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The Bronze Horseman (Russian: Медный всадник, literally " copper horseman") is an equestrian statue of Peter the Great in the Senate Square in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It was opened to the public on 7 (18) August 1782.
This equestrian statue of Peter the Great, created by the famous French sculptor Etienne Maurice Falconet, depicts the most prominent reformer of the Russia state as a Roman hero. The pedestal is made of a single piece of red granite molded into the shape of a cliff.
The Peter the Great Statue is a 98-metre-high (322 ft) monument to Peter the Great, located at the western confluence of the Moskva River and the Vodootvodny Canal in central Moscow, Russia.
- A tribute from Catherine the Great. In August 1782, a monument to Peter the Great was unveiled on Senate Square in St. Petersburg. One side of the pedestal contains a caption in Russian, “ПЕТРУ перьвому ЕКАТЕРИНА вторая лѣта 1782” ([to] PETER the first [from] CATHERINE the second, year 1782); and the other side has the same phrase in Latin, "PETRO primo CATHARINA secunda MDCCLXXXII".
- Made by a French sculptor. The famous French sculptor Etienne Falconet was commissioned to make the statue. He was recommended to Catherine by her friend, the philosopher Denis Diderot.
- Peter looks like a creator, not warlord. The sculpture of Peter was expected to be different. In fact, many expected it to be a pompous monument with a complex composition and many allegorical figures.
- Peter’s head was made by a female sculptor. Falconet, however, didn’t create the Emperor's head for the composition. Catherine the Great, who played an active role in the preparations, rejected all three sketches that the Frenchman made.
With its tiny head and massive torso, it's hard to believe that this statue offers a true representation of Peter the Great, the founder of the Peter and Paul Fortress (and of St. Petersburg).
Detail of the statue of Peter the Great in the Peter and Paul Fortress. Over time St. Petersburg citizens have grown to love the memorial. Arguments about the monument have died down, and curiously enough city traditions have grown up around the monument.
Loved by some and hated by others, the statue of Peter the Great is one of Moscow's most controversial monuments and one of the world's tallest statues, at 322 feet (98 metres) in height.
