Alexandria spire on the palace square. The Pillar of Alexandria - history, construction, legends. Grand opening of the monument

The Alexander Column is one of the most famous monuments in St. Petersburg

I erected a monument to myself, not made by hands,
The people's path to him will not be overgrown,
He ascended higher with his rebellious head
Pillar of Alexandria...

A.S. Pushkin

If I remember correctly from school, then the poem sounds exactly like this) After that, with the light hand of Alexander Sergeevich, the Alexander Column began to be called the pillar, and the Alexandrian pillar =) How did it appear and why is it so remarkable?

Alexander Column erected in the Empire style in 1834 in the center of Palace Square by the architect Auguste Montferrand by order of Emperor Nicholas I in memory of the victory of his elder brother Alexander I over Napoleon.

This monument complemented the composition of the Arch of the General Staff, which was dedicated to the victory in the Patriotic War of 1812. The idea of building the monument was proposed by the famous architect Carl Rossi. When planning the space of Palace Square, he believed that a monument should be placed in the center of the square. However, he rejected the proposed idea of installing another equestrian statue of Peter I.

An open competition was officially announced on behalf of Emperor Nicholas I in 1829 with the wording in memory of the “unforgettable brother.” Auguste Montferrand responded to this challenge with a project to erect a grandiose granite obelisk, but this option was rejected by the emperor. A sketch of that project has been preserved and is currently in the library of the Institute of Railway Engineers. Montferrand proposed installing a huge granite obelisk 25.6 meters high on a granite plinth 8.22 meters high. The front side of the obelisk was supposed to be decorated with bas-reliefs depicting the events of the War of 1812 in photographs from the famous medallions by Count F. P. Tolstoy. On the pedestal it was planned to carry the inscription “To the Blessed One - Grateful Russia.” On the pedestal, the architect saw a rider on a horse trampling a snake with his feet; a double-headed eagle flies in front of the rider, the goddess of victory follows the rider, crowning him with laurels; the horse is led by two symbolic female figures. The sketch of the project indicates that the obelisk was supposed to surpass all known monoliths in the world in its height. The artistic part of the project is excellently executed using watercolor techniques and testifies to Montferrand’s high skill in various areas of fine art. Trying to defend his project, the architect acted within the limits of subordination, dedicating his essay “Plans et details du monument consacr? ? la mémoire de l’Empereur Alexandre,” but the idea was still rejected and Montferrand was explicitly pointed to the column as the desired form of the monument.

The second project, which was subsequently implemented, was to install a column higher than that of Vendôme (erected in honor of Napoleon's victories). Below in the photo is a fragment of a column from Place Vendôme (author - PAUL)

Trajan's Column in Rome was suggested to Auguste Montferrand as a source of inspiration.

The narrow scope of the project did not allow the architect to escape the influence of world-famous examples, and his new work was only a slight modification of the ideas of his predecessors. The artist expressed his individuality by refusing to use additional decorations, like the bas-reliefs spiraling around the core of the ancient Trajan's Column. Montferrand showed the beauty of a giant polished monolith of pink granite 25.6 meters high. In addition, Montferrand made his monument taller than all existing ones. In this new form, on September 24, 1829, the project without sculptural completion was approved by the sovereign. Construction took place from 1829 to 1834.

For the granite monolith - the main part of the column - the rock that the sculptor outlined during his previous trips to Finland was used. Mining and preliminary processing were carried out in 1830-1832 in the Pyuterlak quarry, which was located between Vyborg and Friedrichsgam. These works were carried out according to the method of S.K. Sukhanov, the production was supervised by masters S.V. Kolodkin and V.A. Yakovlev. After the stonemasons examined the rock and confirmed the suitability of the material, a prism was cut off from it, which was significantly larger in size than the future column. Giant devices were used: huge levers and gates to move the block from its place and tip it onto a soft and elastic bedding of spruce branches. After separating the workpiece, huge stones were cut from the same rock for the foundation of the monument, the largest of which weighed more than 400 tons. Their delivery to St. Petersburg was carried out by water, for this purpose a barge of a special design was used. The monolith was duped on site and prepared for transportation. Transportation issues were dealt with by naval engineer Colonel Glasin, who designed and built a special boat, named “St. Nicholas,” with a carrying capacity of up to 1,100 tons. To carry out loading operations, a special pier was built. Loading was carried out from a wooden platform at its end, which coincided in height with the side of the vessel. Having overcome all difficulties, the column was loaded on board, and the monolith went to Kronstadt on a barge towed by two steamships, from there to go to the Palace Embankment of St. Petersburg. Arrival of the central part Alexander Column to St. Petersburg took place on July 1, 1832.

Since 1829, work began on the preparation and construction of the foundation and pedestal of the column on Palace Square in St. Petersburg. The work was supervised by O. Montferrand. First, a geological exploration of the area was carried out, as a result of which a suitable sandy continent was discovered near the center of the area at a depth of 5.2 m. In December 1829, the location for the column was approved, and 1,250 six-meter pine piles were driven under the base. Then the piles were cut to fit the spirit level, forming a platform for the foundation, according to the original method: the bottom of the pit was filled with water, and the piles were cut to the level of the water table, which ensured that the site was horizontal. This method was proposed by Lieutenant General A. A. Betancourt, an architect and engineer, organizer of construction and transport in the Russian Empire. Previously, using the same technology, the foundation of St. Isaac's Cathedral was laid. The foundation of the monument was built from stone granite blocks half a meter thick. It was extended to the horizon of the square using planked masonry. In its center was placed a bronze box with coins minted in honor of the victory of 1812. In October 1830 the work was completed.

After laying the foundation, a huge four-hundred-ton monolith, brought from the Pyuterlak quarry, was erected on it, which serves as the base of the pedestal. Of course, at that time, installing a 400-ton stone was, to put it mildly, not easy) But I don’t think it’s worth describing this process in this article, I’ll just note that it was hard for them... By July 1832, the monolith of the column was on its way , and the pedestal is already completed. It's time to begin the most difficult task - installing the column on the pedestal. This part of the work was also carried out by Lieutenant General A. A. Betancourt. In December 1830, he designed an original lifting system. It included: scaffolding 47 meters high, 60 capstans and a system of blocks, and he took advantage of all this in the following way: the column was rolled up an inclined plane onto a special platform located at the foot of the scaffolding and wrapped with many rings of ropes to which the blocks were attached ; another block system was on top of the scaffolding; a large number of ropes encircling the stone went around the upper and lower blocks and the free ends were wound on capstans placed in the square. After all the preparations were completed, the day of the ceremonial ascent was set. On August 30, 1832, masses of people gathered to watch this event: they occupied the entire square, and besides this, the windows and roof of the General Staff Building were occupied by spectators. The sovereign and the entire imperial family came to the raising. To bring the column into a vertical position on Palace Square, engineer A. A. Betancourt needed to attract the forces of 2000 soldiers and 400 workers, who installed the monolith in 1 hour 45 minutes. The block of stone rose obliquely, slowly crawled, then lifted off the ground and was brought to a position above the pedestal. On command, the ropes were released, the column smoothly lowered and fell into place. The people shouted loudly “Hurray!” And Nicholas I then told Montferrand that he had immortalized himself.

After installing the column, all that remained was to attach the bas-relief slabs and decorative elements to the pedestal, as well as to complete the final processing and polishing of the column. The column was surmounted by a bronze capital of the Doric order with a rectangular abacus made of brickwork with bronze facing. A bronze cylindrical pedestal with a hemispherical top was installed on it. In parallel with the construction of the column, in September 1830, O. Montferrand worked on a statue intended to be placed above it and, according to the wishes of Nicholas I, facing the Winter Palace. In the original design, the column was completed with a cross entwined with a snake to decorate the fasteners. In addition, the sculptors of the Academy of Arts proposed several options for compositions of figures of angels and virtues with a cross. There was an option to install the figure of Saint Prince Alexander Nevsky. As a result, the figure of an angel with a cross was accepted for execution, made by the sculptor B.I. Orlovsky with expressive and understandable symbolism - “By this victory!” These words are connected with the story of finding the life-giving cross. The finishing and polishing of the monument lasted two years.

The opening of the monument took place on August 30, 1834 and marked the completion of work on the design of Palace Square. The ceremony was attended by the sovereign, the royal family, the diplomatic corps, a hundred thousand Russian troops and representatives of the Russian army. It was carried out in a distinctly Orthodox setting and was accompanied by a solemn service at the foot of the column, in which kneeling troops and the emperor himself took part. This open-air service drew a parallel with the historical prayer service of Russian troops in Paris on the day of Orthodox Easter, March 29, 1814. In honor of the opening of the monument, a commemorative ruble with a circulation of 15,000 coins was issued.

The Alexander Column is reminiscent of examples of triumphal buildings of antiquity; the monument has amazing clarity of proportions, laconism of form, and beauty of silhouette. The plaque of the monument is engraved with “Grateful Russia to Alexander I.” This is the tallest monument in the world, made of solid granite and the third tallest after the Column of the Grand Army in Boulogne-sur-Mer and Trafalgar in London (Nelson's Column). It is taller than similar monuments in the world: the Vendome Column in Paris, Trajan's Column in Rome and Pompey's Column in Alexandria.

The monument is crowned with a figure of an angel by Boris Orlovsky. In his left hand the angel holds a four-pointed Latin cross, and raises his right hand to heaven. The angel's head is tilted, his gaze is fixed on the ground. Originally designed by Auguste Montferrand, the figure at the top of the column was supported by a steel rod, which was later removed, and during the restoration in 2002-2003 it was revealed that the angel was supported by its own bronze mass. Not only is the column itself taller than the Vendôme Column, but the figure of the angel surpasses in height the figure of Napoleon I on the Vendôme Column. The sculptor gave the angel’s facial features a resemblance to the face of Alexander I. In addition, the angel tramples a snake with a cross, which symbolizes the peace and tranquility that Russia brought to Europe, having won the victory over Napoleonic troops. The light figure of an angel, the falling folds of clothing, the clearly defined vertical of the cross, continuing the vertical of the monument, emphasize the slenderness of the column.

“Alexandrian Pillar” was surrounded by a decorative bronze fence designed by Auguste Montferrand. The height of the fence is about 1.5 meters. The fence was decorated with 136 double-headed eagles and 12 captured cannons, which were crowned with three-headed eagles. Between them were placed alternating spears and banner poles, topped with guards' double-headed eagles. There were locks on the gates of the fence in accordance with the author's plan. In addition, the project included the installation of candelabra with copper lanterns and gas lighting. The fence in its original form was installed in 1834, all elements were completely installed in 1836-1837. In the north-eastern corner of the fence there was a guard box, in which there was a disabled person dressed in a full guards uniform, who guarded the monument day and night and kept order in the square. The entire space of Palace Square was paved with ends.

Imperial linen
And chariot engines, -
In the black pool of the capital
The pillar angel is ascended...

Osip Mandelstam

December 7, 2010 | Categories: Places , History , Architecture

One of the most impressive architectural ensembles of St. Petersburg is Palace Square, in the center of which is the Alexandrian Pillar, or Alexander Column.

It symbolizes the victory of Russia over Napoleonic France in the Patriotic War of 1812.

The idea of installing a monument on Palace Square was put forward by Karl Rossi, who, assessing its architectural ensemble, felt that such a huge space needed bright compositional accents.

The main requirement of the competition announced by Emperor Nicholas I is formulated in a few words - to create a monument in memory of the “unforgettable brother.”

The Alexander Column had another background.

It is known that back in 1814, Auguste Montferrand presented to Alexander I in Paris “An Album of Various Architectural Projects Dedicated to His Majesty the Emperor of All Russia Alexander I.”

The album contained drawings of a triumphal arch, an equestrian statue, and a huge obelisk. All drawings were accompanied by brief descriptions and even an indication of the cost of the work.

Alexander I drew attention to the talented young man, which was followed by an official invitation to Russia.

In his second homeland, Auguste Montferrand achieved enormous success. When the competition was announced in 1829, he was busy building St. Isaac's Cathedral. Nevertheless, Montferrand nominated two projects at once to participate in the competition.

The first option involved the installation of a granite obelisk with bas-reliefs on the theme of the Patriotic War and an allegorical image of Alexander I as a Roman warrior.

This project was rejected, but the architect was told that the option with a column was the most preferable. Montferrand proposed installing a triumphal column, focusing on the examples of the Vendôme Column in Paris and the Column of Trajan in Rome and Pompey in Alexandria. Nicholas I liked this proposal - it is its embodiment in granite that is today on Palace Square.

The monument became a semantic addition to the triumphal Arch of the General Staff, also dedicated to the victory of Russian weapons over the Napoleonic army.

The Alexander Column serves as the final visual accent of the Palace Square ensemble.

The Alexandria Pillar surprises with its simplicity of appearance and monumentality.

Getting to know the technological solutions and architectural features of the column surprises you even more and makes you look at it with new eyes.

The granite monument of this kind is the largest in the world and weighs 600 tons.

Due to the mass and precise calculations, the Alexander Pillar has been in its place since its erection, unsecured and devoid of any external support.

There was no need to search for material for the column for a long time. Montferrand knew well the granite from the quarry in Pueterlax, which was used for the construction of St. Isaac's Cathedral.

Over the course of two years, 250 workers, led by Samson Sukhanov, hewed out the blanks of the column itself and the pedestal from the rock monolith found here.

At each stage of the work it was necessary to solve complex technical problems.

The finished granite block was given the required shape on site. Then, using a complex system of rollers, it was moved to a special pier and loaded onto the barge “St. Nicholas” built for this purpose, which was towed through Kronstadt to St. Petersburg.

Since 1829, preparatory work was simultaneously underway on Palace Square, almost in the center of which, during geological exploration, a suitable site was found.

1,250 six-meter piles were driven into the prepared pit, on which granite blocks 50 centimeters thick were laid. A monolithic granite pedestal weighing 400 tons was installed on top.

The operations of installing the pedestal and lifting the Pillar of Alexandria to the place prepared for it were carried out using a system developed by Augustine Betancourt. It consisted of scaffolding, capstans, many lifting blocks, winches and ropes.

This method has already been tested and showed excellent results when installing the columns of St. Isaac's Cathedral, although the Alexandria Pillar significantly exceeded them in mass.

All mechanisms were put into action by 2,000 soldiers and 400 workers. According to eyewitnesses who gathered in large numbers in the square, the entire installation of the column took about one hundred minutes, that is, less than two hours.

Nicholas I, who was present, congratulated the architect and said the words: “Montferrand, you have immortalized yourself!”

The column installed in its intended place still needed to be processed, polished, and slabs with bas-reliefs and decorative elements mounted.

And most importantly, at the initial stage of discussion of the project, Montferrand had not yet imagined the final form of the monument; in particular, there was no sculpture crowning the column.

Several options were discussed: a cross entwined with a snake, figures of angels with a cross, a sculpture of Alexander Nevsky. As a result, they settled on a figure of an angel more than six meters high, which was made by the sculptor Boris Orlovsky.

The angel is installed on a cylindrical pedestal, he tramples on a snake, symbolizing evil, his right hand rises to the sky, and his left holds a cross.

The monument was inaugurated on August 30, 1834. The ceremony was not only solemn, but also grandiose.

In the presence of the royal family, foreign representatives and numerous guests, Nicholas I took part in the service directly at the base of the Alexandria Pillar along with the kneeling troops.

The celebrations ended with a military parade, in which regiments that glorified themselves in the Patriotic War took part. For two hours, an army of one hundred thousand marched in orderly rows to the beat of drums in front of those gathered.

The architectural form of a triumphal column has certain canons that are difficult to deviate from. However, Montferrand managed, while remaining within the framework of tradition, not to repeat the details of famous monuments: he abandoned bas-reliefs, spiral decorations and other details.

The architect developed his own original system for thinning the column core, which determines its visual perception.

As a result, Montferrand gave his creation classical purity of lines, laconism, proportionality of all parts, proportions and symbolic sound, surpassing existing examples in height.

The height of the granite part of the column is 25.6 meters; together with the pedestal and the figure of an angel, the Alexandrian Pillar rises to a height of 47.5 meters. There is no taller monument in the world made of solid granite.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, restoration work was carried out, which was mainly cosmetic in nature. However, careful studies carried out at the beginning of the 21st century showed the need for serious restoration work.

In addition to eliminating the damage caused by time, several dozen fragments that fell into it during the siege of Leningrad were removed from the monument.

An original drainage system has been developed to protect the monument from the rainy St. Petersburg weather. The restoration was completed in 2003, and today the Alexander Column again appears in the solemn form that it had at the time of its opening.

In the 19th century, construction technology in Europe was not very different from that of ancient Egypt. Thousand-ton blocks were lifted by hand.

Original taken from ikuv in Raising the Alexander Column in 1832

Leafing through an old magazine, I found an article about how our ancestors, who lived about 200 years ago, without any Komatsu, Hitachi, Ivanovtsev and other caterpillars, successfully solved an engineering task that is still difficult today - they delivered the blank of the Alexander Column to St. Petersburg, processed it, lifted and installed vertically. And it still stands. Vertical.

Prof. N. N. Luknatsky (Leningrad), magazine "Construction Industry" No. 13 (September) 1936, pp. 31-34

The Alexander Column, standing on Uritsky Square (formerly Dvortsovaya) in Leningrad, with a total height of 47 m (154 ft) from the top of the foundation to the top point, consists of a pedestal (2.8 m) and a column core (25.6 m).
The pedestal, like the core of the column, is made of red coarse-grained granite, mined in the Pitterlak quarry (Finland).
Pitterlack granite, especially polished, is very beautiful; however, due to its coarse grain size, it is easily subject to destruction under the influence of atmospheric influences.
Gray Serdobolsky fine-grained granite is more durable. Arch. Montferand wanted to make a pedestal from this granite, but, despite intensive searches, he did not find a stone without cracks of the required size.
When extracting columns for St. Isaac's Cathedral in the Pitterlak quarry, Montferand discovered a piece of rock without cracks, measuring up to 35 m in length and up to 7 m in thickness, and left it untouched just in case, and when the question arose about the delivery of the monument to Alexander the First, he, having In view of this very stone, a project was drawn up for the monument in the form of a column made from a single piece of granite. The extraction of stones for the pedestal and column core was entrusted to the contractor Yakovlev, who already had experience in the extraction and delivery of columns for St. Isaac's Cathedral.

1.Work in a quarry

The method of quarrying both stones was approximately the same; first of all, the rock was cleared from the top of the covering layer to make sure that there were no cracks in it; then the front part of the granite mass was leveled to the required height and cuts were made at the ends of the granite mass; they were made by drilling so many holes in a row that they almost connected with each other.

Pitterlax Quarry (Puterlakse)

While one group of workmen was working on the slits at the ends of the mass, others were engaged in cutting the stone below to prepare for its fall; on the upper part of the massif, a groove 12 cm wide and 30 cm deep was punched along its entire length, after which, from its bottom, wells were drilled by hand through the entire thickness of the massif at a distance of 25-30 cm from each other; then a furrow, completely along the entire length, was laid with 45 cm iron wedges, and between them and the edge of the stone, iron sheets for better advancement of the wedges and to protect the edge of the stone from breakage. The workers were arranged so that there were from two to three wedges in front of each of them; on a signal, all the workers simultaneously hit them and soon cracks became noticeable at the ends of the massif, which gradually, slowly increasing, separated the stone from the general mass of rock; these cracks did not deviate from the direction outlined by numerous wells.
The stone was finally separated and tipped over with levers and capstans onto a prepared bed of branches thrown onto an inclined log grillage in a layer of 3.6 m.

Tilting an array for a column rod in a quarry

A total of 10 birch levers, each 10.5 m long, and 2 shorter iron ones were installed; At their ends there are ropes for which the workers pulled; in addition, 9 capstans with pulleys were installed, the blocks of which were firmly attached to iron pins embedded in the upper surface of the massif. The stone was turned over in 7 minutes, while work on its extraction and preparation for separation from the general rock mass lasted almost two years; the weight of the stone is about 4000 tons.

2. Pedestal for column

First, the stone for the pedestal weighing about 400 tons (24,960 pounds) was delivered; besides this, several more stones were loaded onto the ship, and the total weight of the entire loading was about 670 tons (40,181 pounds); under this weight the ship bent somewhat, but it was decided to install it between two steamships and tow it to its destination: despite the stormy autumn weather, it arrived safely on November 3, 1831.

Delivery of blocks for the pedestal of the Alexander Column

Two hours later, the stone was already unloaded onto the shore using 10 capstans, of which 9 were installed on the embankment, and the tenth was fixed on the stone itself and worked through a return block fixed on the embankment.

Moving the block for the pedestal of the Alexander Column from the embankment

The stone for the pedestal was placed 75 m from the foundations of the column, covered with a canopy, and until January 1832, 40 stonemasons were hewing it from five sides.

The future pedestal under the canopy

Of interest are the measures taken by the builders to trim the surface of the sixth lower face of the stone and install it on the prepared foundation. In order to turn the stone upside down with its lower unhewn edge, they built a long inclined wooden plane, the end of which, forming a vertical ledge, rose 4 m above ground level; under it, on the ground, a layer of sand was poured, on which the stone was supposed to lie when falling from the end of the inclined plane; On February 3, 1832, the stone was pulled by nine capstans to the end of the inclined plane and here, after hesitating for a few seconds in balance, it fell on one edge onto the sand, and was then easily turned over. After trimming the sixth face, the stone had to be placed on rollers and pulled onto the foundation, and then the rollers were removed; To do this, 24 racks, about 60 cm high, were brought under the stone, then the sand was removed from under it, after which 24 carpenters, working very coordinated, simultaneously hewed the racks to a small height at the very bottom surface of the stone, gradually thinning them; when the thickness of the racks reached approximately 1/4 of the normal thickness, a strong cracking sound began, and the carpenters stepped aside; the remaining uncut part of the racks broke under the weight of the stone, and it sank several centimeters; this operation was repeated several times until the stone finally sat on the rollers. To install the stone on the foundation, a wooden inclined plane was again arranged, along which it was raised with nine capstans to a height of 90 cm, first lifting it with eight large levers (wags) and pulling rollers out from under it; the space formed underneath made it possible to lay a layer of mortar; since the work was carried out in winter, at temperatures ranging from -12° to -18°, Montferand mixed cement with vodka, adding one twelfth part of soap; the cement formed a thin and fluid dough and on it, with two capstans, it was easy to turn the stone, slightly lifting it with eight large waggons, in order to quite accurately install it horizontally on the upper plane of the foundation; the work of accurately installing the stone lasted two hours.

Installation of the pedestal on the foundation

The foundation was built in advance. The foundation for it consisted of 1250 wooden piles, driven from a level of 5.1 m below the level of the square and to a depth of 11.4 m; 2 piles are driven on each square meter; they were driven with a mechanical piledriver, made according to the design of the famous engineer Betancourt; The female copra weighed 5/6 tons (50 poods) and was lifted by a horse-drawn collar.
The heads of all the piles were cut to one level, determined by the fact that before it, water was pumped out of the pit and marks were made on all the piles at once; A layer of gravel was laid and compacted between the 60 cm exposed tops of the piles, and on the site leveled in this way, a foundation 5 m high was erected from 16 rows of granite stones.

3. Delivery of monolithic column rod

In the early summer of 1832, they began loading and delivering the column monolith; loading this monolith, which had a huge weight (670 tons), onto a barge was a more difficult operation than loading the stone for the pedestal; To transport it, a special vessel was built with a length of 45 m, a width along the mid-beam of 12 m, a height of 4 m and a carrying capacity of about 1100 tons (65 thousand poods).
At the beginning of June 1832, the ship arrived at the Pitterlax quarry, and the contractor Yakovlev with 400 workers immediately began loading stone; near the shore of the quarry, a pier 32 m long and 24 m wide was made in advance on piles from log frames filled with stone, and in front of it in the sea there was a wooden avant-pier of the same length and design as the pier; a passage (port) 13 m wide was formed between the pier and the pier; The log boxes of the pier and pier were connected to each other by long logs, covered with boards on top, forming the bottom of the port. The road from the place where the stone was broken to the pier was cleared, and the protruding parts of the rock were blown up, then logs were laid close to each other along the entire length (about 90 m); the movement of the column was carried out by eight capstans, of which 6 dragged the stone forward, and 2 located behind held the column during its dimensional movement due to the difference in the diameters of its ends; to level the direction of movement of the column, iron wedges were placed at a distance of 3.6 m from the lower base; after 15 days of work, the column was at the pier.
28 logs, 10.5 m long and 60 cm thick, were laid on the pier and the ship; along them it was necessary to drag the column onto the ship with ten capstans located on the avant-mole; In addition to the workers, 60 people were placed on capstans in front and behind the column. to monitor the ropes going to the capstans, and those with which the ship was secured to the pier. At 4 o'clock in the morning on June 19, Montferand gave the signal for loading: the column moved easily along the tracks and was almost loaded when an incident occurred that almost caused a disaster; due to the slight tilt of the side closest to the pier, all 28 logs rose and immediately broke under the weight of the stone; the ship tilted, but did not capsize, as it rested against the bottom of the port and the wall of the pier; the stone slid towards the lowered side, but stopped at the wall of the pier.

Loading the column rod onto a barge

People managed to run away, and there were no misfortunes; the contractor Yakovlev was not at a loss and immediately organized the straightening of the ship and the lifting of the stone. A military team of 600 people was called in to help the workers; Having marched 38 km in a forced march, the soldiers arrived at the quarry 4 hours later; after 48 hours After continuous work without rest or sleep, the ship was straightened, the monolith on it was firmly strengthened, and by July 1, 2 steamships delivered it to the bay. Palace embankment.

Portrait of workers delivering the convoy

In order to avoid a similar failure that occurred when loading the stone, Montferand paid special attention to the arrangement of devices for unloading. The river bottom was cleared of the piles remaining from the lintel after the construction of the embankment wall; using a very strong wooden structure, they leveled the inclined granite wall to a vertical plane so that the ship with the column could approach the embankment completely close, without any gap; the connection between the cargo barge and the embankment was made of 35 thick logs laid close to each other; 11 of them passed under the column and rested on the deck of another heavily loaded vessel, located on the river side of the barge and serving as a counterweight; in addition, at the ends of the barge, 6 more thicker logs were laid and strengthened, the ends of which on one side were firmly tied to the auxiliary vessel, and the opposite ends extended 2 m onto the embankment; The barge was firmly pulled to the embankment with the help of 12 ropes encircling it. To lower the monolith to the shore, 20 capstans worked, of which 14 pulled the stone, and 6 held the barge; The descent went very well within 10 minutes.
In order to further move and raise the monolith, they built solid wooden scaffolding, which consisted of an inclined plane, an overpass going to it at a right angle and a large platform that occupied almost the entire area surrounding the installation site and rose 10.5 m above its level.
In the center of the platform, on a sandstone massif, scaffolding was built, 47 m high, consisting of 30 four-beam racks, reinforced with 28 struts and horizontal ties; The 10 central posts were higher than the others and at the top, in pairs, were connected by trusses on which lay 5 double oak beams, with pulley blocks suspended from them; Montferand made a model of the scaffolding in 1/12 life-size and subjected it to the examination of the most knowledgeable people: this model greatly facilitated the work of the carpenters.
Lifting the monolith along an inclined plane was carried out in the same way as moving it in a quarry, along continuously laid beams with capstans.

Movements of the finished column: from the embankment to the overpass

At the beginning of the overpass

At the end of the overpass

On the overpass

At the top, on the overpass, he was pulled onto a special wooden cart that moved along the rollers. Montferand did not use cast iron rollers, fearing that they would be pressed into the flooring boards of the platform, and he also abandoned balls - the method used by Count Carbury to move the stone under the monument to Peter the Great, believing that preparing them and other devices would take a lot of time. The cart, divided into two parts 3.45 m wide and 25 m long, consisted of 9 side beams, laid close to each other, and reinforced with clamps and bolts with thirteen transverse beams, on which the monolith was laid. It was installed and strengthened on a trestle near an inclined plane and the mass was pulled in with the same capstans that pulled it upward along this plane.

4. Raising the column

The column was raised by sixty capstans installed on scaffolding in a circle in two rows in a checkerboard pattern and reinforced with ropes to piles driven into the ground; each capstan consisted of two cast-iron drums mounted in a wooden frame and driven by four horizontal handles through a vertical shaft and horizontal gears (Fig. 4); From the capstans, ropes went through guide blocks, firmly fixed at the bottom of the scaffolding, to pulley blocks, the upper blocks of which were suspended from the double oak crossbars mentioned above, and the lower ones were attached to the column rod with slings and continuous rope harnesses (Fig. 3); the ropes consisted of 522 heels of the best hemp, which during testing withstood a load of 75 kg each, and the entire rope - 38.5 tons; the total weight of the monolith with all accessories was 757 tons, which, with 60 ropes, gave about 13 tons of load for each, i.e., their safety factor was assumed to be threefold.
The raising of the stone was scheduled for August 30; to work on capstans, teams from all guards units were equipped in the amount of 1,700 privates with 75 non-commissioned officers; The very important work of lifting the stone was organized very thoughtfully, the workers were arranged in the following strict order.
On each capstan, under the command of a non-commissioned officer, 16 people worked. and, in addition, 8 people. was in reserve to relieve tired people; the senior member of the team ensured that the workers walked at an even pace, slowing down or speeding up depending on the tension of the rope; for every 6 capstans there was 1 foreman, located between the first row of capstans and the central scaffolding; he monitored the tension of the ropes and conveyed orders to the senior members of the team; every 15 capstans constituted one of 4 squads, led by four assistants of Montferand, standing at each of the four corners of the high scaffolding, on which there were 100 sailors, watching the blocks and ropes and straightening them; 60 dexterous and strong workers stood on the column itself between the ropes and held the polypaste blocks in the correct position; 50 carpenters were in different places in the forests just in case; 60 stonemasons stood at the bottom of the scaffolding near the guide blocks with the order not to let anyone near them; 30 other workers guided the rollers and removed them from under the cart as the column was raised; 10 masons were at the pedestal to pour cement mortar onto the top row of granite on which the column would stand; 1 foreman stood at the front of the scaffolding, at a height of 6 m, to give a signal with a bell to start lifting; 1 boatswain was at the highest point of the scaffolding at the pole to raise the flag as soon as the column was in place; 1 surgeon was below the scaffolding to provide first aid and, in addition, there was a team of workers with tools and materials in reserve.
All operations were managed by Monferand himself, who, two days beforehand, made a test of raising the monolith to a height of 6 m, and before starting the lifting, he personally verified the strength of the piles holding the capstans, and also inspected the direction of the ropes and scaffolding.
The raising of the stone, at the signal given by Montferand, began exactly at 2 o'clock in the afternoon and proceeded quite successfully.

Beginning of the column lifting

The column moved horizontally with the cart and at the same time gradually rose upward; at the moment of its separation from the cart, 3 capstans, almost simultaneously, stopped due to the confusion of several blocks; at this critical moment one of the upper blocks burst and fell from the height of the scaffolding into the middle of a group of people standing below, which caused some confusion among the workers surrounding Montferand; Fortunately, the teams working on the nearby capstans continued to walk at an even pace - this quickly brought calm, and everyone returned to their places.
Soon the column hung in the air above the pedestal, stopping its upward movement and aligning it strictly vertically and along the axis with the help of several capstans, they gave a new signal: everyone working on the capstans made a 180° turn and began to rotate their handles in the opposite direction, lowering the ropes and slowly lowering the column exactly into place.

Raising the column lasted 40 minutes; the next day, Menferand checked the correctness of its installation, after which he ordered the scaffolding to be removed. Work on finishing the column and installing decorations continued for another two years and it was finally ready in 1834.

Bishebois, L. P. -A. Bayo A. J. -B. Grand opening of the Alexander Column (August 30, 1834)

All operations for the extraction, delivery and installation of the column must be considered very well organized; however, one cannot help but note some shortcomings when compared with the organization of work on moving the stone for the monument to Peter the Great, carried out under the leadership of Count Carbury 70 years earlier; these shortcomings are as follows:
1. When loading the stone, Caburi flooded the barge, and it settled on the hard bottom of the river, so there was no danger of capsizing; Meanwhile, when loading the monolith for the Alexander Column, they did not do this, and the barge tilted, and the whole operation almost ended in complete failure.
2. Carburi used screw jacks to lift and lower, while Montferand lowered the stone in a rather primitive and somewhat dangerous way for workers, cutting off the racks on which it lay.
3. Carbury, using an ingenious method of moving the stone on brass balls, significantly reduced friction and made do with a small number of capstans and workers; Monferand's statement that he did not use this method due to lack of time is incomprehensible, since the extraction of the stone lasted almost two years and during this time all the necessary devices could have been made.
4. The number of workers when lifting the stone was large; however, it must be taken into account that the operation lasted very short and that the workers were mostly ordinary military units, dressed up for the raising as if for a ceremonial parade.
Despite these shortcomings, the entire operation of raising the column is an instructive example of a well-thought-out organization with a strict and clear establishment of the work schedule, the placement of workers and the determination of each actor's duties.

1. It is customary to write Montferand, however, the architect himself wrote his last name in Russian - Montferand.
2. “Construction industry” No. 4 1935.

Thanks to Sergei Gaev for providing the magazine for scanning.

Arches of the General Staff, which was dedicated to the victory in the Patriotic War of 1812.

The idea of building the monument was proposed by the famous architect Carl Rossi. When planning the space of Palace Square, he believed that a monument should be placed in the center of the square. An open competition was officially announced on behalf of Emperor Nicholas I in 1829 with the wording in memory of the “unforgettable brother”. Auguste Montferrand responded to this challenge with a project to erect a grandiose granite obelisk, but this option was rejected by the emperor.

In honor of the 175th anniversary of the installation of the Alexander Column on Palace Square in St. Petersburg, a solemn ceremony was held, and the Day of the Alexander Column was established in the Hermitage.

On September 25, 2009, the Bank of Russia issued a commemorative coin with a face value of 25 rubles dedicated to the 175th anniversary of the Alexander Column in St. Petersburg. The coin is made of 925 silver, with a circulation of 1000 copies and weighing 169.00 grams.

The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources

And the Alexander Column has been decorating Palace Square since 1834: Nicholas I ordered its erection in honor of the victory of Alexander I over Napoleon. Together with the Kultura.RF portal, we recall interesting details from the history of this building.

Alexander Column, St. Petersburg. Photo: meros.org

The first sketches of the Alexander Obelisk

Stepan Shchukin. Portrait of Alexander I. Early 1800s. State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Evgeny Plyushar. Portrait of Auguste Montferrand. 1834.

Franz Kruger. Portrait of Nicholas I. 1852. Hermitage, St. Petersburg

In 1829, Nicholas I announced an open competition for sketches of a monument in memory of Alexander I. Auguste Montferrand - his design for the Alexander Column was subsequently realized - first proposed installing a 25-meter-high granite obelisk on the square. At the same time, Montferrand developed several projects for the monument’s pedestal. In one of the sketches, he proposed decorating the pedestal with bas-reliefs of Fyodor Tolstoy, which illustrated the events of the Patriotic War of 1812, and the figure of a horseman, in front of whom flies a double-headed eagle, and behind is the goddess of victory. In another sketch he depicted figures of elephants supporting an obelisk.

"Trajan's Column appeared before me"

Alexander Column, figure of an angel

Alexander Column, pedestal

However, not a single obelisk project was accepted. Montferrand was asked to create something like the Vendôme Column in Paris or Trajan's Column in Rome. As the architect wrote: “Trajan’s Column appeared before me as a prototype of the most beautiful thing that a person of this kind can create. I had to try to come as close as possible to this majestic example of antiquity, as was done in Rome for the Antonine Column, in Paris for the Napoleon Column".

Montferrand's column also had several design options: in addition to the sketch with the figure of an angel, the architect proposed crowning the obelisk with a cross entwined with a snake, or installing the figure of Alexander Nevsky at the top.

Finnish granite for a Russian monument

Vasily Tropinin. Portrait of Samson Sukhanov. 1823. Museum of V.A. Tropinin and Moscow artists of his time, Moscow

Pyuterlach quarry, separation of a block of stone from a rock. Lithograph from the book by Auguste Montferrand. "Plans and details of a monument dedicated to the memory of Emperor Alexander", 1836

Tilting a mass for a column rod in a quarry. Lithograph from the book by Auguste Montferrand. "Plans and details of a monument dedicated to the memory of Emperor Alexander", 1836

Montferrand chose the material for his monument in advance: granite from Finland was used for the Alexander Column. Both the column itself and the stones for its foundation were cut from one rock - the largest of them weighed more than 400 tons. They were hewn out over two years - from 1830 to 1832 - in the Pyuterlak quarry. About 250 people worked there, and they were led by the famous stonemason Samson Sukhanov.

Transportation on "St. Nicholas"

Loading the column onto the ship. Lithograph from the book by Auguste Montferrand. "Plans and details of a monument dedicated to the memory of Emperor Alexander", 1836

Delivery of blocks for the pedestal of the Alexander Column. Lithograph from the book by Auguste Montferrand. "Plans and details of a monument dedicated to the memory of Emperor Alexander", 1836

Moving the block for the pedestal of the Alexander Column from the embankment. Lithograph from the book by Auguste Montferrand. "Plans and details of a monument dedicated to the memory of Emperor Alexander", 1836

Transporting blanks for the obelisk from Finland to St. Petersburg was not an easy task. To transport the column by water, a special boat “St. Nicholas” was built with a carrying capacity of more than 1000 tons. 600 soldiers were loaded onto its board, and they almost dropped the monolith into the water. The St. Nicholas and the convoy were towed by two steamships to St. Petersburg.

Pine piles, cement with soap and a box of coins

Installation of the pedestal on the foundation. Lithograph from the book by Auguste Montferrand. "Plans and details of a monument dedicated to the memory of Emperor Alexander", 1836

Lifting a column onto an overpass. Lithograph from the book by Auguste Montferrand. "Plans and details of a monument dedicated to the memory of Emperor Alexander", 1836

When laying the foundation for the installation of the column, workers discovered piles: half a century earlier, Bartolomeo Rastrelli planned to erect a monument to Peter I here.

When installing the column, we used the innovative engineering developments of Augustine Betancourt, which by that time had already been tested during the construction of St. Isaac's Cathedral by Augustine Montferrand. Here the foundation was laid using the same technology as in Isaacia: 1,250 pine piles were driven into the bottom of the pit, and granite stone blocks were placed on them. A monolith weighing 400 tons was placed on the foundation, which became the base of the pedestal. The monolith was connected to the foundation with a special solution - vodka and soap were added to the cement. Thanks to this, the monolith could be moved until it “sits” perfectly. A commemorative box with coins minted in honor of the War of 1812 and a mortgage board were installed in the center of the foundation.

“Montferrand, you have immortalized yourself!”

Alexander Denisov. The rise of the Alexander Column. 1832

L.P.-A. Bishebois, A.J.-B. Bayo. The rise of the Alexander Column. 1834

Grigory Gagarin. Alexandria Column in the woods. 1832

The most difficult task facing the builders was installing the column. The developments made by Augustine Betancourt during the construction of St. Isaac's Cathedral were also useful here. He designed a special lifting system from scaffolding, capstans - mechanisms for moving loads - and a system of blocks. First, the column was rolled up an inclined plane onto a special platform and secured to it. Then they began to lift the ropes placed on top of the scaffolding. About 2,500 people performed this operation for almost 40 minutes. Nicholas I was so impressed by the solemn rise that he exclaimed: “Montferrand, you have immortalized yourself!” After installing the column, it was sanded, polished and decorated - this took two years.

Sculptural decoration of the column

Alexander Column, figure of an angel. Photo: hellopiter.ru

Alexander Column, pedestal. Photo: nevsky.rf

Alexander Column, pedestal. Photo: fotokto.ru

The figure of an angel, almost five meters high, was made by sculptor Boris Orlovsky. The angel holds a cross in his left hand and raises his right hand to heaven. According to Montferrand's plan, the figure of the angel was supposed to be gilded, but due to the rush to open it, this decision was abandoned. On the pedestal of the column there are images of the all-seeing eye, under which there are double-headed eagles holding laurel garlands in their paws. Two winged female figures hold a sign with the text “To Alexander I - grateful Russia”; symbols of the Vistula and Neman rivers are depicted nearby. Other bas-reliefs depict allegories of Victory and Peace, Justice and Mercy and Wisdom and Abundance. Montferrand himself made the drawings for the design of the pedestal; based on them, artists made life-size sketches, and sculptors created molds for casting.

The tallest monument made of solid granite

Alexander Column. Photo: petersburg.center

The opening ceremony of the monument took place on September 11, 1834. The architect wanted to refuse to participate in the ceremony, but Nicholas I insisted, saying: “Montferrand, your creation is worthy of its purpose, you have erected a monument to yourself.”. For the celebration, special stands were erected on Palace Square to accommodate the imperial family and other distinguished guests.

“And no pen can describe the greatness of that moment when, following three cannon shots, suddenly from all the streets, as if born from the earth, in slender bulks, with the thunder of drums, columns of the Russian army began to march to the sounds of the Paris March... The ceremonial march began: Russian the army passed by the Alexander Column; This magnificent, unique spectacle in the world lasted for two hours... In the evening, noisy crowds wandered through the streets of the illuminated city for a long time, finally, the lighting faded, the streets were empty, and the majestic colossus was left alone with its sentry in a deserted square.”
Vasily Zhukovsky

Angel after the revolution

Restoration of the Alexander Column in 2002. Photo: armycarus.do

Restoration of the Alexander Column in 2002. Photo: petersburglike.ru

After the revolution, the figure of the angel on the Alexander Column was disguised with red cloth or balloons during city holidays. There was a legend that they were planning to install a statue of Lenin instead, but this did not happen. The fence around the monument was melted down for ammunition in the 1930s. During the Great Patriotic War, the Alexander Column was not completely camouflaged, like many other architectural monuments of Leningrad, but only 2/3 of the height. The angel received shrapnel “wounds.” The column and the area around it were restored several times - in the 1960s, 1970s and 2000s.

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