Monument to Alexander III: attractions, photos, videos, reviews. The history of the creation of the monument to Emperor Alexander III Equestrian statue of Alexander 3

In 1994 in St. Petersburg at the entrance to the Marble Palace, which is a branch of the Russian Museum today and was once the museum of V.I. Lenin, on Znamenskaya Square, an equestrian statue of Emperor Alexander III was erected. This event marked the return of the monument from its long “wanderings”. Initially, the monument to the emperor was erected in the center of Znamenskaya Square. It was dedicated to Alexander III as the founder of the Trans-Siberian Railway, which began at the Nikolaevsky (Moskovsky) station located nearby.

The customer of the monument was the royal family and Nicholas II personally. Of the presented projects, preference was given to the work of the sculptor from Italy P. Trubetskoy. The statue of Alexander was made of bronze by the foundry maker E. Sperati. It was cast in parts: the figure of the autocrat in Robecchi’s workshops, and the horse in a steel mill. The three-meter pedestal (architect F.O. Shekhtel) is made of red granite. It was inscribed: “To Emperor Alexander III, Sovereign Founder of the Great Siberian Road.”

Work on the monument continued from 1899 to 1909. For greater convenience, a special workshop was built on Staro-Nevsky Prospekt. During the preparatory work, the sculptor Trubetskoy created 8 small models of the monument, 4 life-size and 2 full-size copies. Alexander III's brother, Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, who saw one of these models, considered it a caricature and spoke unflatteringly about Trubetskoy's work. However, the Dowager Empress liked the sculptor’s work, since she saw in it a great portrait resemblance.

The monument to Alexander III was different from other monuments to autocrats. The sculptor depicted the emperor without any idealization or pomp. On a huge red marble parallelepiped riding a heavy horse, an obese man in baggy clothes and a sheepskin hat is depicted, somewhat similar to a mounted policeman, who rests one hand on his thigh.

This monument clearly shows the creative credo of Trubetskoy, who believed that a portrait should not have an exact resemblance to a person, but should reflect his characteristic features. Trubetskoy is also credited with the following phrase: “I depicted one animal on another.” The monument caused discontent among members of the royal family. Nicholas II even wanted to send him to Irkutsk. S.Yu. Witte, a contemporary of P. Trubetskoy, wrote that the sculptor was not invited to the grand opening. However, on May 23, 1909, in the presence of royalty, the monument was opened and consecrated.

Sculptor Paolo Trubetskoy- creator of the famous equestrian statue Emperor Alexander III. This monument has a difficult fate: its projects were repeatedly agreed upon and finalized, and Nicholas II personally supervised this work.

The grand opening took place on June 5, 1909 on Znamenskaya Square in St. Petersburg in the presence of the highest sovereigns - Nicholas II and members of the imperial family.

The monument was erected at the Nikolaevsky (now Moskovsky) station, which carried a special meaning: Emperor Alexander III was the initiator of the construction of the most important transport artery of our country - the Trans-Siberian Railway. However, the monument did not stand in its original place for long. After the revolution, lines from Demyan Bedny’s poem “The Scarecrow” were knocked out on its pedestal; for the tenth anniversary of the October Revolution, it was enclosed in a metal cage, and then completely dismantled, putting it in the storerooms of the Russian Museum. Today the monument stands in the front yard of the Marble Palace.

The collection of the Russian Museum presents not only the equestrian statue by Trubetskoy, practically saved in 1939, but also a whole complex of materials related to the history of the creation and existence of this unique monument in many respects.

On June 5, 1909, the grand opening of the monument to Alexander III took place on Znamenskaya Square.

Project competition has been announced November 25, 1899, leading sculptors-monumentalists were invited to participate in it - Alexander Mikhailovich Opekushin, Matvey Afanasyevich Chizhov, Vladimir Aleksandrovich Beklemishev, Artemy Lavrentievich Ober, Robert Romanovich Bach, as well as architects Fyodor Osipovich Shekhtel, Antony Osipovich Tomishko and others. For the first round, Trubetskoy submitted a sketch of Alexander III sitting on the throne. However, then none of the proposed plans were approved, and the competition deadline was extended. The project, which received the highest approval, was prepared by Trubetskoy in collaboration with Shekhtel. It was already equestrian statue, standing on a quadrangular pedestal, which was supposed to be decorated with two bas-reliefs depicting Ermak’s conquest of Siberia and the meeting of the first train by the Siberians.

The history of the creation of the monument to Alexander III was described in more or less detail in many publications; in particular, in 1996, the Russian Museum published a booklet that included a number of historical photographs. A significant addition to the already known materials were documents of exceptional importance preserved in the archives of the Expedition for the Procurement of State Papers - minutes of the meetings of the specially formed Commission for the construction of the monument on Znamenskaya Square. Nicholas II appointed Prince Boris Borisovich Golitsyn as its chairman. The members of the Commission were the inspector for the artistic part of the Ministry of Finance, academician of architecture Albert Nikolaevich Benois, vice-president of the Imperial Academy of Arts, chamberlain of the highest court Count Ivan Ivanovich Tolstoy, director of the department of railway affairs Emilius Karlovich Ziegler von Schafhausen, professor of architecture Antony Osipovich Tomishko and the creators of the adopted implementation of the project - sculptor Pavel Petrovich Trubetskoy and architect Fyodor Osipovich Shekhtel.

By the summer of 1901, first the first and then the second (corrected) “life-size” model of the equestrian statue were ready. The sculpture, small in comparison with the monument, was even supposed to be converted into bronze using the “a cire perdue” (lost wax) method, which Trubetskoy strongly insisted on, proposing to entrust this to the Italian foundry Carlo Robecchi, who cast many easel works for him. The Commission's minutes also indicated that this experience would test Robecchi's ability to carry out a large monumental commission.

Paolo Trubetskoy at the monument to Alexander III. Photo by Karl Bulla, 1909

Meanwhile, Nicholas II, who at first agreed to additional expenses of 20 thousand rubles and even indicated that “if the statue had turned out well, it could have been placed in one of the museums,” after some time he abandoned his previous intention. It is not by chance that we mention this “intermediate” model; the fact is that it is precisely this model that is depicted in some archival and magazine photographs of Trubetskoy’s workshop.

In other words, the “life-size” equestrian statue of Alexander III is sometimes mistaken for the final large model, which documents show was only completed in 1904.

Later, the sculptor told a correspondent of the Petersburg newspaper:

“After my initial design was approved, I sculpted four life-size designs, eight small models and two monument-scale designs one after another from plasticine. Having worked the new model, I destroyed the old one. So I worked until I was satisfied with the model.”

These words help to imagine how hard the sculptor worked, not so much under the influence of the critical comments showered on him, but driven by his own desire to achieve maximum expressiveness of the plan being realized.

It is not surprising that there is a huge distance between most of Trubetskoy’s impressionistic works and the monument to Alexander III. Reflecting on the form, the architectonics of volumes, the rhythms of lines, the sculptor abandoned previous methods of modeling and gradually, step by step, acquired a new, emphatically monumental language of plastic generalizations.

As a result, the horse, almost fabulous in its power, and the equally powerful rider merged into a clear and integral artistic image, giving rise to that feeling of incredible, epic power, which made it not only the personification of one specific person, but also a kind of symbol of the era, of a huge and harsh country. . It is significant that Trubetskoy himself, talking with Vasily Rozanov, said:

“I wanted to represent the great Russian power in the image of Alexander III, and it seems to me that the entire figure of the emperor on my monument embodies my main idea.”

Noteworthy in this regard are the memoirs of Mstislav Nikolaevich Pototsky about the meetings of artists in the Parisian workshop of Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin:

“I remember once Benoit and Trubetskoy fought over a sculptural portrait of Alexander III, Benoit attacked Trubetskoy and, scolding the monument, even compared it to a Dymkovo toy. And Trubetskoy easily agreed: “Yes, I was inspired by Vyatka toys, they were in my workshop, I love them very much.”

At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, many artists drew inspiration from folk art, creating cutting-edge and even innovative works. This deep creative impulse, as it turns out, also fed Trubetskoy.

Studying the history of the monument, one cannot help but pay attention to the fact that already in 1900, at the very beginning of the work, at meetings of the Commission issues related to the future pedestal, its shape, the specified dimensions, grade and color of granite were constantly discussed. For Trubetskoy, this was also a creative process, during which he made adjustments more than once. A completely new solution for the pedestal, proposed by the sculptor at the 37th meeting of the Commission on October 20, 1903, came as a surprise to everyone.

According to this project, the pedestal was supposed to represent “a natural looking granite rock, low in front, steep in front, and gradually descending to the ground behind, in places covered with earth, in parts overgrown with moss, etc. The statue will depict the Emperor, as if accidentally stopping on the mountain.”.

This is exactly how the monument appears in Trubetskoy’s signature drawing from the collection of the Russian Museum. For a long time it was mistakenly considered to be the original design of 1900. In fact, this sketch was made after the opening of the monument on May 27, 1909, in response to a request from the staff of the newspaper “Novoe Vremya” to talk about a plan that remained unfulfilled.

Correcting the incorrect dating of the drawing that has become traditional, it should be emphasized that the bronze equestrian statue of Alexander III itself should not be dated to the year of the opening of the monument, as has been customary until now. According to archival documents, a large model in clay was completed by Trubetskoy in June 1904; foundry worker Emilio Sperati, specially invited from Turin, was hired as a plaster horseman on June 31, 1905. Finally, the monumental sculpture, cast in bronze and covered with patina, was accepted from Sperati at the 47th meeting of the Commission, held on March 6, 1907. Even earlier, it was decided to transport it immediately upon completion to Znamenskaya Square and cover it with a “plank cover” until it was placed on a pedestal. The latter was not ready for a long time, because granite blocks for it continued to be supplied and laid until mid-1908. At the same time, the inscription was discussed, which in the version approved by Nicholas II sounded like this: “TO EMPEROR ALEXANDER III, THE SOVEREIGN FOUNDER OF THE GREAT SIBERIAN ROUTE.” On October 16, 1908, the Commission examined “both the pedestal, already completely finished, and the statue placed on it. All these works were found to be completed satisfactorily.” Those present considered it “useful for the protection of both the monument itself and the surrounding area to establish a special police post inside a wooden fence.”

As for Trubetskoy, he last attended a meeting of the Commission on April 15, 1906. Then its members unanimously (of course, with the exception of the sculptor) approved a petition drawn up in the highest name, in which it was proposed that the work on the construction of the pedestal of the monument should be provided “either individually to Prince Trubetskoy, with the entrustment of all financial reporting and technical responsibility for this subject to him,” or “exclusively to the Commission, with the removal of Prince Trubetskoy from any participation in this matter. At the same time, the Commission itself will develop designs for the pedestal and submit them for the Highest approval.” Sergei Yulievich Witte responded to this petition with written consent: “...in view of the fact that the retouching of the wax parts of the statue by Prince Trubetskoy was completed, his role in the construction of the monument should be considered completely completed and the concerns of constructing the pedestal were entrusted to the Commission.” The final version of the pedestal was designed by architects F.O. Shekhtel and A.A. Polishchuk only with “a slight deviation from the model highly approved on July 3, 1901.”

“Gloomy”, “obese”, “heavy”... Such epithets were awarded to the creation that will be discussed below - the monument to Alexander III. Only because the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna liked it, the sculpture was not sent to Siberia.

A bronze equestrian statue is installed on a rectangular pedestal about three meters high. The massive heavy horse, standing firmly on four legs, bowed his head dejectedly. An overweight rider, resting one hand on his hip, looks calmly and thoughtfully into the distance. A thick beard, a peasant's hat, a large body. There is nothing regal or majestic about the monument. Rather, this is a hero from ancient epics, patrolling his possessions. When ordering a monument to Alexander III, the Romanov family clearly saw it differently.

Sculptor Pavel Trubetskoy, who won the competition, worked in a specially created pavilion. The model of the horse was a Percheron heavy truck; the role of the emperor was assigned to sergeant major Pustov, who bore a portrait resemblance to the sovereign. The bronze sculpture of Alexander was cast in Italy. It was made by the famous Italian foundry maker Speratti in Robecchi's workshops. The horse statue was cast at the St. Petersburg foundry in Obukhovo. The author of the pedestal project was the architect Fyodor Shekhtel. According to his sketches, a rectangular pedestal was made from red granite brought from the island of Valaam with the carved inscription “TO EMPEROR ALEXANDER III, THE SOVEREIGN FOUNDER OF THE GREAT SIBERIAN ROUTE.”

The monument, which caused the displeasure of the imperial house, was first installed on Znamenskaya Square (now it is Vosstaniya Square). The monument was opened in a solemn ceremony on May 23, 1909.

The further fate of the bronze Alexander is very ambiguous and even tragic. In 1927, during the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the revolution, the monument was used as a stage prop: it was placed in a cage, with the inscription “USSR” and a hammer and sickle placed above it. In 1937, during the renovation of Vosstaniya Square, a decision was made to dismantle the monument. The statue was removed to the storage room of the Russian Museum. In 1939, Alexander was moved to the Mikhailovsky Garden. During the siege, Leningraders covered the monument with sandbags and wooden shields, which allowed it to survive the destruction of the shell. In 1950, part of the pedestal was used to create busts of Heroes of the Soviet Union. Since 1953, the statue has been located in the courtyard of the Russian Museum. During the reconstruction of the Benois building, which lasted almost ten years, the monument was placed under a plank shelter.

And finally, in 1994, the statue of Alexander III took its place in front of the entrance to the Marble Palace. It is still located here, despite numerous disputes.

There is a chest of drawers, on the chest of drawers there is a hippopotamus...

5 On June 1909, the grand opening of the monument to Alexander III took place on Znamenskaya Square.
The entire royal court gathered on the square, and the troops of the St. Petersburg garrison lined up. The ceremony was attended by the imperial family and Emperor Nicholas II personally.

The monument was dedicated not exactly to the emperor, but to the “Sovereign founder of the Great Siberian Road,” that is, the Trans-Siberian Railway, starting from the Nikolaevsky Station - construction of the highway began under Alexander III.

The service was led by Metropolitan Anthony (Vadkovsky). The place for the monument was not chosen by chance, because the Great Siberian Road originated from the Nikolaevsky station (now Moskovsky).

The monument was made by the Milanese sculptor P. Trubetskoy and is considered his most famous work.

The customers of the monument were Emperor Nicholas II and members of the royal family, who preferred the project of the Italian sculptor P. P. Trubetskoy, who worked in Russia in 1897-1906.

The author worked on the monument for 8 years, made 14 models, two of which were life-size, and only the third received the approval of a special commission and the royal family. The model of the sculpture was made in St. Petersburg, and the monument was translated into bronze in parts: the figure of the emperor - in Italy, the horse - at the Obukhov Steel Plant.

Before installation on Znamenskaya Square, serious preparatory work was carried out there and a complex foundation was created.

Preparations for the installation of the monument on Znamenskaya Square, and below the opening of the monument.

A model of the sculpture was placed to determine the best location for the monument... the original avant-garde is like that)))

The bronze statue was cast by the Italian foundry maker E. Sperati in parts: the figure of Alexander III - in the workshop of the foundry maker K. A. Robecchi, the horse - at the Obukhov steel plant. The pedestal made of Valaam red granite, more than three meters high, was made according to the design of the architect F. O. Shekhtel.

The opening ceremony of the monument caused a lot of emotions. Some were indignant that he was discrediting the honor of the reigning house. Others admired it as if it was a bold satire.

Sentry at the monument to Alexander III (Company of Palace Grenadiers). Photo 1909.

The people composed the famous riddle ditty about the monument:

"There's a chest of drawers,
There's a hippopotamus on the chest of drawers,
The hippopotamus is wearing a hat,
What kind of fool is this daddy?"

But there were also tougher ones:

"The third wild toy
For the Russian serf:
There was a Tsar Bell, a Tsar Cannon,
And now the king is an ass." Epigram by A. Roslavlev

The horse especially suffered: “There is no tail, the tail has been eaten off from this clever girl... A huge body with barrels, with an abdomen, which absolutely no horse has... God knows what... A cross between a donkey, a horse and with a dash of cow. .. The horse, obviously, does not understand the Rider... assuming there is “evil intent” in him to put him in a hole, to drop him into the abyss... On the other hand, seeing that the horse is wheezing, the rider takes him for a madman, completely wild and dangerous a horse on which, if you can’t ride, you should at least stand safely and motionless. And so it all stopped, rested..."

Even before the opening of the monument, the sculptor felt an unfriendly attitude from many members of the royal family and senior officials. Nicholas II wanted to move the monument to Irkutsk, “send it into exile in Siberia, away from his offended son’s eyes.”

They say that the offended Paolo Trubetskoy said this about his creation: “ Oh, I'm not interested in politics, I just painted one animal on another "He was a subject of Italy, but the statement is scandalous...

The monument evoked a feeling of dull pressing force. A. Benois noted that this feature of the monument “is due not simply to the luck of the master, but to the artist’s deep penetration into the task.”

During Soviet times, the monument was damaged. Above, people are looking at a monument to Emperor Alexander III, enclosed in a cage.

Not everyone knows, but after the October Revolution, in 1919, Demyan Bedny’s poem “The Scarecrow” was engraved on the pedestal.

"My son and my father were executed during their lifetime,
And I reaped the fate of posthumous infamy.
I’m hanging here as a cast-iron scarecrow for the country,
Forever throwing off the yoke of autocracy. "

The monument to Alexander III in front of the Moscow railway station did not stand for long. When tram tracks were laid along Nevsky Prospekt, it was removed from the square.

Then, due to its undoubted artistic value, the monument was transferred to the Russian Museum. During the blockade, museum workers tried to hide the monument from the war by burying it in the ground.

But the chest of drawers, together with the hippopotamus and the frill, were so heavy that this idea had to be abandoned. Alexander and his horse were covered with sand, covered with boards, and laid on top with logs. And what? The ill-fated monument turned out to be the most unlucky in the city. He was the only one in Leningrad who received a direct hit from an artillery shell. And... it’s okay... both the chest of drawers and the hippopotamus survived. This is the great power of art!

After the Great Patriotic War in 1950, three stones were removed from the pedestal, which were used to create busts of heroes of the Soviet Union and a monument to Rimsky-Korsakov.

In the 1980s, during the renovation of the Benois building, the statue was removed under a wooden cover and only in 1990 was released from this hiding place. Then the monument was transported to the courtyard of the Marble Palace. So he still stands there. Proud, but undeservedly forgotten...

Professor of the Faculty of Philology of St. Petersburg State University N.A. Meshchersky (1906-1987) told one of the authors that in the late 1910s - early 1920s, townspeople who wanted to ride a cab to the Moscow station shouted: “Carrier! To the scarecrow! When a monument to V.I. was erected at the Finlyandsky Station. Lenin, the cab drivers began asking their riders: “Which one, yours?” To Moscow or to Finnish? In response to the author’s perplexed question, what is the Finnish Scarecrow, the professor, who came from a princely family, smiled, looked kindly through his glasses at his slow-witted student, and asked: “Don’t you know? It still stands there!” (C) Akhapkin D.N.

There is a project to return the monument to, and build another shopping complex under it... Perhaps everything will work out and the monument will again stand in its historical place, but personally I think that the bayonet looks better there, at least there is something standing in the one lying around...

I would put Alexander in some modern park or, for example, in Why not?!... there would be a place for him there.

Basic information and old photos (C) Internet

The monument to Alexander III is an equestrian statue of the Tsar the Peacemaker, which has a very difficult fate.

Initially, the sculpture was located on Znamenskaya Square. The competition for the creation of a monument project was initiated personally by Nicholas II. From numerous works, the authoritative commission chose the model by sculptor P. Trubetskoy.

The casting of the statue began in 1899, it was supervised by the famous Italian foundry maker E. Sperati. The pedestal, 3 meters high, was made of red granite by architect F. Shekhtel.

Work on the statue continued until 1909. To make it more convenient for the creators, the authorities allowed the construction of a foundry on Nevsky Prospekt. In preparation for casting the main monument, Trubetskoy made 8 models, four of which were made in full size. The sculptor also cast 2 copies of the monument.

Already at the preparatory stage, the future monument was criticized. Having seen the model of the sculpture, the brother of Alexander III said that he saw a caricature in front of him. All work could have been stopped if the statue had not attracted the attention of the emperor’s widow, who saw in it a close resemblance to her husband.

The monument to Alexander III is very different from the monuments that were customary in Russia to erect to sovereigns. Trubetskoy portrayed the emperor in a simple way, without ceremonial gloss, flattery or embellishment. A man with a big belly, in a simple sheepskin hat and rough clothes, sits on a water-carrying horse: the autocrat turned out to look like a policeman.

The sculpture is an accurate reflection of Trubetskoy’s creative methodology, who believed that a portrait should contain features characteristic of the person being depicted.

Nicholas II was disappointed by the monument. The Tsar even planned to send the sculpture to Irkutsk for installation. However, under pressure from the Dowager Empress, the Tsar allowed the statue to be placed in St. Petersburg.

The installation of the monument took place in 1909 and was timed to coincide with the anniversary of the founding of the Trans-Siberian Railway by Alexander III. Trubetskoy was not invited to the opening ceremony.

The people reacted coolly to the statue. Soon the jokers composed a humorous poem in which the granite pedestal was compared to a chest of drawers, a water-carrying horse to a hippopotamus, and the emperor to a fool in a hat.

The Bolsheviks who came to power did not stand on ceremony with the sculpture. The bronze shield with the inscription in honor of the Tsar was dismantled, and in its place was placed a board with mocking poems by the poet Demyan Bedny, in which Alexander III was called a “scarecrow.”

In 1937, the monument was dismantled and sent to the storerooms of the Russian Museum. The pedestal was crushed into several pieces to install busts on them.

In 1994, a decision was made to restore the monument and install it in front of the entrance to the Marble Palace. The sculpture still stands here.