Monument to A.S. Pushkin. Petersburg, Pushkinskaya Street.

The life and work of Alexander Pushkin are closely connected with St. Petersburg. But, despite this, the memory of the brilliant Russian poet for a long time did not find its reflection either in toponymic city names or in the works of monumental sculpture. The first monument to A.S. Pushkin was opened in 1880, and even then in Moscow. In part, this can be explained by the metropolitan status of St. Petersburg, and therefore monuments were erected mainly to reigning persons or prominent statesmen or military figures. We should not forget about the relationship between the poet and the ruling regime. It was only at the end of the nineteenth century that things changed.

At the May meeting of 1880, the St. Petersburg City Duma decided to name the recently appeared alley running from Nevsky Prospekt to Kuznechny Lane, Pushkin Street. In the middle of a short, about 500 meters, street, closely built up with new apartment buildings, was arranged a small area. On it, the city gardener I.P. Wiese on the project of architect V.M. Nekor was broken green square. It was here that it was decided to put a monument to A.S. Pushkin, having built it with funds in the amount of 10,000 rubles, allotted by the city. The monument was built on the initiative of the St. Petersburg City Public Administration and by the decision of the City Duma of March 17, 1882. A year later, on April 28, 1883, the Highest Permission followed. To speed up the work, it was decided to use one of the Moscow versions of the sculptor Alexander Mikhailovich Opekushin. The project of the pedestal was developed by architects Nikolai Leontievich Benois and Antonin Sergeevich Lytkin. The figure of the poet himself was produced at the bronze-mowery of A. Moran by the foundryman A.N. Sokolov.

On August 7, 1884, the monument was opened. Unfortunately, there was no wide public and literary celebration, as at the opening of the monument to Alexander Pushkin in Moscow, in St. Petersburg. The monument was opened in a semi-official setting, with little press response. He spoke in more detail about the ceremony “Petersburg leaf”: “August 7, at 11 o’clock in the morning, the grand opening of the monument to Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin, erected in the park named after the poet, on a new street, built with remarkable architecture buildings, also called Pushkinskaya.” Since there was an early hour and time of year, coinciding with the general lack of people in the walls of the capital, the celebration of the opening of the monument to the brilliant writer glass is not particularly many people. Among those present were: Comrade Minister of Internal Affairs I. N. Durnovo, Mayor General Lieutenant Gresser, Mayor I. I. Glazunov, comrade of the head M. I. Semevsky, Chairman of the Committee of the Literary Fund V. P. Gaevsky, members of the City Council and many vowels. Among the writers gathered: veteran of our journalism A. A. Kraevsky, Alexander Mikhailovich Zhizov, the oldest of Russian writers, 78-year-old elder, deliberately arrived, as they say, from his estate, Stoyunin, L. N. Maikov, Poletika, etc. Arrived deputation from the pupils of the lyceum, among 6 pupils, in ceremonial uniform, with the director of the lyceum, Mr. Hartman at the head. There was also the eldest son of the poet, Major General A.A. Pushkin.

The bronze sculpture of the poet in a calm brooding pose, with his arms crossed on his chest, with a book pressed to his left elbow, is facing Nevsky Prospekt.

The sculpture is mounted on a pedestal of black marble. At the very bottom of the pedestal, on its face, the inscription: "Established St. Petersburg City Public Administration". The pedestal itself is set on a wide base of red granite. On all four sides of the pedestal there are inscriptions.

On the face: "Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin". On the right side are six lines from the poem “Bronze Rider”, emphasizing the St. Petersburg character of the monument: “Nature is destined for us here.” A window to Europe, Stand firm by the sea with a foot; Here, on new waves, All flags to visit will be with us. And we'll lock it up. A. Pushkin (Bronze Horseman)”

He was born in Moscow on May 26, 1799. He died in St. Petersburg on January 29, 1837. On the left side are two two poems from an unprinted poem during the poet’s lifetime: Hearing of me will pass through all the great Russia, And every tongue in it will call me. A. Pushkin (monument)” “And I will long be so kind to the people, That I found new sounds for songs. A. Pushkin (monument)” And the poem is given in a draft version, not in the widely known: “And I will long be so kind to the people, That good feelings I awakened with a lyre...

Technical characteristics of the monument: the height of the sculpture is 2.3 m (2.05 m), the height of the pedestal is 2.9 m. It should be noted that contemporaries were quite critical of this monument. Noted and not quite a successful choice of installation site - on a narrow street among the tall surrounding buildings - and disproportionate sculpture and pedestal, and the overload of the pedestal with inscriptions. Several times the monument was supposed to be moved to another place. One such case, in 1937, was later recalled by Anna Akhmatova. It is also known the decision of the Executive Committee of June 24, 1945 on the abolition of the transfer of the monument to the station square of the city of Pushkin. Moreover, one of the city legends says that when before the war the monument wanted to be moved to another place, the workers who arrived with the appropriate equipment were stopped by the children playing nearby. Who surrounded the workers with shouts: "This is our Pushkin." The workers called the official, who after some thought ordered the monument to be left in place. So stands the monument to the brilliant Russian poet for almost 130 years.