Walking around St. Petersburg with the Presidential Library. Alexander Column

On September 11, 1834, in the heart of the capital of the Russian Empire, on Palace Square, the Alexander Column was solemnly opened. Today the Presidential Library features little-known facts about the construction of this famous monument and find out why, after its erection, St. Petersburg residents were afraid to walk along Palace Square.

• Emperor Nicholas I ordered the construction of the Alexander Column in honor of the victory of his elder brother Alexander I over Napoleon. The column, designed by the architect Auguste Montferrand, was supposed to exceed the height of the Vendome column, installed in Paris in honor of Napoleon's victories, that is, to be higher than 44.3 meters. This was achieved as the total height of the monument is 47.5 meters.

• The Alexander Column is decorated with a bronze figure of an angel, created by the sculptor Boris Ivanovich Orlovsky. Its height is 4.26 meters, the face of the angel has the features of Alexander I. The angel, holding the cross in his hand, tramples the snake, thus personifying the victory of good over evil.

• The pedestal of the Alexander Column is decorated with bronze bas-reliefs with allegorical scenes. They were created by sculptors Pyotr Vasilievich Svintsov and Ivan Leppe based on sketches by Montferrand. The bas-reliefs glorify the victories of Russian weapons in the Patriotic War of 1812 and remind us of the successes of Russian troops in battles with Napoleon's army. On the northern bas-relief, located from the side of the Winter Palace, there is a rectangular plaque with the inscription "RUSSIA GRATEFUL TO ALEXANDER I".

• Work on finishing the monument was carried out for another two years after the installation of the column on Palace Square in 1832.

• The installation was preceded by a real labor feat of Russian engineers, craftsmen and workers in cutting out of the granite rock and delivering the column itself and stones for its foundation to St. Petersburg. Work began in June 1830 under the guidance of engineer Vasily Yakovlev.

• After the “carving” was completed, it was necessary to separate the blanks for the obelisk and foundation from the rock, for which powder charges, wooden scaffolding, birch and iron beams, brushwood bedding and many other devices were used. Then the cut down column was to be delivered to St. Petersburg.

• During the winter of 1830-1831, a special solid pier was built for loading the column onto the ship and the ship itself, "specially for this occasion arranged in St. Petersburg" 155 feet long, 42 feet wide. When loading the column onto this ship - the boat "Saint Nicholas" with a carrying capacity of more than a thousand tons - it was almost dropped into the water. And yet this bulk was safely delivered to St. Petersburg.

• There was still no less difficult and "requiring great art" business: the rise and installation of the column.

• The column is not attached to the pedestal in any way, but was kept on it only due to gravity and its own weight. For this reason, for a long time, Petersburgers preferred not to walk along Palace Square next to the column, fearing that it would fall. In order to convince everyone of the stability and safety of his grandiose structure, Montferrand rigorously, every evening, walked around the column. Gradually, both residents and guests of the city ceased to fear the fall of the monument.

• The result of the "great and difficult work" is summed up in the book Monument to Alexander the Blessed.

The history of creation and celebration in honor of the opening of the Alexander Column is spotlighted in the materials of the special collection of the Presidential Library, available on its portal, containing testimonies of contemporaries and eyewitnesses.