The Bronze Horseman
is an equestrian statue of Peter the
Great by Étienne Maurice Falconet in Saint Petersburg. It is also
the name of a narrative poem written by Aleksandr Pushkin about the
statue in 1833, widely considered to be one of the most significant
works of Russian literature. The statue came to be known as the
Bronze Horseman because of the great influence of the poem. The
statue is now one of the symbols of Saint Petersburg, in much the
same way that the Statue of Liberty is a symbol of New York
City.
The statue's pedestal is the enormous
Thunder Stone, sometimes claimed to be the largest stone
ever moved by man (1,250 t).
The equestrian statue of Peter the Great
is situated in the Senate Square (formerly the Decembrists Square),
in Saint Petersburg. Catherine the Great, a German princess who
married into the Romanov line, was anxious to connect herself to
Peter the Great to gain legitimacy in the eyes of the people. She
ordered its construction, and had it inscribed with the phrase
Petro Primo Catharina Secunda MDCCLXXXII in Latin and the
same in Russian, both meaning 'Catherine the Second to Peter the
First, 1782', an expression of Catherine's attitude toward her
predecessor and her view of her own place in the line of great
Russian rulers. Catherine, who, having gained her position through
a palace coup, had no legal claim to the throne, was anxious to
appear as Peter's rightful heir.
In his correspondence with Catherine the
Great, Denis Diderot suggested French sculptor Étienne Maurice
Falconet, a friend of his. The empress followed his advice, and
Falconet arrived in Russia in 1766.
In 1775 the casting of the statue began,
supervised by caster Emelyan Khailov. At one point during the
casting, the mould broke, pouring molten bronze everywhere that
started several fires. All the workers ran except Khailov, who
risked his life to salvage the casting. After having to be remelted
and recast, the statue was later finished. It took 12 years, from
1770 to 1782, to create the statue, including pedestal, horse and
rider.
The tsar's face is the work of the young
Marie-Anne Collot, then only 18 years old. She had accompanied
Falconet as an apprentice on his trip to Russia in 1766. A student
of Falconet and Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, Diderot referred to her as
"Mademoiselle Victoire" (Miss Victory). She modelled Peter the
Great's face after his death mask and numerous portraits she found
in Saint Petersburg.
On August 9, 1782, fourteen years after
excavation of the pedestal began, the finished statue was unveiled
in a ceremony with thousands in attendance. Conspicuously absent
was Falconet, as a misunderstanding between him and the empress
turned into a larger conflict, and he was forced to leave Russia
four years before the project was completed. Catherine largely
forgot about him afterwards, and began to see the Bronze Horseman
as her own oeuvre.
The statue has Peter the Great sitting
heroically on his horse, his outstretched arm pointing towards the
River Neva in the west. The sculptor wished to capture the exact
moment of his horse rearing at the edge of a dramatic cliff. His
horse can be seen trampling a serpent, variously interpreted to
represent treachery, evil or the enemies of Peter and his
reforms.The statue itself is about 6 m (20 feet) tall, while
the pedestal is another 7 m (25 feet) tall, for a total of
approximately 13 m (45 feet).
For the pedestal, an enormous boulder
known as the Thunder Stone, was found at Lakhta, 6 km
(4 miles) inland from the Gulf of Finland in 1768. The Thunder
stone gained its name from a local legend that thunder split a
piece off it. Falconet wanted to work on it in its original
location, but Catherine ordered it be moved before being cut.
Embedded half its depth in marshy terrain, new methods needed to be
developed to move it. A Greek gentleman from the Island of
Kefallonia, then part of the Republic of Venice, named Marinos
Carburis, lieutenant-colonel in the Russian Army, offered to
undertake the project. Marinos studied engineering in Vienna and is
considered to be the first Greek engineer to hold a diploma in
Engineering.
After waiting for winter, when the ground
was frozen, it was then dragged across the countryside. This was
done by means of a metallic sledge which slid over bronze spheres
about 13.5 cm (6 inches) in diameter, over a track, a
process similar to the later invention of ball bearings. Making the
feat even more impressive was that the labour was done entirely by
humans; no animals or machines were used in bringing it from the
original site to the Senate Square. Once a method to move it was
devised, it took 400 men nine months to move the stone, during
which time master stonecutters continuously shaped the enormous
granite monolith. Catherine periodically visited the effort to
oversee their progress. The larger capstans took 32 men at once to
turn, this just barely moving the rock. Further complicating the
issue was the availability of only 100 m of track, which had to be
constantly relaid. Nevertheless, the workers made over 150 m of
progress a day while on level ground. Upon arrival at the sea an
enormous barge was constructed exclusively for the Thunder Stone.
The vessel had to be supported on either side by additional two
full-size warships. After a short maritime voyage, it arrived at
its destination in 1770, nearly two years after efforts to move it
began. A commemorative medal was issued for its arrival, with the
legend 'Close to Daring'.
The gardeners clean up the garden too
well 
It seems that
every container would disappear there. So when you find the right
tree you may log as found, if you want to do this.
Small note on cache maintenance: There is a local
cache guardian who will assist.
Name and contact info on file with geocaching.com.