The Bronze Horseman is the most famous monument to Peter the Great in Russia, installed on Senate Square in St. Petersburg. It received its name, and with it wide popularity, after the publication of Pushkin's poem "The Bronze Horseman", although it was actually cast from bronze.
The birth of design
The monument to Peter I was unveiled on August 7, 1782. Its author is a sculptor from France Etienne-Maurice Falcone. It was created at the initiative of Catherine II. By order of the empress, the Russian envoy in Paris, Prince Golitsyn, turned for advice to Didro and Voltaire, who recommended Falcone to him. The French sculptor at that time was already 50 years old, he served in a porcelain factory, but always dreamed of creating a work of monumental art. When the proposal came from Russia, the master, without hesitation, signed a contract.
In October 1566, Falcone, together with his 17-year-old student Marie-Anne Collot, arrived in St. Petersburg. Soon, he began work on the creation of a gypsum model of the monument in full size. It lasted as long as 12 years and was completed by 1778. Marie-Anne Collot sculpted Peter's head. The king’s face expresses will and courage, it is illuminated by deep thought. For this work, Collot was accepted as a member of the Russian Academy of Arts. Catherine II granted her a lifetime pension of 10, 000 livres. The snake under the horse’s foot was performed by the Russian sculptor Fedor Gordeev.
The base of the monument was a rock, which was given the form of a rearing wave. According to the plan of the sculptor, it was to serve as a reminder that it was Peter the Great who managed to turn Russia into a sea power. A suitable granite block was discovered 12 versts from St. Petersburg. According to legend, lightning once fell into it, after which a crack appeared in the rock. The people called the rock Thunder-stone. Its weight was about 1600 tons. Thunder-stone was delivered to the capital on a barge for 9 months. In the process of transportation, the stone was given the shape of a wave. September 26, 1770, the pedestal for the future statue was installed on Senate Square.
