Description of the attraction
In St. Petersburg, until the middle of the 19th century, there was no centralized water supply system. Until that time, the functions of the water supply system were carried on themselves (literally and figuratively) by water carriers. Through the cobbled streets, water carriers pulled their wooden barrels on two-wheeled carts. In those days, the water in the rivers was still clean, which made it possible to use it on the farm. They took water from the rivers, and then delivered it around the city. In 1858, on October 10, Emperor Alexander II signed the charter of the St. Petersburg joint-stock company of water pipelines. And already 5 years later, opposite the Tavrichesky Palace, on Shpalernaya Street near building 56, the first water tower of St. Petersburg appears.
Since 2003, next to the water tower, there is a monument to the St. Petersburg water carrier, symbolizing a heavy profession that has gone into the past. In our time, the tower itself houses a museum called "The World of St. Petersburg Water". The water tower was built in 1858-1863. and represents the most interesting historical creation of industrial design architecture of the 19th century. Museum visitors are presented with the history of the development of the city's water supply system, which has developed over more than one century.
The authors of the project of the monument are the architect V. Vasiliev and the sculptor S. Dmitriev. Sergei Dmitriev, the author of the composition, talking about the work on the sculpture and when asked about the famous image of a water carrier from the Soviet film "Volga-Volga", says that he was not in the least bothered by the stereotype of a comic comedy hero. On the contrary, the sculptor worked through a huge amount of materials from the historical archives, and not a single important detail was hidden from his professional view.
The bronze monument presents us a life-size figure of a water carrier. The water carrier, with visible difficulty, drives a carriage along a cobblestone pavement, on which there is a wooden barrel of water, and is accompanied by his faithful friend - a dog running a little ahead, which was also at the service and informed the inhabitants of the houses with its barks that they had brought water. In those days, water was taken from the rivers of St. Petersburg: the Neva, Fontanka, Moika, as well as from numerous canals. The purest water was in the Neva, and it was sold for drinking and cooking. Water from other rivers and canals was used for household needs and sold at a lower cost. Where the water was taken from could be determined by the color of the barrel in which it was transported, so, the best was transported in white barrels, water from Moika and Fontanka - in yellow, from canals - in green.
The profession of a water carrier did not disappear immediately after the launch of the water supply system, but for some time continued to compete with it. Indeed, since the launch of the water tower, only the center of St. Petersburg has been supplied with water. Residents of other districts of the city continued to use the services of workers of the water carrier profession, which is gradually disappearing into history, for water supply. In addition, shortly after the tower began to work, the frost caused the water supply system to become unusable, which led to the return of water carriers with their two-wheeled carts to the central streets of St. Petersburg. And, despite the fact that the work of the water supply system resumed in 1861, despite the improvement and expansion of the water supply system, the profession of a water carrier remained relevant for more than half a century. This service functioned until the 20s of the XX century, since not all Petersburgers at that time could afford the services of a water supply system, and continued to use either wells or water supplies.
And yet, the water carrier profession had to give way to progress in the face of the water supply system. But the original sculpture in memory of the people supplying the city's population with water will delight guests and residents of St. Petersburg for a long time to come.
