Description of the attraction
St. Petersburg has long been called a city-museum. Tourists from different parts of the world come here to see the pearls of the city of Peter - the Hermitage, Nevsky Prospect, Peter and Paul Fortress, Palace Square, the Admiralty building. Of no less interest are sights located far from traditional tourist routes - streets, courtyards, wells, monuments hidden behind the front facades of buildings. It is these "small" memorable places that allow you to fully experience the spirit of St. Petersburg, touch its history. Such modest landmarks include the janitor's monument, unveiled in March 2007.
This monument, made of Finnish fine-grained granite, is located next to the building of the City Housing Committee, on Ostrovsky Square. The two-meter statue of a man, as if sitting down to rest for a while, faces the square. In the hands of the janitor is a snow shovel. He is dressed simply - a sheepskin coat, felt boots, a fur hat. This is how, simply and unassumingly, the people of this profession dressed in winter.
The monument to the janitor does not have a specific prototype. The sculptor Jan Neumann used the collective character and appearance of the cleanliness ministers of the 19th - mid-20th centuries. Unfortunately, in our time, the profession of a janitor is not considered prestigious. But in pre-revolutionary tsarist Russia, janitors were respected and appreciated. If the tenants of the house treated the janitor badly, then they could be overtaken by "retribution". The janitor could easily, for example, bring raw firewood for kindling or even “forget” about them.
The beginning of the profession was laid by the decree of Tsar Alexei on the city's well-being. The janitors were charged with not only cleaning streets and courtyards, but also guarding the house, maintaining order, collecting and storing finds, helping the police. What the janitor should and should not have done was clearly regulated by the decisions and orders of the city government, and the janitors themselves were under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Interior.
The janitor had apprentice assistants, who were called junior janitors, and their number depended on the wealth of the tenants and the prestige of the house. After learning all the intricacies of the craft, they usually moved to work independently in other homes. The duties of the junior janitors included matters not significant, but important, for example, making sure that the chimney sweep, after completing his work, closed the attic windows.
Most often, people who came to cities from the provinces worked as janitors. It so happened that most of them were Tatars.
As a sign of respect for the profession of a janitor - not particularly noticeable and difficult - a monument was erected in St. Petersburg. It should be noted that there are sculptures of the keepers of purity not only in other cities, but also in other countries. In Russia, similar statues are installed in Balashikha, Belgorod, Ufa, Krasnoyarsk, Yekaterinburg, Saransk. In Lipetsk there is a small monument to a janitor who is affectionately called "our Petrovna". Moreover, the Lipetsk servant of cleanliness does not "work" alone: next to her there is a companion - a cat.
The most unusual monument to the janitor is located in Vladimir. The opening of this monument took place in 2004. It is the first of the monuments to wipers installed in Russia. There are monuments to the guardians of cleanliness in Germany, Armenia and Costa Rica.
Very soon, after installation, various beliefs and omens began to be associated with the bronze sculpture of the janitor. For example, it is believed that if you touch the broom of a monument and make a wish, then it will certainly come true.
