On this day the monument to Alexander III was unveiled. Monument to Alexander III: attractions, photos, videos, reviews Monument to Alexander III on Znamenskaya Square

Coordinates: 59°56′43.4″ n. w. 30°19′38.8″ E. d. /  59.945389° s. w. 30.327444° E. d.(G) (O) (I)59.945389 , 30.327444

Monument to Emperor Alexander III located in St. Petersburg, at the entrance to the Marble Palace. It was originally installed on Znamenskaya Square near the Nikolaevsky (now Moskovsky) railway station. The monument was dedicated 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 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 sculpture model was made in St. Petersburg. 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 Foundry. The pedestal made of Valaam red granite, more than three meters high, was made according to the design of the architect F. O. Shekhtel. On the front side of the pedestal there was an inscription: “TO EMPEROR ALEXANDER III, THE SOVEREIGN FOUNDER OF THE GREAT SIBERIAN ROUTE.”

Work on the monument

In 1899-1909, P. Trubetskoy worked on a monumental monument to Alexander III (the architect of the pedestal was F. O. Shekhtel). For this purpose, a special workshop-pavilion made of glass and iron was built on Staro-Nevsky Prospect, not far from the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. In the preparatory stage, Trubetskoy created eight small-sized models, four life-size and two on the scale of the monument itself.

Reviews about the monument

There is a chest of drawers
There's a hippopotamus on the dresser,
There's a freak on the hippopotamus,
On the back of the hat,
There's a cross on the hat
Who can guess
Togo is under arrest.

In the middle of the square lay a huge red porphyry parallelepiped, something like a titanic chest. And on it, gloomily appearing through the autumn St. Petersburg rain, through the same chilly St. Petersburg fog, through the frosty haze of winter or its thick, sometimes wet, sometimes dry and prickly snow, resting his hand on his heavy thigh, bending his huge the head of a heavy horse with the reins pulled tight, sat an obese man in clothes similar to the uniform of mounted policemen; in a round lambskin hat like theirs; with a short, peasant-looking beard, like many of them, - “Tsar-Peacemaker” Alexander the Third.

The fate of the monument

After the October Revolution, in 1919, the inscription was knocked off the pedestal, and in its place was knocked out the mocking poem “Scarecrow” by Demyan Bedny, reflecting Soviet ideology:

In 1927, on the tenth anniversary of the October Revolution, the monument was used for the festive decoration of the square: it was enclosed in a metal cage, and next to it was attached a helical tower, a wheel, and two masts, on which a hammer and sickle and the inscription “USSR” were suspended.

In 1937, the monument was dismantled and put into the storerooms of the Russian Museum. During the siege, the monument was protected with sandbags. 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 1953, the monument was raised and moved to the courtyard of the Russian Museum. 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.

In 1994, an equestrian statue of Alexander III was installed in front of the entrance to the Marble Palace, which became a branch of the Russian Museum. Previously, the Marble Palace housed the V.I. Lenin Museum, in front of which since 1937 there was an armored car “Enemy of Capital” (moved to the Museum of Artillery and Military Engineering Troops).

Notes

Literature

• Witte S.Yu. 1849-1894: Childhood. The reigns of Alexander II and Alexander III, chapter Appendix // Memoirs. - M.: Sotsekgiz, 1960. - T. 1. - P. 455-463. - 75,000 copies.
• Sokol K. G. Monumental monuments of the Russian Empire: Catalog. M.: Vagrius Plus, 2006.

...on a heavy-footed horse,
The hooves pressed into the ground,
Half asleep, inaccessible to anxiety,
Standing motionless, squeezing the reins- wrote V.Bryusov

I must say that monument to Alexander III, the creation of a sculptor Paolo Trubetskoy, called and continues to call conflicting assessments. One thing is that, in contrast to the poetic statement of the great poet V. Bryusov, almost immediately after the opening of the monument, a folk one appeared: “there is a chest of drawers on the ground, and a hippopotamus on the chest of drawers” speaks of the difficult “fate” of this monument. Consider the words of the author himself about this work of his, who said that he was not interested in “copying” his model, it was important for him to convey the idea of ​​a specific person and, as a result, in the monument to Alexander III “I depicted one animal on another.”

They say that Nicholas II was not delighted with the resulting option, and he was going to send the monument "into exile", away from the “offended son’s eyes.” The Emperor didn’t even invite the sculptor to the opening - May 23, 1909.

The huge 3-meter granite monument with the king sitting heavily on a large horse was very different from its “rearing” equestrian predecessors. It is believed that the sculptor was generally inclined to grotesque solution, and that Trubetskoy deliberately “played up” the theme of folk epics in this monument - Alexander III is depicted here as either another hero on a heavy horse, or a fat baggy one sergeant major, or a peasant-looking policeman.

Be that as it may, the monument conveys the main thing - this is the figure not of a warrior, but of a guard. Indeed, during the reign of Alexander III, Russia had a break in wars, for which the emperor was named "Peacemaker". So the image turned out to be “truthful”, albeit with a certain decadent slant, but such times have come in Russia.

Began Silver Age of Russian Culture- a time of experiments, creative searches and new approaches in art. Paolo Trubetskoy, born in Italy, who earned worldwide fame and received the main prize together with Rodin at the World Exhibition in 1900 in Paris, was invited to Russia to teach, where he became one of the participants in the most famous creative association "World of Art".

By the way, Trubetskoy proposed two options for this monument - in the second pedestal the Tsar should have performed wild rock, which would give a completely different aesthetic to the entire monument. But Nicholas II chooses a “chest of drawers” ​​with a “speaking” inscription: TO EMPEROR ALEXANDER III, SOVEREIGN FOUNDER OF THE GREAT SIBERIAN ROUTE. The conquest of Siberia, as a landmark event of the era of Alexander III, should also have been present on the bas-reliefs of the pedestal.

In 1919, the “great proletarian poet” D. Bedny, in place of the knocked-down inscription, wrote a mocking quatrain in the spirit of new times:

“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 penultimate autocrat of all Russia
Alexander III.»

The fate of the monument in the young Soviet country unenviable. For the 10th anniversary of the October Revolution, the monument is being “dressed” in a cage and a tower is being added with wheel and masts, the entire structure is crowned hammer and sickle and banner "USSR". And in 1937 Alexander III completely "repressed", banished to storage Russian Museum until 1953. They say that this monument was almost destroyed during the war, and only in 1990 it appeared for accessible viewing in the courtyard of the Benois building. And since 1994, the “miserable” creation of P. Trubetskoy has been installed in the yard Marble Palace. Rumor has it that soon the “peacemaker king” will move to its original place - Znamenskaya Square in the past, Vosstaniya Square Now.

The monument to Emperor Alexander III is located in St. Petersburg in front of the Marble Palace (branch of the Russian Museum). I specifically went to look at it because I had read comments (usually disapproving) about the monument from many famous people: Uspensky, Bryusov, Repin, Kustodiev, Rozanov, Demyan Bedny, etc.
Other people's opinions are interesting to me, but I always follow the principle of Evgeny Bazarov (“Fathers and Sons”), who said: “I don’t share anyone’s opinions; I have my own.”
So I went to the Marble Palace to look at the humiliated monument and form my own opinion.

I’ll say right away that I liked the monument. He is thorough, reliable and trustworthy. And it stands in the center of the small courtyard of the Marble Palace, so you can walk around and take a close look (not like on the widest Znamenskaya Square).
The figure on the horse made me remember the portrait of the Tsar by Valentin Serov - the same feeling of greatness, dignity and confidence that the main person of the state should have.

Apparently, the author of the monument, the Italian sculptor Paolo Trubetskoy, to whom Nicholas II commissioned a sculpture of his father, also understood this. Trubetskoy depicted not specifically a man on a horse, but the Ruler of a huge country, which during the years of his reign never fought. This is a huge achievement of the policy of Alexander III - it was for maintaining peace that the Russian monarch received the official name Tsar the Peacemaker.

Quote from Yeager's "World History": "Alexander III pursued his policy openly, without resorting to any tricks, maintaining impeccable straightforwardness and unwavering justice in his relations with other powers.."
As a result, “Russia was elevated by Emperor Alexander III to a high degree of European and Asian power.”

According to S.Yu. Witte, these changes in foreign policy were to a large extent connected with the personality of the tsar himself, and in particular, with his honest, noble, truthful, direct and peace-loving character.
The services of Alexander III in foreign policy were highly appreciated by the French and the main bridge across the Seine in Paris was named after him. And the Emperor of Germany, Wilhelm II, after the death of Alexander, said: “This, indeed, was an autocratic Emperor.”
And in the internal politics of Russia during the reign of Alexander III, positive economic changes took place.

The equestrian statue of the emperor speaks of these qualities. Alexander sits calmly and confidently in the saddle, holding the reins with one hand and calmly lowering the other on his hip. The state of relaxation of the king and the horse is only apparent; the entire monument creates a feeling of strength and confidence that the rider will at any moment pull on the reins, and the horse-state, feeling the strength and power of the rider, will walk in the right direction.

Many did not like that the horse stood with his head down and that, in general, he was not a thin-legged, graceful horse worthy of an emperor, but some kind of draft horse. But, if we assume that the horse characterizes the developing Russia of the era of Alexander III, then an obvious explanation arises: the horse-state under the control of the wise tsar is ready to easily raise its head and just as easily step forward, this is evidenced by its elastic neck and strong legs!

These are the thoughts that came to my mind while I was looking at the monument.

When the monument was ready, many members of the royal family did not like it. Of course, they wanted to see a statue similar to the monuments to European sovereigns: a corresponding horse and Alexander himself, decorated with ceremonial attributes, but they saw a working man on a tired horse.

Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich said (according to S. Witte) that “he will never allow a monument modeled after Prince Trubetskoy to be erected, since it is a caricature of his brother.” And Nicholas II, offended by his filial feelings, even wanted to send the monument into exile in Irkutsk, but Maria Fedorovna, the widow of Alexander III, was struck by the extraordinary portrait resemblance, and it was decided to leave and install the monument.

On May 23, 1909, an equestrian statue of Alexander III was solemnly installed in the center of Znamenskaya Square (now Vosstaniya Square) near the Nikolaevsky (now Moskovsky) station, where the pointed obelisk “To the Hero City of Leningrad” now stands.

Thanks to the Bolsheviks, who after the October Revolution did not destroy the monument, as, for example, they did with the monument to Alexander III in Moscow, but the statue on a horse survived considerable ordeals.

In 1919, a historical inscription was knocked off a granite pedestal and the poem “Scarecrow”, offensive to the tsar, was carved out by the popular propaganda poet Demyan Bedny:
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.

In October 1937, the monument was dismantled and humiliatingly laid on its side in the storerooms of the Russian Museum.
In 1953, the monument was raised and moved to the courtyard of the Russian Museum.
In the 1980s, during the renovation of the Benois building, the equestrian statue was “sewn up” with boards and was freed from this cap only in 1990.
In 1994, the monument was released from “imprisonment” and installed in front of the entrance to the Marble Palace,
In 2013, Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky felt that the monument to Alexander III was cramped in the courtyard of the Marble Palace, and he suggested that St. Petersburg deputies consider moving the monument to another location. Three such places were proposed: on Konyushennaya Square, on Trinity Square or on Vosstaniya Square, where the monument was originally installed.

The proposals were not approved: the transfer of the monument to Vosstaniya Square was categorically rejected (the place was already occupied by the obelisk), and the transfer to other squares was considered untimely.

In my opinion, it is good for the monument in front of the Marble Palace, but the bad thing is that it is seen only by art lovers who come to the Marble Palace and participants in various congresses, but the main thing is that the monument has finally been left alone (for how long?).

Until the end of the 1980s, an armored car stood on a pedestal in front of the Marble Palace (a copy of the armored car from which Lenin spoke at the Finlyandsky Station) - in memory of Lenin’s speech. Then the armored car was transferred to the Artillery Museum, and a monument to Alexander III was erected on the vacated pedestal.

Interesting ones here

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 includes not only the equestrian statue by Trubetskoy, which was 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, and 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 care of constructing the pedestal was 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.”

The monument to the founder of the Siberian Railway, the penultimate Russian Emperor Alexander III, does not outwardly resemble a statue of a member of the ruling royal family. Despite this, hundreds of tourists visit it every year, recalling the verse that appeared after the monument:

There is a chest of drawers on the square,
There's a hippopotamus on the chest of drawers,
There's a fool on a hippopotamus,
On the back is a hat.

History of the monument

Even before the completion of the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway in 1916, Alexander III, its founder, became almost a living legend. In honor of this solemn event, Nicholas II and other members of the imperial family decided to erect a monument. The author of the expected majestic monument was the Milanese sculptor P.P. Trubetskoy.

Work on modeling and creating the monument lasted from 1899 to 1909. A pavilion was specially built near the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, where the author P. Trubetskoy created prototype models of the future monument. After its opening in the spring of 1909, the architectural structure was discussed more than other city events.

Of course, instead of a royal, courageous emperor, people saw an ordinary commoner, completely different from the sovereign founder of the Great Siberian Road. Despite this, the monument continued to literally delight the townspeople with its appearance until 1937, when it was dismantled and put into the storerooms of the Russian Museum. Only in the 90s of the 20th century did an interesting statue of Alexander III rise at the entrance to the Marble Palace.

Interesting facts about the history of the monument

In addition to many mocking poems, the monument to Alexander III is shrouded in numerous stories and interesting facts:

• Prince Vladimir Alexandrovich, brother of Alexander III, even in the process of building the monument, saw in the model a caricature of his brother’s appearance and wanted to refuse the services of the Italian sculptor. But the emperor's widow Maria Feodorovna insisted on completing the work.

• At the beginning of hostilities in the 30-40s of the 20th century, in order to preserve the sculpture, the staff of the Russian Museum tried with all their might to dig a hole and lower the bronze structure into it, but due to the heaviness of the monument, nothing happened. Then the idea arose to simply cover the statue with sand, cover it with boards and cover it with logs. Despite all the manipulations done, the monument became the only place where an artillery shell directly hit. What’s interesting is that the pedestal survived and was completely intact.

• They planned to move the monument several times, but everything was unsuccessful. In 2013, the then Minister of Culture V. Medinsky proposed moving the architectural structure to Trinity or Konyushennaya Square.

There are rumors that the monument will soon move to its former location - Znamenskaya Square (Vosstaniya Square). However, no official statements were made in this regard and the monument itself can today be found near the Marble Palace.