Monument to Nicholas I
| Russian: Памятник Николаю I | |
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Current state (2016)
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| Coordinates | 59°55′55″N 30°18′30″E / 59.93194°N 30.30833°ECoordinates: 59°55′55″N 30°18′30″E / 59.93194°N 30.30833°E |
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| Location | St Isaac's Square in Saint Petersburg, Russia |
| Designer |
Auguste de Montferrand is the project head, the architect. |
| Type | Equestrian statue |
| Material | Bronze is a sculpture, high reliefs, letters, a fencing; Pedestal is a red, grey granite, the shohansky porphyry, the Italian marble |
| Height | 16.3 meters full, Equestrian statue is 6 meters |
| Opening date | July 7, 1859 |
| Dedicated to | Nicholas I of Russia |
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Auguste de Montferrand is the project head, the architect.
Sculptors: Peter Klodt, Robert Salemann, Nicholas Ramazanov
The Monument to Nicholas I (Russian: Памятник Николаю I) is a bronze equestrian monument of Nicholas I of Russia on St Isaac's Square (in front of Saint Isaac's Cathedral) in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Unveiled on July 7th [O.S. June 25th] 1859, the six-meter statue was a technical wonder of its time. It was the first equestrian statue in Europe with only two support points (the rear hooves of the horse), the only precedent being the 1852 equestrian statue of U.S President Andrew Jackson.
The Neo-Baroque monument to the Russian ruler Nicholas I was designed by the French-born architect Auguste de Montferrand in 1856. When he planned the registration of Saint Isaac's Square, the uniform architectural ensembles of the Palace Square (in 1843) and the Senate Square had already been finished (in 1849). Monuments to the emperors Peter I and Alexander I dominated these squares. By tradition, de Montferrand intended to construct a monument on the new site, to unite the buildings of different architectural styles already there.
At the personal request of his successor Alexander II, Nicholas was represented as a prancing knight, "in the military outfit in which the late tsar was most majestic". Around the base are allegorical statues modelled on Nicholas I's daughters and personifying virtues. The statue faces Saint Isaac's Cathedral, with the horse's posterior turned to the Mariinsky Palace of Nicholas's daughter, Grand Duchess Maria Nikolayevna of Russia. This was said to have caused the Grand Duchess considerable discomfort.
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