Peter the Great, Monuments to (entry)

Categories / Architecture/Sculpture, Monuments
PETER THE GREAT, MONUMENTS TO. Monument projects to Peter the Great in the capital founded by him appeared during his lifetime (particularly by N. Pinot, B. Tarsia). In 1716-20, B. Rastrelli executed a sketch of an equestrian monument by order of the tsar. The work continued up to 1744; the bronze casting was executed by masters A. Martelli and S. Kopyev after the death of the sculptor. The monument was installed in front of the Mikhailovsky (Engineer's) Castle in 1800 (pedestal by architects F.I. Volkov, A.A. Mikhailov; bas-reliefs of the Poltava and Gangut battles by sculptors I.I. Terebenev, V.I. Demuth-Malinovsky, and I. Moiseev, under the supervision of M.I. Kozlovsky). In the 1720s, B. Rastrelli, N. Pinot, F. Singer and A.K. Nartov created the Triumphal Pillar project, meant to include a statue of Peter the Great (never completed; the designs are now at the State Hermitage). During Empress Elizaveta Petrovna's reign, projects were developed for the architectural decoration of the Peter the Great Burial Vault at the SS. Peter&Paul Cathedral (Y. Stahlin, M.V. Lomonosov). In 1766-1782, the most famous monument to Peter the Great was created, called "The Bronze Horseman". The image of Peter the Great was reflected in many monumental-decorative plastic bas-reliefs, including the Overthrow of Simon the Sorcerer at the Petrovskie Gate, (1717, K. Osner); and the Renewal of the Russian Fleet over the arch of the Main Admiralty (1812-13, sculptor I.I. Terebenev). In 1841, a monument to Peter the Great was opened in Kronstadt (sculptor T.N. Jacques, cast by P.K. Klodt). Lifesize figures of the tsar, executed according to a model by sculptor M.M. Antokolsky (1872), became the standard form for sculptural monuments to Peter the Great, and were created on various official occasions near the Arsenal on the Vyborgskaya Side (1914, sculptor V.V. Lishev), in the Peterhof Lower Park (1884), near the St. Sampson’s Cathedral (1909; after October 1917 it was removed; reconstructed in 2003), near the Preobrazhenskie Barracks (1910). Memorial-busts to Peter the Great that have survived are located at the Yacht Club (1873, presumedly according to J. Rachette’s model, presented to the club by A.A. Sokolov; in 1989, it was replaced with a copy), near the Cabin of Peter the Great (1875, architect E.I. Gibert, from a model by sculptor N.F. Gillet, 1760). Two sculptural compositions - Peter the Great Rescuing the Dying at Lakhta in 1724, and Peter the Great Studying Ship Work at Saardam in Holland in 1697 (also called Tsar Carpenter), both installed on the Admiralteiskaya Embankment - were cast from models by sculptor L.I. Bernstam and presented to the city by Emperor Nicholas II (pedestals by the architect A.I. von Gogen) in 1909 and in 1910. A smaller copy of Tsar Carpenter was installed at the Summer Garden in 1913. In 1918-1931, the majority of monuments to Peter the Great were taken away on the grounds of their negligible artistic value. In 1996, a copy of Tsar Carpenter was made in Saardam, presented to St. Petersburg by the Dutch government, and installed on the embankment (pedestal by architect F.K. Romanovsky, artist I.G. Uralov). In the post-Perestroika era, monument-busts to Peter the Great appeared at the Moskovsky Railway Station (sculptor A.S. Charkin), and at the Petrovsky Stadium (sculptor V.E. Gorevoy). Artist M.M. Shemyakin has drawn attention with his original treatment of Peter the Great's canonic image in his sharply grotesque sculptural portrait (architect V.B. Bukhaev; installed in 1991 at the Peter and Paul Fortress, gift of the artist to his native city). See also The Bronze Horseman.

Y. M. Piryutko. Antokolsky Mark Matveevich
Bernstam Leopold-Bernhard (Leopold Adolfovich)
Bukhaev Vyacheslav Borisovich
Charkin Albert Serafimovich
Demut-Malinovsky Vasily Ivanovich
Elizaveta Petrovna, Empress
Gibert Ernest Ivanovich
Gillet Nicolas-Francois
Gogen Alexander Ivanovich von
Gorevoy Vladimir Emilievich
Jacques Theodor Napoleon
Klodt von Jurgensburg Peter Karlovich
Kopyev S.
Kozlovsky Mikhail Ivanovich
Lishev Vsevolod Vsevolodovich
Lomonosov Mikhail Vasilievich
Martelli Alexander
Mikhaylov Alexander Alexeevich
Moiseev Ivan
Nartov Andrey Konstantinovich
Nicholas II, Emperor
Osner Konrad
Peter I, Emperor
Pinot Nicolas
Rachette Jean-Dominique
Rastrelli Bartolomeo Carlo de
Romanovsky Felix Karlovich
Shemyakin Mikhail Mikhailovich
Singer F.
Stahlin Jakob von
Tarsia Bartolomeo
Terebenev Ivan Ivanovich
Uralov Ivan Grigorievich
Volkov Fedor Ivanovich
Admiralteyskaya Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city
Выборгская сторона
SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral
St. Peter and Paul fortress
St. Peter and Paul fortress
1746
1800
1909
1991
1997