What is the attractive power of Pechorin? Essay “What is the complexity and contradictory nature of Pechorin

Reinhold Gliere - Waltz from the ballet " Bronze Horseman"

The monument to Peter I, a bronze monument of a rider on a rearing horse flying to the top of a cliff, better known thanks to the poem by Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin as “The Bronze Horseman” is an integral part architectural ensemble and one of the most striking symbols of St. Petersburg...

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 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 equestrian statue of colossal size." The sculptor was offered a rather modest fee (200 thousand livres), other masters asked twice as much.

State Councilor Shtelin saw the figure of Peter surrounded by allegories of Prudence, Diligence, Justice and Victory. I.I. Betskoy, who supervised the construction of the monument, imagined it as a full-length figure, holding a commander’s staff in his hand.

Falconet was advised to direct the emperor's right eye to the Admiralty, and his left to the building of the Twelve Colleges. Diderot, who visited St. Petersburg in 1773, conceived a monument in the form of a fountain decorated with allegorical figures.
Falcone had something completely different in mind. He turned out to be stubborn and persistent.

The sculptor wrote:

“I will limit myself only to the statue of this hero, whom I do not interpret either as a great commander or as a winner, although he, of course, was both. The personality of the creator, legislator, benefactor of his country is much higher, and this is what needs to be shown 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 Elizaveta Petrovna. In 1769, passersby could watch here as a guards officer took off on a horse onto a wooden platform and reared it. This went on for several hours a day.

Falcone sat at the window in front of the platform and carefully sketched what he saw. The horses for work on the monument were taken from the imperial stables: the horses Brilliant and Caprice. The sculptor chose the Russian “Oryol” breed for the monument.

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

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

Preparation plaster model The life-size monument took twelve years to complete; 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 masters demanded too much a large amount, 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. Was spoiled top part sculptures. 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 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.

Split boulder - suspected fragment of Thunder Stone

The initial weight of the monolith is about 2000 tons. Catherine II announced a reward of 7,000 rubles to the one who comes up with the most effective method deliver the rock to Senate Square. From many projects, the method proposed by a certain Carbury was chosen. There were rumors that he had bought this project from some Russian merchant.

A clearing was cut from the location of the stone to the shore of the bay and the soil was strengthened. The rock was freed from excess layers, and it immediately became lighter by 600 tons. The thunder-stone was hoisted with levers onto a wooden platform resting on copper balls. These balls moved on grooved wooden rails lined with copper. The clearing was winding. Work on transporting the rock continued in both cold and hot weather.

Hundreds of people worked. Many St. Petersburg residents came to watch this action. Some of the observers collected fragments of stone and used them to make cane knobs or cufflinks. In honor of the extraordinary transport operation, Catherine II ordered the minting of a medal 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. Grand opening 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 with the image mountain landscapes. It had been raining since the morning, but it did not stop a significant number of people from gathering on Senate Square. By noon the clouds had cleared. The guards entered the square.

The military parade was led by Prince A.M. Golitsyn. At four o'clock, Empress Catherine II herself arrived on the boat. She climbed onto the balcony of the Senate building in a crown and purple and gave a sign for the opening of the monument. The fence fell, and to the beat of drums the regiments moved along the Neva embankment.

By order of Catherine II, the following is inscribed on the pedestal: “Catherine II to Peter I.” Thus, the Empress emphasized her commitment to Peter's reforms. Immediately after the appearance of the Bronze Horseman on Senate Square, the square was named Petrovskaya.

"Bronze Horseman" sculpture in his poem of the same name named A.S. Pushkin, although in fact it is made of bronze. 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

Since its installation, it has become 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 greatness and glory Russian Empire, and that Russia will remain so until the rider 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. A 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 Vologda province a monument to Peter I, 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 through 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 still serve long years. Inside the figure was a capsule with a note about the restoration and its participants, a newspaper dated September 3, 1976.

Etienne-Maurice Falconet conceived The Bronze Horseman without a fence. But it was still created and has not survived to this day.

“Thanks to” the vandals who leave their autographs on the thunder stone and the sculpture itself, the idea of restoring the fence may soon be realized.

compilation of material -

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.

Falconet 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.
Falcone had something completely different in mind. He turned out to be stubborn and persistent. The sculptor wrote: “I will limit myself only to the statue of this hero, whom I do not interpret either as a great commander or as a winner, although he, of course, was both. The personality of the creator, legislator, benefactor of his country is much higher, and this is her and we must show it to people. My king does not hold any rod, he extends his beneficent right hand over the country he travels around. He rises to the top of the rock that serves as his pedestal - this is 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, passersby could watch here as a guards officer took off on a horse onto a wooden platform and reared it. This went on for several hours a day. Falcone sat at the window in front of the platform and carefully sketched what he saw. The horses for work on the monument were taken from the imperial stables: the horses Brilliant and Caprice. The sculptor chose the Russian “Oryol” breed for the monument.

Falconet's student Marie-Anne Collot sculpted the head of the Bronze Horseman. The sculptor himself took on this work three times, but each time Catherine II advised to remake the model. Marie herself proposed her sketch, which was accepted by the empress. For her work, the girl was accepted as a member 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, 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 due to an incident that could have been foreseen, and therefore prevented was not at all. The above-mentioned incident seemed so terrible that they were afraid that the entire building would catch fire, and, therefore, the whole business would fail. Khailov remained motionless and carried the molten metal into the mold, without losing his cheerfulness in the least at the danger presented to him for "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. From many projects, the method proposed by a certain Carbury was chosen. There were rumors that he had bought this project from some Russian merchant.
A clearing was cut from the location of the stone to the shore of the bay and the soil was strengthened. The rock was freed from excess layers, and it immediately became lighter by 600 tons. The thunder-stone was hoisted with levers onto a wooden platform resting on copper balls. These balls moved on grooved wooden rails lined with copper. The clearing was winding. Work on transporting the rock continued in both cold and hot weather. Hundreds of people worked. Many St. Petersburg residents came to watch this action. Some of the observers collected fragments of stone and used them to make cane knobs or cufflinks. In honor of the extraordinary transport operation, Catherine II ordered the minting of a medal with the inscription “Like daring. January 20, 1770.”
The 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 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 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 French sculptor E.M. Falconet arrived in Russia at the invitation of Catherine II in the fall of 1766. His student Marie-Anne Collot arrived with Falconet. Falconet thought out in advance the program of the monument to the “benefactor, transformer and legislator” of Russia, executed in an innovative way for its time, extremely laconic and global in design. symbolic meaning form. Work on the equestrian sculpture lasted 12 years. M.-A. took part in the creation of the statue of Peter I. Collo, who painted the portrait of the emperor. At the same time, the issue of choosing a place to install the monument was being decided, and a search was underway for a gigantic stone for the pedestal. The so-called “thunder stone” was found in the vicinity of the village of Lakhta. To transport the stone weighing more than 1000 tons, original designs and devices were used, a special barge and ships were built.

Under the direction and participation of Falcone, the casting of the equestrian statue in bronze was carried out by master foundry maker E. M. Khailov. In August 1775, the first, not entirely successful, casting of the sculpture took place. Due to a break in the mold and a fire in the workshop, the upper part of the bronze casting was damaged and it was “cut off.” The final casting of the missing upper part of the statue was carried out by Falconet in 1777. In the summer of 1778, the work of casting and chasing the sculpture was completely completed. In memory of this, the author engraved an inscription in Latin on the fold of the rider’s cloak, which, translated, reads: “Sculpted and cast by Etienne Falconet, Parisian, 1778.” In September of the same year, the sculptor left St. Petersburg. The sculptor F.G. Gordeev took part in the creation of the monument, according to whose model the snake under the horse’s hooves was cast. The progress of work on the construction of the monument after E. Falcone’s departure from Russia was monitored by the architect Yu. M. Felten.

In 1872, on the initiative of the St. Petersburg City Duma, on the occasion of the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Peter I, 4 lamp posts with candelabra, made at the Chopin factory, were installed at the monument.

According to E. Falconet's plan, there was no fence around the monument. In a letter to D. Diderot, the sculptor wrote the following about this: “There will be no bars around Peter the Great, why put him in a cage?” Contrary to the author’s idea, a fence made by master Stefan Weber was installed for the opening of the monument. In 1903, in connection with the 200th anniversary of the founding of St. Petersburg, the fence, as distorting the original author’s plan, was removed, “thanks to which the monument, the idea of which is embedded in the thought of unbridled movement forward, appeared for the first time in all its beauty.”

In 1908, the Academy of Arts created a special commission to study the condition of the monument, and the following year, 1909, the monument underwent serious restoration for the first time, including opening the hatch in the horse’s rump, when over 150 buckets of water that had penetrated inside through numerous cracks were removed. Under the leadership of sculptor I.V. Krestovsky in 1935-1936. Research and restoration work was carried out on the monument.

Modern studies of the monument and complex restoration work carried out by the State Museum of Urban Sculpture in 1976. By this time, serious concerns were caused by cracks in the horse’s supporting legs, the cause of which had to be determined. For the first time in the history of the monument, an extensive research program was developed and carried out on the composition of bronze, the state of the protective oxide film - patina, and the strength of the internal frame of the equestrian statue. The study involved scientists from the Polytechnic Institute, laboratories of the Kirov and Izhora plants, and the Research Institute named after. Efremov and other enterprises. Using special equipment, gammagraphy was carried out, as a result of which it became clear that the cause of the cracks was the “overburning” of the metal when, to re-cast the top of the sculpture, Falcone heated its bottom to a high temperature. The composition of bronze has been determined, which contains more than 90 percent copper. The cracks were sealed with inserts cast from specially smelted bronze. The supporting frame was examined and strengthened. Research has shown full picture design features of the monument. The height of the sculpture is 5.35 m, the height of the pedestal is 5.1 m, the length of the pedestal is 8.5 m.

Plot

In August 1782, a bronze horse with a bronze emperor in the saddle reared up over the cold bank of the Neva. Mother Catherine, who wanted to unobtrusively indicate her greatness, ordered to indicate on the pedestal: “Peter the First - Catherine the Second.” Read: from student to teacher.

Catherine II timed the opening of the Bronze Horseman to coincide with two anniversaries

Petra's clothes are simple and light. Instead of a rich saddle there is a skin, which, according to the idea, symbolizes a wild nation civilized by a sovereign. For the pedestal there was a huge rock in the shape of a wave, which, on the one hand, spoke of difficulties, on the other, of naval victories. The snake under the feet of the rearing horse represented “hostile forces.” The figure of Peter should, according to the plan, express a combination of thought and strength, the unity of movement and rest.

Catherine expected to see Peter with a staff or scepter in his hand, seated on a horse like a Roman emperor, not a legionnaire. Falconet had something completely different in mind: “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.”

The idea of a monument to Peter was born in Catherine’s head under the influence of her friend, the philosopher Denis Diderot. He also advised Etienne Falconet: “There is an abyss in him delicate taste, intelligence and delicacy, and at the same time he is uncouth, stern, does not believe in anything... He does not know self-interest.”

To create the plaster model, Falconet posed for a guards officer who reared a horse. This went on for several hours a day. The horses for work were taken from the imperial stables: the horses Diamond and Caprice.

Plaster sketch of the head of the Bronze Horseman

The plaster model was sculpted by the whole world: the horse and rider - Etienne Falconet himself, the head - his student Marie Anne Collot, the snake - the Russian master Fyodor Gordeev. When the model was completed and approved, the question of casting arose. Falconet had never done anything like this before, so he insisted that specialists be called from France. They called. The French foundry worker Benoit Ersman and three apprentices came to St. Petersburg not only with their tools, but even with their sand and clay - you never know, maybe the right raw materials won’t be found in wild Russia. But this did not help him complete the order.

The situation was heating up, deadlines were running out, Falcone was nervous, Catherine was unhappy. We found Russian daredevils. The casting of the monument lasted almost 10 years. Falcone himself did not see the completion of the work - in 1778 he had to leave for his homeland. The sculptor was not invited to the grand opening.

Context

The pedestal represents a work no less powerful, although it was already made by nature. Nicknamed the thunder stone, it was found near the village of Konnaya Lakhta (now a district of St. Petersburg). The pit formed after the rock was removed from the ground became a pond that still exists today.

Petrovsky Pond, which arose after the removal of the thunder stone

The required sample - weighing 2 thousand tons, 13 m long, 8 m high and 6 m wide - was found by the state-owned peasant Semyon Vishnyakov, who supplied building stone to St. Petersburg. According to legend, the rock broke off from a granite rock after being struck by lightning, hence the name “thunder stone.”

The most difficult thing was to deliver the stone to Senate Square - the future pedestal had to cover almost 8 km. The operation was carried out throughout the winter of 1769/1770.

The stone was brought to the shore of the Gulf of Finland, where a special pier was built for its loading. A special ship, built according to unique drawings, was sunk and placed on pre-driven piles, after which the stone was moved from the shore to the ship. The same operation was repeated in reverse order on Senate Square. The whole of St. Petersburg, from young to old, watched the transportation. While the thunder-stone was being transported, it was hewn, giving it a “wild” appearance.

The action of a machine for transporting thunder stones. Engraving based on drawings by Yuri Felten. 1770

Soon after its installation, urban legends and horror stories began to multiply around the monument.

Pedestal of the Bronze Horseman - thunder stone

According to one of them, as long as the Bronze Horseman stands in his place, the city has nothing to fear. This came from the dream of a certain major during the Patriotic War of 1812. Nightmare The soldiers handed it over to Alexander I, who just gave the order to remove the monument to the Vologda province - to save it from the approaching French. But after such prophecies, of course, the order was canceled.

Paul I allegedly saw the ghost of the Bronze Horseman during one of his evening walks. Moreover, this happened even before the installation of the monument. Future Emperor he himself said that on Senate Square he saw a ghost with the face of Peter, who announced that they would soon meet again in the same place. After some time, the monument was unveiled.

For Etienne Falconet, the monument to Peter I became the main work of his life. Before him, he worked mainly on orders from Madame de Pompadour, the favorite of Louis XV. By the way, she also contributed to the appointment of the sculptor as director of the Sèvres porcelain manufactory. This was the decade of sculpting figurines depicting allegories and mythological characters.

Etienne Falconet

“Only nature, living, spiritual, passionate, should be embodied by a sculptor in marble, bronze or stone,” these words were Falconet’s motto. French aristocrats loved him for his ability to combine baroque theatricality with ancient severity. And Diderot wrote that he values in Falconet’s work, first of all, fidelity to nature.

After a rather intense period of work under the supervision of Catherine II, Falcone was no longer invited to Russia. For the last 10 years of his life, paralyzed, he was unable to work or create.

Reinhold Gliere - Waltz from the ballet "The Bronze Horseman"

The monument to Peter I, a bronze monument of a rider on a rearing horse flying to the top of a cliff, better known thanks to the poem by Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin as “The Bronze Horseman”, is an integral part of the architectural ensemble and one of the most striking symbols of St. Petersburg...

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.

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.

The sculptor wrote:

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

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, passersby could watch here as a guards officer took off on a horse onto a wooden platform and reared it. This went on for several hours a day.

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.

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.

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:

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.”

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.

Split boulder - suspected fragment of Thunder Stone

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. From many projects, the method proposed by a certain Carbury was chosen. There were rumors that he had bought this project from some Russian merchant.

The poet Vasily Rubin wrote in the same year:

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.

A.S. called the sculpture “Bronze Horseman” in his poem of the same name. Pushkin, although in fact it is made of bronze. 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

Since its installation, it has become 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.

The Legend of Major Baturin

During the Patriotic War of 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 through the streets of St. Petersburg to Kamenny Island, where Alexander I then lived.

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

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.

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.

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