Rostral Columns

Categories / Architecture/Sculpture, Monuments
ROSTRAL COLUMNS, columns with decorative rostrums (with ship bows). The first two rostrum columns, Chesmenskaya and Moreiskaya, were built in the 1770s at Tsarskoe Selo (near Pushkin) in memory of the victories of the Russian fleet (see Russian Naval Memorials). In St. Petersburg there are two rostral columns erected from granite and pudost stone in 1805-10 (architect Jean-Francois Thomas de Thomon) on the spit of Vasilyevsky Island (see also Stock Market Square). From the very start they served as beacons for the trading port. Inside the rostral columns are spiral staircases, leading to the squares are chalice shaped lamps on tripods (since 1957 the gas beacons of the columns have been lit for celebrations). At the pedestal of the columns are sculptures (the craftsman S. Sukhanov, the sculptors J. Camberlain and J. Thibaud), they are traditionally considered allegories for the Volga and Dnepr rivers (the northern column), the Neva and Volkhov (the southern column). In 1999-2000, they were restored.

Y. M. Piryutko. Camberlain J.
Sukhanov Samson Xenofontovich
Thibault F.
Thomas de Thomon Jean-Francois
Birzhevaya Square/Saint Petersburg, city
Naval monuments
1810