On August 18, 1782, a monument was unveiled on Senate Square to honor the first Russian Emperor, Peter I. Later, thanks to a famous poem by Alexander Pushkin, the sculpture became known as "The Bronze Horseman." It is known that Catherine II held the first Russian emperor in high regard.
By the advice of the French philosopher and educator Denis Diderot, who was in correspondence with the Empress, the sculptor Etienne-Maurice Falconet was invited to work on the monument. According to the historian Professor Vladimir Ikonnikov in his book "The Significance of Catherine's Reign" (1897), Diderot introduced Falconet to Catherine, whose name became associated with the creation of a remarkable work of art in St. Petersburg - the equestrian statue of Peter the Great. This statue later inspired Alexander Pushkin. Falconet also had extensive correspondence with Catherine about literature and art, as well as with their common friends in Paris. You can find this correspondence and other documents related to this topic on the portal of the Presidential Library, in the 17th volume of the Collection of the Imperial Russian Historical Society (1876).
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