Monument to Chizhik-Pyzhik in St. Petersburg

Surely not everyone knows that the name Chizhik-Pyzhik in St. Petersburg appeared in the 19th century. The fact is that in 1835 the Imperial School of Law was founded by the Prince of Oldenburg on the Fontanka embankment. His students were instructed to wear uniforms and green uniforms with yellow shackles and loops, so with someone's light hand behind them was assigned the nickname Chizhiki-Pyzhiki. In addition, there is a legend that the students were very proud of their privileged status as future lawyers. As for the well-known song about how Chizhik-Pyzhik in St. Petersburg “drinked vodka on the Fontanka”, the eyewitnesses remember that “Chizhiki” from the school of law often visited the nearby inn and wandered along the Fontanka intoxicated.

Be that as it may, the school of jurisprudence existed until 1918, and although from the beginning of the 20th century students no longer wore uniforms with bird color, they continued to be called Chizhiki-Pyzhiki. In 1994, during one of the events in the framework of the famous humorous festival “Golden Ostap”, the native St. Petersburg writer Andrey Bitov voiced the idea to put a monument on Fontanka... a bird that became a symbol of this district of St. Petersburg. Only a few months passed, and a bronze mini-monument decorated the embankment. According to the original plan, Chizhik was supposed to drink water, but this was not possible. The fact is that the monument was mounted in winter, and its installation at the edge of the water was prevented by ice on the river. Perhaps it was for the best, because otherwise Chizhik-Pyzhik in St. Petersburg could have gone completely unnoticed: after all, the bird is quite tiny! The subsequent story of Chizhik resembles a detective, as he was kidnapped 7 (!) times, but the same number of times cast again. Apparently, some tourists-vandals wanted to take away from St. Petersburg such an original and truly unique souvenir. Or perhaps even more banal, and the robbers were interested in the monument as an ingot of expensive non-ferrous metal.