf of Finland to St. Petersburg. The stone, weighing 2,500 tons and 11 meters high, was unloaded on a specially built pier and delivered to the site where the monument was installed. All this time, many people worked on the stone to give it a certain shape. But Catherine personally stopped this work, wanting the stone to retain its natural appearance and gigantic size.

The majestic monument was erected on Senate Square in St. Petersburg next to the Admiralty buildings. There are many interesting facts associated with it.

Falcone insisted that the monument should be erected without a fence. However, the barrier still appeared. But in our time it has been removed, and the monument fully corresponds to the author’s idea.
The snake, crushed by a horse's hoof, was sculpted by Fyodor Gordeev.
After the opening of the monument, the square was temporarily renamed Petrovskaya.
There is a legend that once walking along Senate Square, Grand Duke Paul met the ghost of Peter there. The emperor told the heir that he would definitely see him here again. This promise was fulfilled.
Falcone managed to insist on his own regarding the choice of installation location for his creation. Catherine the Second saw the monument in the center of the square, but the author was able to convince her to move the statue closer to the bank of the Neva.
During the founding of St. Petersburg, the first wooden St. Isaac's Church was located on the site of the monument.

The magnificent monument has repeatedly inspired poets, writers and artists. Passed at its foot. And now the Bronze Horseman is perhaps the main symbol of St. Petersburg, forever imprinting the creator of one of the most beautiful cities on the planet.