home Visa Rostral columns are a symbol of Russia's maritime power. Vasilyevsky Island - arrow, rostral columns, exchange Who built the rostral columns

Rostral columns are a symbol of Russia's maritime power. Vasilyevsky Island - arrow, rostral columns, exchange Who built the rostral columns

Rostral columns are an integral part of the ensemble of the Spit of Vasilyevsky Island. They were built according to the design of the architect Thomas de Thomon at the same time as the Exchange building in 1805-1810.

On the trunks of the columns there are metal images of rostras - the bows of ships. Hence their name, since the sailors called the bow of the ship with the Latin word “rostrum”, which translates as “beak”. This metal-clad “beak” was used to ram the enemy during naval battles. Subsequently, even in ancient Rome, triumphal columns were decorated with rostras in honor of naval victories.

When working on the architectural ensemble of the arrow, Thomas de Thomon created several different versions of its image. The scale and decorative design of the Rostral columns changed from project to project. The Russian architect A.D. Zakharov helped the Frenchman in finding the best solution. He advised: " Rostral columns or beacons cannot be built to a confirmed scale, because the stairs in them will be so cramped that even a person will not be able to climb them, and their walls will be thin and fragile; if you want to build them, then you definitely need to do it on a larger scale". [Quoted from: 3, pp. 22, 23]

To create the sculptural decoration of the Rostral Columns, the “Commission for the construction of the stock exchange building and lining the Neva bank with stone” turned to the Academy of Arts. Her council decided to entrust this order to the sculptors V. I. Demut-Malinovsky, S. S. Pimenov, A. S. Anisimov, I. A. Kashchenkov, I. I. Vorotilov, I. I. Terebenev, P. P. Sokolov , M. P. Alexandrov and I. M. Moiseev. However, the Commission considered the price they asked to be too high. The order was put up for auction. There were people willing to do the work for less money. According to the financial reports of the Commission, the authors of the allegorical figures at the Rostral columns were I. Camberlain and J. Thibault. The production of anchors and rostras was carried out by the blacksmiths Shapov, Vasilyev and Korolkov.

The brickwork of the Rostral columns and stone cutting work were carried out by the team of master S.K. Sukhanov.

The four figures at the foot of the Rostral columns are carved from Pudost stone. Initially, Thomas de Thomon intended to place cast iron sculptures here, but there were no performers for such a complex work. In 1809, it was decided to create sculptures from stone, which was done in 1809-1813. The figures are considered to be allegories of Russian rivers: the Volga and Dnieper near the northern Rostral Column, the Volkhov and Neva near the southern. However, two of the statues lack the attributes of rivers (vessels with flowing water), which allows one to argue about the actual interpretation of the sculptures. The figure of the Dnieper was made by a master from Antwerp, Camberlain. The other three are by the Frenchman F. Thibault.

It is believed that initially the Rostral Columns, 32 meters high, served as beacons for ships heading to the once nearby trading port. Resin was poured into a bowl on top and set on fire. Some historians question this. After all, lighthouses are usually placed on the seashore or ocean. Near the river - very rarely. And even more so, the need for lighthouses in the center of a large city is not obvious. Perhaps the Rostral Columns, as now, were always just triumphal columns, and their torch burned only on holidays.

The decorations of the Rostral columns were significantly damaged during the Great Patriotic War. They were pierced by bomb and shell fragments and completely rusted. In 1947-1948 they were replaced by duplicates made of patinated copper sheets. Then the quadrangular platforms on which the bowl-lamps rest were replaced. The restoration of the sculptural groups at the Rostral columns was supervised by the sculptor I. V. Krestovsky.

In 1957, gas was supplied to the burners of the Rostral Columns.

In 1926-1928 and 1947-1949, restoration of the Rostral columns was carried out. Lost metal parts were replaced with their copies. The last restoration work took place in 1998-1999.

Thomas de Thomon himself wrote that "the base of each column is decorated with huge figures that symbolize the deities of the sea and commerce." However, such a rational explanation did not please the respectable St. Petersburg public too much. The comparison with the great Russian rivers looked much more romantic, and it became entrenched in history.

The Volga is personified by a stately female figure. It is solid, massive, even somewhat heavy. Her face is serious, without a hint of any manifestation of frivolity. However, it is difficult to imagine the Volga in any other way: a deep-flowing working river, a feeding river - it should look strong and self-confident.

The sculpture is made of white Pudost stone (this limestone was mined on the Pudost River in Gatchina). The author of the project was Thomas de Thomon himself, but it was embodied in stone by stonemason Samson Sukhanov, a simple self-taught Vologda peasant with great artistic talent.

Sculptures of Klodt on Anichkov Bridge

In 1841, the St. Petersburg sculptor Pyotr Karlovich Klodt worked on the compositions of the sculptures “Horse with a Walking Young Man” and “Young Man Taking a Horse by the Bridle,” which were to be installed on the Neva embankment opposite the Academy of Arts. But after the embankment was decorated with sphinxes, cast bronze sculptures were placed on the western side of the Anichkov Bridge, closer to the Admiralty. And on the eastern side they placed temporary copies of them made of plaster, which were planned to be replaced with bronze figures. Pyotr Klodt cast the sculptures in bronze, but almost ten years passed before the composition was completed. Horses were given as gifts several times and they decorated one palace or another.

Sculpture "Elisha Kotovich Pitersky"

The sculpture of a charming cat is located in a place hidden from the eyes of passers-by - on the second floor of the Eliseevsky grocery store (in the House of the Eliseev Brothers trading partnership). The residents of St. Petersburg named this cute animal Elisha Kotovich of St. Petersburg.

Many local residents joke that the cat ran away from the Good Dog and climbed so high. There is an interesting opinion about the monument - it is believed that who created the cat, honoring the black cat of the famous Count Shuvalov - earlier, in the middle of the 18th century, the palace of Ivan Ivanovich Shuvalov was located on the site of the grocery store.

Dmitry Kokorinov, who worked on the building project, discovered after construction that his drawings contained ridiculous errors. Elisey Kotovich, who lives on the second floor of the grocery store, seems to mock the chief architect’s miscalculations. Of course, these are all legends that St. Petersburg residents make up, but these stories only make St. Petersburg more interesting.

Sculptures of gnomes in Sestroretsk

Sculptures of gnomes in Sestroretsk. Located at the address: Russia, Sestroretsk, in the park opposite the children's library on the street. Tokarev.

This composition is located near the central children's library. It was staged for the birthday of the city of Sestroretsk, a suburb of St. Petersburg.

The seven dwarves express their love of reading and history with their entire appearance.

The main gnome-keeper holds a book weighing half a ton - the travel journal of Peter I, where it is written how the first emperor of Russia visited the Sestra River.

Another gnome sleeps sweetly on oak leaves - the symbol of Sestroretsk.

One of the gnomes climbed up the ladder and shines a lantern over a hiking book. The lantern also shines at night and is powered by a solar battery.

Also, four large benches made of natural stone were installed in the park, and the gnomes sat nearby. One, very funny, in a Viking hat, the other in a cocked hat from the times of Peter the Great, the gnomes are reading a book with interest...

All gnomes look metal, but, in fact, they are made of strong and durable polymer concrete, painted like cast iron. Each is 1 m high and weighs about 200 kilograms.

Sculptors - Nikolai Ivanov, Vadim Sazonov, Timur Yusufov, Stepan Kovalenko and the architectural and artistic workshop Masterprof

Sculpture "Tsar Carpenter"

The bronze sculpture of Peter I, commonly known as the “Tsar Carpenter,” was a gift to St. Petersburg from the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It was installed opposite the eastern pavilion of the Admiralty in 1996 for the 300th anniversary of the Russian Fleet.

The donation of a sculpture has a backstory in which it is easy to get confused. For the 200th anniversary of St. Petersburg, Nicholas II ordered the casting of two genre figures of Peter in bronze as a gift to the city. The author of “Peter Saving Fishermen Near Lakhta” and “Peter the Carpenter” Leopold Bernshtam was considered Nikolai Alexandrovich’s favorite master.

These monuments were erected in 1909-1910, and a year later, a duplicate of the “Tsar Carpenter” was presented to Saardam, the city where the Russian Tsar mastered shipbuilding. The bronze statues in Petrograd somehow did not please the Bolsheviks and were dismantled in 1919. A hundred years after its first appearance in the city on the Neva, “The Tsar the Carpenter”, thanks to a Dutch copy, again took pride of place on the Admiralty Embankment.

Sculpture "Dance"

In St. Petersburg, near the Stables Building on Elagin Island, there is a sculpture “Dance” created based on a painting by Henri Matisse. The author of the sculptural work is Alexander Taratynov.

Sculpture "Dnieper" at the base of the Rostral Column

At the foot of the Rostral columns sit majestic sculptures created at the beginning of the 19th century, simultaneously with the entire architectural ensemble of Exchange Square. Four allegorical statues made of Pudozh stone (lime rock mined in the Leningrad region) symbolize the four great rivers: Volkhov, Neva, Volga and Dnieper. The sculptures were made according to the models of the French sculptors I. Camberlain and J. Thibault.

Until recently, there was almost no accurate information about the authors of the sculptural decoration of the Exchange building and the Rostral columns. It is known that when the Commission for the construction of the exchange building and lining the banks of the Neva with stone submitted an order to the Academy of Arts, the Academy Council identified a team of the best sculptors of that time. However, academic sculptors asked such a high price for their work that the Commission had to refuse, lower the price and hold an auction. As a result, the project was won by French sculptors who were working in St. Petersburg at that time.

In 1928, the restoration of the sculptures of the Rostral columns was carried out. Researchers involved in the restoration discovered that in the years after the October Revolution, the sculptures went through difficult times - “pseudo-restorators” painted them with oil paint, smeared them with plaster, cement and plaster. For a long time, the sculptures were in disrepair and were fully restored only in the late 1990s.

Sphinxes

The sphinxes decorating the granite slope to the Neva in front of the Academy of Arts are the most famous in St. Petersburg. The age of these statues is about three and a half thousand years. Once upon a time, these majestic sculptures, carved from syenite, adorned the entrance to the temple in Thebes, built for Pharaoh Amenhotep III.

The Sphinxes were discovered in 1820 during an archaeological excavation, and the French government planned to acquire them. However, in 1831, by decision of Emperor Nicholas I and with the approval of the Academy of Arts, they were purchased by the Russian traveler A.N. Muravyov for St. Petersburg. And just three years later the sphinxes were transported to their “permanent residence” on Universitetskaya embankment.

Until 1910, the descent to the Neva near the sphinxes was used to unload barges with building materials, then firewood was unloaded at this place. During the years of the siege, in order to preserve the ancient sculptures, a special canopy was built over them. Only two years after the end of the war, the descent to the Neva was completely restored.

Nowadays, the Egyptian sphinxes in front of the Academy of Arts have become one of the unofficial symbols of the northern capital. And the descent to the Neva on the University Embankment is on the list of must-see places for everyone who comes to enjoy St. Petersburg.

Sculpture "Neva" at the base of the Rostral Column

The rostral columns in St. Petersburg on the Spit of Vasilyevsky Island were created in 1810 by the architect Thomas de Thomon as monuments to Russia's naval victories. They also served as lighthouses. The columns are decorated with the bows of ships - rostras, as well as sculptures symbolizing the four great rivers - Volkhov, Volga, Neva and Dnieper.

The sculpture symbolizing the Neva is located at the base of the southern column. It was created by sculptor Samson Sukhanov from Pudost stone according to the model of J. Thibault. The sculpture represents a female figure sitting on a throne.

In 1926-1928 and 1947-1949, restoration of the Rostral columns was carried out. During restoration work in 1998-1999, the statues of the southern column “Neva” and “Volkhov” were revived and appeared in their original beauty.

Sculpture "Gavryusha" - the dog of happiness

The sculpture was unveiled on October 8, 1999 and erected in the courtyard of house No. 3 on Malaya Sadovaya Street. Material: iron, forging. The blacksmith work was carried out thin. A. G. Kuznetsov-Sergeev. The height of the sculpture is 60 cm, the height of the pedestal is 18 cm. On September 4, 2001, the “Mailbox of the Dog Gavryusha” was opened nearby. On the box there is a steel plate with an engraving “To the good dog of the city of St. Petersburg from the blacksmiths of the creative workshop of Yuri Krush. Grodno. Yuri Krush, Ales Vorobiev, Anton Vashkelevich.” Material: iron, forging. On June 1, 2007, “The Good Dog” was installed in a new location in the park near house No. 11 on Pravdy Street.

On June 1, 2007, a monument to the dog Gavryusha, or as it is often called the “monument to the good dog,” was erected near house No. 11 on Pravdy Street. It was moved here from Malaya Sadovaya Street, where it was first opened on October 8, 1999. Sculptor V. A. Sivakov. Later, near the monument, the “Mailbox of the Dog Gavryusha” was strengthened, where those who came to visit left letters for Gavryusha

Sculpture "Have peace among yourselves"

The monument “Have Peace Among Yourselves” is dedicated to the victims of the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939–1940. Because of the refusal to move the border north from Leningrad in those days, the USSR attacked Finland. Perhaps that is why the Finnish side did not support Zelenogorsk’s proposal to jointly create a monument. Then the city authorities decided to install it only for Russian soldiers, but later abandoned this idea.

The bronze sculpture, more than three meters high and weighing 300 kilograms, represents two rifles stuck into the ground, from which trees grow, and between the branches the outlines of a cross can be traced. The cross symbolizes the reconciliation of two peoples. On holidays, candles are placed in tree branches.

The monument was erected in Zelenogorsk on July 31, 2004 on the initiative of the Society of Veterans of the Soviet-Finnish War. The author is a talented Armenian sculptor - Arsen Avetisyan, known for his works in Russia and abroad, who lived and worked in St. Petersburg for many years.

Sculpture "Organizer" ("Crier" or "Pomerezh")

Organizer (Herald or "Pomerezh"), st. Pravdy, St. Petersburg

Park of modern sculpture on Pravdy Street: sculpture “Pomerezh”, sculptor D. D. Kaminker, 2005.

opposite the University of Film and Television

St. Petersburg masters of monumental art received the opportunity to exhibit their works in an open-air museum: a park of modern sculpture was opened in the pedestrian zone of Pravda Street. The idea of allocating free space in the city center for a park belongs to the regional Architectural and Art Fund.

The first to appear on six concrete pedestals were the bronze figures “Blind” and “Organizer” by Dmitry Kaminker. The statues on the alley are as close as possible to passers-by. The authors of the works are not afraid of vandals - they are confident that easy communication with new city “residents” will become a habit, and they will not annoy the statues.

Sculpture "Knight"Death and the Devil"

In the Alexander Park of Tsarskoye Selo, behind the White Tower, there is a mysterious and eerie sculpture “Knight, Death and the Devil”, created from the famous engraving of the greatest master of the Northern Renaissance, German graphic artist and artist Albrecht Dürer. This engraving is one of the master’s three Great Engravings created at the beginning of the 16th century. Against the background of the ruins, the complex four-figure composition looks very organic. An imperturbable knight in armor on a war horse, next to him on a bony nag is death in a crown and an hourglass in his hands, symbolizing the transience of earthly time. Behind is an ugly monster - the devil, a symbol of vices. The knight is accompanied by only one friend - his dog.

Sculpture "Allegory of Beauty"

Sculpture "Allegory of Beauty", by Italian master G. Zorzoni, (c. 1719). The sculpture is a decoration in the Summer Garden in the city of St. Petersburg.

Sculpture of a polytechnic student

The monument to the polytechnic student was solemnly opened in St. Petersburg in April 2010. It was installed near the First Academic Building of the Polytechnic University. The idea to create the image of a polytechnic student appeared back in 2005. In order to bring it to life, Mikhail Radkevich, dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, studied in the archives the details of the student uniform, various overcoats and caps of the early 20th century, in which the best students of the Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute attended classes.

Initially, applicants and design students worked on the monument, and then a member of the Union of Artists, professional sculptor Evelina Solovyova, joined them. The monument was cast from high-quality bronze at the Monumentsculpture factory. Currently, the monument is installed next to the “We” fountain, which was opened in September 2009. In the near future, the composition should take on a finished form - benches and lanterns will appear near the fountain. The sponsors of this project are alumni who graduated from the university in 1975.

Address: St. Petersburg, Spit of Vasilyevsky Island

How to get there from the metro: from the Nevsky Prospekt metro station by bus No. 7 or trolleybus No. 10, 11 towards the Neva, get off at the first stop after the Palace Bridge, 15 minutes
From the Admiralteyskaya metro station - to Nevsky Prospekt, then left across the Palace Bridge. 10 minutes walk

Today this fact is perceived with some difficulty, but it is worth recalling that the majestic ensemble of the Spit of Vasilyevsky Island is, first of all, a port. Yes, there are no cranes, docks and other port attributes we are used to, but it was here, under the windows of the Winter Palace, that trade and passenger ships arrived for more than 150 years. And all the grandiose buildings that together make up the Strelka ensemble have a purely utilitarian purpose: the Exchange, warehouses (the Zoological Museum and the Museum of Soil Science are now located there), customs (Pushkin House). Even the famous granite ramp leading down to the water was built for quick and easy unloading of goods. And of course, it is difficult to imagine a port without lighthouses, which the architect Thomas de Thomon stylized as Rostral columns.

For the first time, such columns appeared in Ancient Rome. They served as a symbol of naval triumph and were decorated with rostras (nose decorations) of enemy ships. The appearance of Rostral columns in St. Petersburg emphasized the greatness of the Russian fleet of that time and the naval glory of the country (later, rostral columns were installed in other cities of Russia from Tomsk to Vladivostok). This was especially true after the extremely unsuccessful Anglo-Russian War of 1808 for the Russian naval forces.

The builder of the column was the French architect Thomas de Thomon, but in addition to him, what we would say today was a large team of craftsmen.

Initially, Thomas de Thomon sketched several options for columns. They differed in scale and decorative design. The famous Russian sculptor Andrei Zakharov spoke very critically about one of these options: “Rostral columns or beacons cannot be built on a confirmed scale, because the stairs in them will be so cramped that a person will not be able to climb them, and the walls they will be thin and fragile; If you want to build them, then you definitely need to do them on a larger scale...”

In its final form, the trunk of each tower was decorated with applied anchors and four pairs of metal rostra. The height of the columns reached 32 meters. Spiral staircases located inside led to the upper platforms, where the tripods for signal lights were located.

At the foot of the columns there are seated monumental statues: two male and female figures, personifying the four Russian rivers - the Dnieper, Volga, Neva, and Volkhov (at the southern column - “Volkhov” and “Neva”, at the northern - “Dnepr” and “Volga” "). The figure of the Dnieper was made by the Antwerp architect I. Camberlain. The other three are by the Frenchman F. Thibault. By the way, the generally accepted “river” interpretation of these images appeared relatively recently. Thomas de Thomon himself wrote that "the base of each column is decorated with huge figures that symbolize the deities of the sea and commerce."

Initially, Thomas de Thomon intended to cast all the sculptures in bronze or cast iron, but due to the complexity of the work, this idea had to be abandoned. Calcareous tuff from near the village of Pudost (near Gatchina), also known as Pudost stone, was chosen. When fresh, just mined, the stone has a beautiful bright yellow color. Thanks to its porous structure, it was easy to process, which earned it a special favor among sculptors. However, the Pudost stone, alas, is unable to withstand the St. Petersburg climate and polluted air. Today the sculptures on the Rostral columns have already lost their original color.

The columns themselves were made of brick by the artel of S.K. Sukhanov. The anchors and rostra were made by blacksmiths Vasilyev, Shapov and Korolkov.

There is still debate among historians and local historians as to whether the Rostral columns were used as lighthouses, or whether from the very beginning they had only a decorative purpose. But the fire on top of the columns could always be lit. Originally hemp oil was burned in braziers, but in 1896 the columns were electrified. After the Revolution, the lighthouses on the columns did not function for a long time, until in 1957, on the 250th anniversary of the city, gas was supplied to the columns. Since then, on holidays and special days, seven-meter flames flare up on the tops of the Rostral columns.

Jean-François Thomas de Thomon

There are discrepancies about the place and date of birth of this French architect. Some claim that he was born in 1759 in Nancy, while other sources say that Jean Francois de Thomon was born in 1760 in Bern.

Thomas de Thomon graduated from the Paris Academy of Architecture, and as the best student received the right to an internship in Italy. Then, the young architect was accepted to the court of Count d'Artois as a draftsman and architect, but the outbreak of the Great French Revolution radically changed his fate.

Fleeing from the horrors of liberalism, Tomon decided to flee to a normal feudal country, and after several years of wandering around Poland and Hungary he came to Russia.
Initially, the Frenchman worked for Prince Dmitry Mikhailovich Golitsin.

The main creation of Thomas de Thomon in Russia, of course, is the ensemble of the Spit of Vasilyevsky Island, but the French architect also built other objects. He rebuilt the interiors of the Winter Palace, erected a new imperial residence on Kamenny Island, and worked in Pavlovsk, Odessa and Tsarskoe Selo.

The master's life ended tragically. On January 1, 1811, Thomas de Thomon was inspecting the building of the Bolshoi Theater, which was damaged after a fire, fell from the scaffolding and was seriously injured. He was no longer able to recover from his injuries, and on August 23, 1813, Thomas de Thomon died. Initially, the architect was buried at the Smolensk cemetery, but in 1940, his ashes were transferred to the Necropolis of Masters of Arts in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

In 1928, the first major restoration of the Rostral columns was carried out. Sculptor I.V. Krestovsky wrote: “By the time of their restorations, carried out after the October Revolution, the sculptures turned out to be painted with oil paint, and not just once, but several times, and each time with a new color<...>All the Pudozh limestone sculptures were ugly smeared with plaster, cement or plaster, not only in places where they were broken, but also in completely intact places. During the restoration of the stone figures of the Rostral columns, two or three carloads of extraneous cement, plaster and plaster coatings were removed from each of the figures.”

During World War II, the Rostral Columns were heavily damaged by bombs and shrapnel. This entailed new restoration work in 1948-1949. The last time the creation of Thomas de Thomon was restored was in 1998-1999.

Of course, there were funny moments in the history of the Rostral Columns. In the 1990s, one of the episodes of the legendary film “White Nights of St. Petersburg” was filmed on them. And in 2011, the Rostral Columns became the object of an invasion by fans of extreme entertainment. On June 7, 2011, roofing enthusiasts climbed the southern Rostral Column. And two months later, on August 23, an unknown person penetrated inside one of the rostral columns where he lit a gas torch. All these incidents did not result in casualties or destruction.

If you decide to visit St. Petersburg for a couple of days, enjoy its beauty and be inspired by the architecture of the 18th-19th centuries, walk along Nevsky Prospect and examine the Hermitage, be sure to visit the spit of Vasilyevsky Island to see with your own eyes one of the hallmarks of the city on the Neva - the Rostral Columns.

These monumental twin structures were registered in St. Petersburg more than 200 years ago: they appeared in the Northern capital in 1810 thanks to the design of the architect Jean Francois Thomas de Thomon. By the way, at the same time the Exchange building was built next door.

Symbol of Russian naval victories

In the then capital of the Russian Empire, triumphal columns 32 meters high were erected as a symbol of the naval victories of the great power. The idea of building design came from Ancient Rome, where it was customary to install triumphal columns and decorate them with rostra (in other words, the bows of enemy ships). The once forgotten Roman tradition came back into fashion during the period of classicism. Rostral columns are one of the symbols of strength, power, might and power of the Russian Empire, reflecting the triumph of Russian weapons in naval battles.

Rostral columns are not just decoration

At the beginning of their career (until 1885), the columns “worked” as lighthouses and only then turned into a monument for tourists. One column showed ships and ships the way to the Bolshaya Neva, the second directed them to the Malaya. Signal lights were lit on columns at night or in fog. Special people climbed the internal spiral staircases to the very top, where on a platform with tripods there were special bowls of lamps with hemp oil. In the nineteenth century, electricity replaced oil, and in the mid-twentieth century, as a gift for the 250th anniversary of the city, the lights began to be lit using gas. Nowadays, bright orange torches on columns appear only on special, special occasions.

Appearance of the Rostral Columns

The buildings are decorated with four pairs of rostra. According to the Roman tradition, on them you can see images of anchors, figures of river deities and inhabitants of the abyss of the sea, such as fish and crocodiles. Thirty-two-meter structures rise on granite pedestals, and their base is crowned by four majestic figures - statues of sea gods and goddesses, carved from Pudost stone. Initially, the architect planned to make the figures from cast iron, but there were no performers for such labor-intensive work. According to legend, the sculptures symbolize the four great Russian rivers: the Neva (pressing the cornucopia to itself), the Volkhov (leaning his hand on the ship’s rudder), the Volga and the Dnieper. However, two figures do not have vessels with pouring water, indicating that the sculptures belong to rivers. Therefore, the debate about what the statues actually symbolize continues.

These are not the only sculptural images of celestial beings and fairy-tale creatures. The bows of the ships are decorated with miniature sculptures of mermaids with wings, heads of mermen with mustaches and hair hanging down, and, of course, figures of the daughters of Zeus. When you look at the monument from the bottom up, it seems as if Naiads with flowing hair and membranous wings are moving towards the waves of the Neva.

What are the sculptures on the rostral columns made of?

The material for creating the sculptures was Pudozh (aka Pudost) stone, mined in the town of Pudost, Gatchina region. Limestone tuff is porous and frost-resistant, and is easy to process. This is a chameleon stone, depending on the light and weather it can change color from dark gray to yellowish-gray shades. Thanks to its porous structure, reminiscent of “pumice”, the stone gives a building or sculpture a noble “antique” appearance.

Interesting Facts:

- “Rostrum” is translated from Latin as “beak”. With such steel “beaks,” enemy ships once rammed each other. In ancient Rome, sailors lined the bows of ships with iron and used them as an additional advantage in battle.

The first Rostral Column was erected in Rome during the Latin War (340 BC). It was built as a symbol of the Roman naval victory over the inhabitants of Carthage.

There are several such triumphal monuments in Russia; in addition to St. Petersburg, rostral columns are installed at the entrance to another seaport city - Vladivostok.

Historians still argue whether the columns were really lighthouses. After all, tall lamps were usually placed on the shore of a large body of water, for example, the sea. They extremely rarely appeared near the river, and in the center of a large city. According to one version, the structures from the very beginning served only as a symbol of victories and were lit on holidays, and did not work as beacons.

The cladding and sculptures of the columns were significantly damaged during the Great Patriotic War. In many places the structure was damaged by shrapnel from shells and bombs. After the war, parts that had become unusable were replaced with duplicates made of polished copper sheets. Among them were platforms on which bowls-lamps were installed.

In addition to Thomas de Thomon, other 19th century masters also worked on a large-scale project of columns. Among them are the famous stonemason S.K. Sukhanov, who came from a poor peasant family, and foreign sculptors J. Camberlain and J. Thibault.

It is worth noting that the design and construction of the facility was constantly monitored by the Council of the Academy of Arts. All details - from artistic appearance to practical significance - were discussed under the control of the great architect of the Academy A.D. Zakharova.

At the end of the 20th century (in 1999), the last restoration work at the site was completed.

Rostral columns have repeatedly decorated banknotes with their images. They appeared on banknotes of 50 rubles in 1997 and 50 thousand rubles in 1995.

The St. Petersburg triumphal columns are included in the Unified State Register of Cultural Heritage Objects (historical and cultural monuments) of Russia.

What else can you visit if you happen to be nearby:

If you are interested in monumental architecture of the early 19th century, you will be interested in taking a look at such a monument of the past as the Rostral Columns. At the same time, look around, because the ensemble of the Strelka of Vasilyevsky Island is also the building of customs, the Exchange, two warehouses (northern and southern), where today the Zoological Museum and the Museum of Soil Science are based. Enjoy the views of the city: next to the triumphal columns you will see the University Embankment, the Makarov Embankment, bridges such as the Palace and Birzhevoy, Birzhevaya Square, the Kunstkamera, the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, the building of the Twelve Collegiums, and the monument to Mikhail Lomonosov. The Spit of Vasilievsky Island is truly a magical place, despite the appearance of the city that has changed over the centuries, it is here that you really feel the spirit of Peter the Great’s era.

Address: Exchange Square

O. MOZGOVAYA, art critic (St. Petersburg)

St. Petersburg is preparing for its 300th anniversary. And as is customary, the city spruces up for the holiday. Restoration work has been underway on the Spit of Vasilievsky Island for several years now. In the 18th century it was one of the most significant places in St. Petersburg. It was convenient for ships to moor here, so in 1733 the port moved here from Beryozovy Island. The Exchange building, Customs, warehouses and other port facilities were erected on the Spit of Vasilyevsky Island. At the end of the 18th century, more than a thousand ships came to Strelka annually.

Currently, the port is located on Gutuevsky Island, but the features of maritime grandeur are still preserved on the Spit of Vasilyevsky Island. And among them are the Rostral columns.

In Ancient Rome, there was a custom: in honor of naval victories, triumphal columns were erected, decorated with rostra (prows) of enemy ships. In St. Petersburg, the Rostral Columns were built in 1810 according to the design of the French architect Jean Francois Thomas de Thomon. There was a time when columns served as beacons for ships arriving at the port. The height of each column is 32 meters. Spiral staircases located inside lead to the upper platforms, where the tripods for signal lights are located. Hemp oil was burned in braziers upstairs, and hot splashes fell on the heads of passers-by.

In 1896, electricity was supplied to the lamps. But this method of lighting was not used for long “due to the great expense.”

And only for the 250th anniversary of the city, in 1957 (the anniversary was celebrated belatedly), gas was supplied to the columns, and 7-meter-high fire torches blazed in powerful burners. The lights on the Rostral columns are lit only on special occasions. They also lit up on November 30 last year, when the Rostral columns were inaugurated after restoration.

THE SCULPTURE NEEDS PROTECTION

Rostral columns are one of the symbols of St. Petersburg. Triumphal columns are traditionally associated with power and strength. The personification of these qualities were the monumental figures placed at the foot of the columns.

The sculpture decorating the Rostral columns was created in 1810-1811, simultaneously with the entire ensemble, in which the synthesis of arts so characteristic of the era of classicism was fully manifested. Architecture and sculpture form an inextricable unity here, complementing each other.

Initially, the author of the project, Thomas de Thomon, intended to cast the entire sculptural decor in bronze, but due to the complexity of the work, the statues had to be made from Pudost limestone. This material was mined in quarries near St. Petersburg, not far from Gatchina, in the town of Bolshaya Pudost, from which it got its name. Easy to work with immediately after removal from the quarry - it can be cut with a knife, limestone hardens quickly in the open air. The structure of the stone does not allow detailed elaboration of small volumes and polishing of the surface, so a master working with Pudost limestone is deprived of the opportunity to demonstrate to the viewer the effect of conveying the texture of various materials and fine ornamentation. At the same time, Pudost stone has its own specific advantages: durability, a beautiful yellowish-grayish warm tint, which stands out especially effectively against the background of granite blocks and the reddish-ocher color of the columns.

In recent years, it has been established that the French sculptors J. Camberlain and F. Thibault worked on the creation of the sculptures. The first to be executed was the male figure on the northern column, and the rest of the sculptures belong to the hand of Thibault. Upon closer examination of the sculpture, one can notice differences in the style of execution: the work of J. Camberlain differs from the others in its greater dynamism and complexity of the silhouette.

What do the sculptures represent? The opinion that at the foot of the columns there are allegorical images representing the four Russian rivers (the southern ones are “Volkhov” and “Neva”, the northern ones are “Dnepr” and “Volga”) is not confirmed by documents and arose relatively recently. Thomas de Thomon himself wrote that “the base of each column is decorated with huge figures that symbolize the deities of the sea and commerce.” The attributes of the sculptures are quite meager, and none of them can confirm or completely refute the version that we have before us allegories of specific four rivers.

Pudost limestone, to a greater extent than other rocks, is susceptible to the destructive effects of temperature changes, precipitation, industrial emissions, cold and damp climate. Therefore, sculptures made from Pudost stone have to be restored frequently.

Before the restoration of the sculpture of the Rostral columns, carried out in 1928, the largest specialist in the field of monumental and decorative sculpture, I. V. Krestovsky, wrote: “The sculptures at the time of their restorations, carried out after the October Revolution, turned out to be painted with oil paint, and not just once, but several times.” , and each time with a new color<...>All the Pudozh limestone sculptures were ugly smeared with plaster, cement or plaster, not only in places where they were broken, but also in completely intact places. During the restoration of the stone figures of the Rostral columns, two or three carloads of extraneous cement, plaster and plaster coatings were removed from each of the figures."

However, this critical review did not affect the progress of the repair work, and Krestovsky repeatedly drew attention to the fact that the restoration was again being carried out incorrectly.

During subsequent repairs, usually carried out in a hurry on the eve of anniversaries, iron pins and nails were driven into the stone in places of loss, which served as reinforcement for cement finishing. The destroyed parts of the figures were replaced with new ones, made of cement or carved from another type of stone, and everything was covered with paint.

The state in which the sculpture of the columns was kept for decades is evidenced by acts preserved in the archives of the State Museum of Urban Sculpture. They were compiled based on the results of inspections carried out before the next stages of restoration. However, unfortunately, during the work carried out from 1928 to 1979, there were no fundamental changes in technology.

No measures were taken to strengthen the Pudost limestone; there was no hydrophobization, that is, protection of the surface of the stone from moisture. The monument continued to deteriorate to the point that the lack of structures to secure the protruding parts led to the fall of these parts. In some places, ferrous metal fittings with traces of deep corrosion were exposed.

AND AGAIN - RESTORATION

In 1996, the question arose about another restoration, since the sculpture was in disrepair.

In Russian art, the closest analogues to the stone images of the Rostral columns can be the figures of Alexander the Great, Achilles, Ajax and Pyrrhus located at the base of the Admiralty tower by the sculptor F. Shchedrin. They are also made of Pudost stone. During the restoration of these sculptures in 1997-1998, Hermitage staff first tested and applied a technique developed by the Spetsproektrestavratsiya research institute. This technique was also used in the restoration of the sculpture of the Rostral Columns, but here the experts were faced with a much more difficult task.

First of all, the sculpture was washed, persistent sooty contaminants formed as a result of the influence of the city atmosphere were removed, and then the biodefeats that covered the surface in many places were neutralized with a special composition.

One of the most important measures taken by the restorers was the removal of late additions. Alien materials differing in their physical properties from the Pudost stone contributed to the destruction of the sculpture. In addition, Kolomna limestone (dolomite), used in numerous restorations, has a different color and surface texture than Pudost stone. Therefore, parts of the sculptures made of dolomite were clearly out of place.

The cleaned stone was strengthened, and exact replicas of the lost parts were installed in the damaged areas. They were made according to preserved drawings and photographs that recorded their original appearance. First, the missing parts were made in plasticine, then in plaster, and when the shape of the model was approved by the Restoration Council, they were made in Pudost limestone.

The fastening of missing parts and the elimination of small chips and cracks were carried out with a special composition of lime and marble chips. This mixture, in its porosity and strength, most closely matches natural Pudost stone. The composition of lime and marble chips, used back in the 4th century by architects of the Northern Black Sea region to process architectural limestone parts, is still durable and well compatible with the limestone surface.

Hollow corundum ceramic rods were used to secure the lost elements. The technology for manufacturing the rods was developed at the Institute of Refractories in St. Petersburg. Employees of the Spetsproektrestavratsiya Research Institute proposed using corundum ceramics, usually used in medicine, and in restoration practice. This ceramic is inert to atmospheric influences and has an expansion coefficient close to stone, has high strength and low thermal conductivity. All this eliminates the processes of destruction in the thickness of the stone. Accessible areas of metal parts that cannot be removed or replaced were cleared and painted with an anti-corrosion compound.

The last stage of restoration of the sculpture is tinting and waterproofing. Toning a limestone sculpture is carried out with an aqueous solution of slaked lime. Following this, applying a composition that protects the stone from moisture allows the tinting to firmly adhere to the stone. This method was developed specifically to protect the Pudost stone and has no analogues in world restoration practice.

To save the sculpture of the Rostral Columns, researchers, professional restorers, monument protection officials and patrons joined their efforts. The restoration work was financed by Baltonexim Bank. There is hope that patronage in Russia is being revived.

“St. Petersburg - the city of stone” is the name of a special program to save monumental sculpture. Next up is the restoration of the compositions on the pediment of the Exchange building. The exchange celebrates its anniversary simultaneously with St. Petersburg: in 1703, Peter I signed a decree on the creation of the Russian Exchange.