Description of the attraction
There are many legends about how Vasilievsky Island in St. Petersburg got its name. Many years before the founding of the city of Petra, the island was called Hirvisaari (translated from Finnish - Elk Island), at the same time it was also called in Russian - Vasiliev. Where that name came from is unknown, although there are legends connecting it with the name of the fisherman who lived here, who was called Vasily, and with the Novgorod mayor Vasily Seleznev, Vasily Kazimir, Vasily Ananyin. One of the beliefs is associated with the name of Major General, Major of the Preobrazhensky Life Guards Regiment, Chevalier of the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky Vasily Dmitrievich Korchmin (born before 1671-1729). His battery was located here when he was still just a bombardier. The tsar, sending orders and dispatches to Vasily Korchmin, wrote instead of the address: "To Vasily on the island." With the beginning of the construction of the city, Peter I decided to make the economic, administrative and cultural center of the new capital of the Russian state on Vasilievsky Island. However, this project was not destined to come true. The city center was moved to the Admiralty. And on the spit of Vasilievsky Island, at the time when the Peter and Paul Fortress was being erected, by order of Peter I, an artillery battery was placed, which was supposed to ensure the protection of the city from the Neva. The commander was appointed the lieutenant of the bombardier company Vasily Korchmin. After his death, a legend was born that the island began to be called Vasilievsky by his name.
Vasily Dmitrievich Korchmin was a like-minded person and closest associate of Tsar Peter I, a key figure in Peter's army. It is this wonderful person who is the creator of artillery, both horse and ship, as a separate branch of the army. V. D. Korchmin, being the chief tsarist engineer, became the inventor of combat missiles and a flamethrower, was a recognized master of siege and fortification. Thanks to his military talent, he was a direct participant in almost all battles of that time, he had three wounds. Vasily Korchmin was a military intelligence officer, chief fireworker (organizer of fireworks), an excellent pyrotechnician, author of grandiose performances, researcher, hydrograph, industrialist, who created enterprises that worked only for the defense of the country.
In 2003, a monument to Vasily Dmitrievich Korchmin was unveiled in the courtyard of house No. 34 on the 7th line of Vasilievsky Island, not far from the Vasilievskaya metro station. The authors of the monument used the collective image of the hero of Peter the Great's times.
The decision to install the sculpture was made in 2001 by the territorial administration. A competition was announced among students and teachers of art and architecture universities in St. Petersburg. Four of the most interesting projects reached the final: the work of P. Ignatiev, in which the motives of the Dymkovo toy were visible, S. Sergeev, in whom Peter's associate was holding a cat in his hands, G. Lukyanov, who portrayed V. Korchmin sitting on the barrel of a cannon, and A. Buslaev - the legendary hero stood in a boat, holding an oar in his hands. The competition commission made a choice in favor of the joint work of two students of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts S. Sergeev and G. Lukyanov - V. D. Korchmin sits with a pipe in his hand, gesturing to the passers-by to come closer.
At the base of the monument, on the left medallion, the words are engraved: "A gift to St. Petersburg in honor of the 300th anniversary of M-Industry CJSC, President M. Behbudov, General Director S. Zagudalin". On the opposite side on the same medallion - "Bombardier Vasily Korchmin, the hero of the legend about the origin of the name" Vasilyevsky Island "".
