Description of the attraction
The Governor's Park is a monument of landscape architecture and is located on Lenin Square and Karl Marx Avenue in Petrozavodsk. This place has everything a respected park needs: beautiful cast-iron benches, neatly trimmed flower beds and picturesque paths strewn with crimson quartzite. But the most outstanding feature is the amazing-looking maples, as well as the popular open-air exhibition of the very first products of the Aleksandrovsky plant. For visitors to the park, cast iron cannonballs, a huge gear and an old cast cannon are presented.
The park got its name thanks to the first Petrozavodsk governor Gavrila Romanovich Derzhavin. The bronze monument to the famous poet and renowned nobleman is located in the very center of the Governor's Park.
Ceremony on the occasion of the opening of the monument to G. R. Derzhavin took place on the eve of the celebration of the 260th anniversary of the birth of the famous Russian poet. The monument was erected in Petrozavodsk for a reason, because Derzhavin's state activities were directly connected with Karelia - Gavrila Romanovich was the governor of the Olonets Territory. A large number of townspeople were especially impressed by the opening ceremony of the monument, because it was prepared by the Kirovsky district of St. Petersburg as a gift to Petrozavodsk. The grenders marched along the paths of the Governor's Park, and the hussar orchestra played the anthem of Russia in the 18th century, which was composed on the verses of Derzhavin.
Historical banners were brought to the solemn ceremony in Petrozavodsk from the city of St. Petersburg, namely from the Alexander Suvorov Museum. It is known that under the banners brought by the Russian troops won victories in battles, the victories of which are so praised by the great poet Derzhavin.
The monument to Gavrila Derzhavin is a full-length sculpture. The monument is made in a ceremonial uniform, and in height it reaches 2, 7 meters. The sculpture was cast from bronze according to the project of the sculptor from Finland Walter Soyini, who lived in Karelia for a long time. The sculpture weighs 1100 kg and is installed on a pedestal made of red granite. The height of the entire monument is 4.5 meters. In addition to the sculptor Walter Soyini, the author of the monument was also Emil Kuldavletov.
The idea of the architects was to make the monument resemble in style the figure of Peter I, at the same time reflecting the poetic essence of one of the most famous and outstanding poets of Russia in the 18th century. In order to get as close as possible to the external similarity of the two outstanding personalities, the image of Derzhavin the governor on a memorial plaque, which was installed in his house in the city of Petrozavodsk, was taken as a basis. Walter Soyini regarded the erection of the monument as an act of symbolic return of Russian history, because some time ago there was already a monument to the great poet in Petrozavodsk, but it was demolished under Stalin. The new project was brought to life as a result of a competition held by the city administration, and initially it was assumed that the production of the monument would take place in Finland.
Not only the main entrance to the Governor's Park and the central alley of the park, but also the area around the famous monument to Derzhavin is decorated with paving stones made of crimson quartzite. The renovated alleys and accompanying park paths are equipped with benches and lamps made in the style of traditional classicism.
An open exhibition area of the museum has found its place near the entrance to the park. At the presented exhibition, you can see the barrels of artillery pieces, which were produced by the Aleksandrovsky plant, which was the city-forming enterprise of the historical city of Petrozavodsk in the 18th century, as well as many other large-sized monuments and exhibits.
After the monument to Derzhavin was erected in the park, the park was more ennobled: redevelopment was carried out in it, new paths appeared, trees of especially valuable species were planted, and a playground found its place.
