Description of the attraction
The monument to Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin is located on the Arts Square opposite the building of the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg. The monument was erected in June 1957. The authors were sculptor Mikhail Konstantinovich Anikushin and architect Vasily Alexandrovich Petrov. The sculpture of the great poet was unveiled on the day of the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the city of Leningrad.
The monument was made of bronze at the local factory "Monumentskulptura". The height is over 4 meters, together with the pedestal - about 8 meters. The pedestal was carved out of reddish granite, which was mined in Kar-Lahti near Leningrad. The base is made of wrought granite. An inscription carved in gold: "Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin" can be seen on the front side of the pedestal. Thanks to the impressive pedestal, due to which the figure of Alexander Sergeevich rises above the ground, the sculpture fits perfectly into the ensemble of the square, which was designed in the classicist style by the architect Karl Ivanovich Rossi.
The image of Pushkin, created by Anikushin, is distinguished by sublimity and romance. The poet's face illuminates with creative inspiration. His figure is characterized by plasticity and clarity of the silhouette. Alexander Sergeevich is depicted in motion, he strives forward, and this feeling of impulse is expressively emphasized by the thrown back right hand.
The history of the creation of sculpture dates back to 1936, when the Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union decided to erect a monument to the 100th anniversary of the poet's death. A year later, in 1937, the All-Union competition for the best design of the monument was organized. At first, it was supposed to be installed on the Birzhevaya Square of Vasilievsky Island. They decided to rename the square to Pushkinskaya. The laying of the monument took place in a solemn atmosphere. But, despite this, none of the participants in the competition was able to provide a worthy project, and in the end the monument did not appear on Vasilievsky Island.
After the Great Patriotic War in 1947, the All-Union competition for the best design of the monument to Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin in Leningrad was again announced. The first 3 rounds failed to identify the winner. The sculptor Lev Davidovich Muravin and the architect Iosif Yulievich Karakis were awarded the second prize. A young 32-year-old sculptor Mikhail Anikushin, who had recently graduated from the Academy of Arts, presented his sketch to the IV competitive open round of the competition in 1949. As a result, his work was approved by the commission. The solemn laying of the monument was made in 1949, on the 150th birthday of the great Russian poet.
In the course of work on the final version of the monument, Mikhail Konstantinovich created a large number of graphic and sculptural portraits of the poet, and, in addition, figured compositions by A. S. Pushkin for Moscow University (1953) and for the station "Pushkinskaya" of the Leningrad Metro (1955). In 1958, the artist Boris Vladimirovich Ioganson wrote that the beautiful monument adorning the Leningrad Square of Arts was created by Anikushin after the earlier executed model of the monument to the poet had been accepted by the state commission. However, Mikhail Konstantinovich was sure that this sculpture was not perfect enough, and therefore he decided to create a new, deeper and more complete version of the monument to Pushkin at his own expense.
In 1958, for the monument to Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, Mikhail Anikushin was awarded the Lenin Prize, which was one of the highest forms of encouraging citizens for major achievements in literature, science, art, etc.
Description added:
Dmitry 2017-09-02
Pay attention to the metal post with a sign who gave money for its restoration. This is worthy of special attention …
