Alexander Pushkin, Monuments to (entry)

Categories / Architecture/Sculpture, Monuments
ALEXANDER PUSHKIN, MONUMENTS TO. In 1881 a temporary plaster bust of Pushkin (from a model by the sculptor I. P. Vitali) was installed in the park at Pushkinskaya Street. The capital's first monument to Pushkin (other than the bust) was opened at Pushkinskaya Street on 7 August 1884, according to plans by A.M. Opekushin, who had recommended that the City Duma commission a life-size sculpture of Pushkin (a variant of the monument was executed by him in 1880 in Moscow). The granite pedestal, based on a sketch by architect N.L. Benois, was executed in the workshop of V.E. Efimov; the sculpture was cast of bronze at the A. Moran Factory. In 1899, a monument-bust to Pushkin was opened at the Alexander Lyceum on Kamennoostrovsky Avenue (sculptor I.N. Schroder); it was removed in 1946, and in 1999, was reinstalled on a new pedestal (architect S.P. Odnovalov) in front of the Pushkin House. Two monuments to Pushkin were erected at Tsarskoe Selo (also known in Russian as the Town of Pushkin), one in the former Lyceum Garden (1900, sculptor R.R. Bach) and one near the Egyptian Gates (1938; statue, 1912, sculptor L. A. Bernstam; in 1924-38, it was kept in the lyceum building). The supposed place of Pushkin's duel at Chernaya Rechka River was marked with a wooden pole in the 1840s; in the 1890s, a plaster bust was installed there; in 1937, a granite obelisk with a bas-relief portrait was installed (sculptor M.G. Manizer, architect A.I. Lapirov). A monument to Pushkin was installed in the courtyard of the building at 12 Moika River Embankment (1950, sculptor N.V. Dydykin, architect N.A. Medvedev). In 1937, a monument to Pushkin began to be planned, which was originally intended to be installed on Birzhevaya Square, which at that time was changed to Pushkinskaya Square. The first two rounds of the competition (1937 and 1938) took place in Moscow, but no project was ever approved. In 1940, it was decided to install a monument on Arts Square. In 1948, a third round of the competition was held in Moscow, with 11 projects submitted, and the projects were shown in Leningrad the following year. In February 1949, an additional tour involving new designers was held. A project by M.K. Anikushin was among those included in the competition; it was still being worked on up until the opening of the monument on Arts Square on 19 June 1957 (which received the Lenin Prize, 1958). Sculptures of Pushkin by sculptor Anikushin were installed in the platform vestibules of the Pushkinskaya (1955) and Chernaya Rechka metro stations (1983). Throughout St. Petersburg and its suburbs, there are 16 memorial tablets dedicated to Pushkin (the first one was opened at 12 Moika River Embankment, in 1880; architect N.L. Benois).

References: Гдалин А. Д. Памятники А. С. Пушкину: История. Описание. Библиография. Т. 1, ч. 1: Санкт-Петербург, Ленинградская область. СПб., 2001.

Y. M. Piryutko. Anikushin Mikhail Konstantinovich
Bach Robert Romanovich
Benois Nikolay Alexandrovich
Benois Nikolay Leontievich
Bernstam Alexander Natanovich
Bernstam Leopold-Bernhard (Leopold Adolfovich)
Dydykin Nikolay Vasilievich
Efimov V.Е.
Lapirov Abram Ilyich
Manizer Matvey Genrikhovich
Medvedev Nikolay Alexeevich
Odnovalov Stanislav Pavlovich
Opekushin Alexander Mikhailovich
Pushkin Alexander Sergeevich
Schroder Ivan Nikolaevich
Vitali Ivan Petrovich
Birzhevaya Square/Saint Petersburg, city
Iskusstv Square/Saint Petersburg, city
Kamennoostrovsky Ave/Saint Petersburg, city
Moika River Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 12
Pushkinskaya St./Saint Petersburg, city
Гдалин А. Д. Памятники А. С. Пушкину: История. Описание. Библиогр.: Т. 1, ч. 1: Санкт-Петербург, Ленинградская область. СПб., 2001 1884
1900
1937
1957