The monument to Kozma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky is erected in the very "heart" of the Russian capital - on Red Square. He appeared there in 1818, in honor of the 200th anniversary of the victory of Russian militias over the Polish-Lithuanian invaders.
Who are Minin and Pozharsky
At the junction of the 16-17th centuries, the Time of Troubles came to the Moscow kingdom: impostors tried to seize the throne. In 1610, the boyars seated the throne of Prince Vladislav from Poland, and his fellow countrymen immediately occupied the Kremlin. The militia began to save the state from foreign invaders. The first volunteer attempt was unsuccessful.
In 1612, the second army of militia gathered and led by Kozma Minin and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky. The latter was a military and political figure, commander. Minin came from a merchant family, was engaged in trade, later became a zemstvo headman. They forever went down in history as liberators of the Russian Land.
Who created the monument
It was decided to create a monument to national heroes in 1803. The idea arose from the "Free Society of Lovers of Literature, Sciences and Arts" (prototype of the modern Ministry of Culture). A project competition has been announced. And the victory was won by the work of the sculptor Ivan Petrovich Martos. His project competed with the work of such talented artists as Vasily Demut-Malinovsky, Theodosius Shchedrin, Stepan Pimenov.
Ivan Martos was born in 1754 near Chernihiv. He grew up in the family of an impoverished landowner, a retired military man. Martos studied at the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg. He practiced in Italy that left an imprint on his work.
