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Monument to Alexander II (Moscow)
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Alexander II of Russia
Alexander II , also known as Alexander the Liberator was the Emperor of the Russian Empire from 3 March 1855 until his assassination in 1881...
, situated in the immediate surroundings of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour
Cathedral of Christ the Saviour (Moscow)
The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour is a Church in Moscow, Russia, on the northern bank of the Moskva River, a few blocks south-west of the Kremlin...
in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
. Completed in 2005 and partly inspired by a destroyed imperial monument from 1898, the statue itself was paid for by private donations, with the rest of the monument mainly financed by public funding. The site for the new monument was chosen in part because Alexander helped lay the foundation for the original Christ the Savior Cathedral (destroyed in 1931 by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
) and ruled during its construction.
History
Alexander II was born in 1818 and crowned on February 19, 1855; his rule was marked by the emancipation of the serfs, along with judicial and military reforms. The emperor was assassinatedAssassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
by terrorists
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
, members of the revolutionary organization Narodnaya Volya (translated: People's Will), who strove against autocracy
Autocracy
An autocracy is a form of government in which one person is the supreme power within the state. It is derived from the Greek : and , and may be translated as "one who rules by himself". It is distinct from oligarchy and democracy...
.
The 1898 memorial
The first monument to Alexander II stood above the Kremlin'sMoscow Kremlin
The Moscow Kremlin , sometimes referred to as simply The Kremlin, is a historic fortified complex at the heart of Moscow, overlooking the Moskva River , Saint Basil's Cathedral and Red Square and the Alexander Garden...
Taynitsky Gardens and could easily be seen from the Zamoskvorechye district
Zamoskvorechye
Zamoskvorechye District is a district of Central Administrative Okrug in Moscow, Russia. Population: The district contains the eastern half of historical Zamoskvorechye area , and the territories of Zatsepa Street and Paveletsky Rail Terminal south of the Garden Ring...
across the Moscow River. Work on the monument was begun under emperor Alexander III
Alexander III of Russia
Alexander Alexandrovich Romanov , historically remembered as Alexander III or Alexander the Peacemaker reigned as Emperor of Russia from until his death on .-Disposition:...
in 1893, and was completed five years later under emperor Nicholas II
Nicholas II of Russia
Nicholas II was the last Emperor of Russia, Grand Prince of Finland, and titular King of Poland. His official short title was Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias and he is known as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer by the Russian Orthodox Church.Nicholas II ruled from 1894 until...
in 1898. The monument was the work of sculptor Alexander Opekushin
Alexander Opekushin
Alexander Mikhailovich Opekushin was s Russian sculptor. Among his works are part of the sculptures of the Millennium of Russia monument in Velikiy Novgorod , the monument to Alexander Pushkin in Moscow , the monument to Mikhail Lermontov in Pyatigorsk , the monument to Alexander II in Moscow...
, artist Peter Zhukovsky and architect Nicholas V. Sultanov.
The memorial consisted of a life-size bronze sculpture of Alexander II, set on a square pedestal with the words "To Emperor Alexander II by the love of the people" engraved on it. The sculpture was shaded by a canopy of polished dark red Carelian
Finnish Karelia
Karelia is a historical province of Finland. It refers to the Western Karelia that during the second millennium has been under western dominance, religiously and politically. Western, i.e. Finnish Karelia is separate from Eastern, i.e...
granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
. The top of the canopy was made of specially fitted gilded bronze sheets with green enamel
Vitreous enamel
Vitreous enamel, also porcelain enamel in U.S. English, is a material made by fusing powdered glass to a substrate by firing, usually between 750 and 850 °C...
. On three sides - the exception being the side facing the Chudov Monastery
Chudov Monastery
The Chudov Monastery was founded in the Moscow Kremlin in 1358 by Metropolitan Alexius of Moscow. The monastery was dedicated to the miracle of the Archangel Michael at Chonae...
, Ascension Convent
Ascension Convent
Ascension Convent, known as the Starodevichy Convent or Old Maiden's until 1817 , was a female cloister in the Moscow Kremlin which contained the burials of grand princesses, tsarinas, and other noble ladies from the Muscovite royal court.It is believed that Ascension Convent was founded in 1389...
and the Maly Nikolayevsky Palace (all of which were demolished for the enlargement of the Ivanovskaya Square
Ivanovskaya Square
Ivanovskaya Square is the largest Kremlin square. Its name comes from the Ivan the Great Bell Tower.In the 16th and 17th centuries, many government bodies were situated in the Ivanovskaya Square. It was the site of the Prikazy, the equivalent of today's Ministries. Yamskoi Prikaz, one of the...
in the 1930s), the monument was surrounded by a gallery with arches and openwork. Thirty-three mosaic
Mosaic
Mosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. It may be a technique of decorative art, an aspect of interior decoration, or of cultural and spiritual significance as in a cathedral...
portraits of Russia’s rulers from Prince Vladimir
Vladimir I of Kiev
Vladimir Sviatoslavich the Great Old East Slavic: Володимѣръ Свѧтославичь Old Norse as Valdamarr Sveinaldsson, , Vladimir, , Volodymyr, was a grand prince of Kiev, ruler of Kievan Rus' in .Vladimir's father was the prince Sviatoslav of the Rurik dynasty...
to emperor Nicholas II
Nicholas II of Russia
Nicholas II was the last Emperor of Russia, Grand Prince of Finland, and titular King of Poland. His official short title was Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias and he is known as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer by the Russian Orthodox Church.Nicholas II ruled from 1894 until...
based on sketches by artist Peter Zhukovsky were placed in the gallery's vaults.
The statue was demolished in the summer of 1918 during the Bolshevik revolution, while the columns and gallery stood forlornly overlooking the high bank of the Moskva River
Moskva River
The Moskva River is a river that flows through the Moscow and Smolensk Oblasts in Russia, and is a tributary of the Oka River.-Etymology:...
until the end of the 1920s.
The 2005 memorial
On June 2, 2004 Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov signed a decree about the erection of a new monument to the emperor Alexander II in Moscow.The memorial was designed by professor Alexander Rukavishnikov, a member of the Russian Academy of Arts and national sculptor of Russia. At first, the monument was supposed to be set by the Kremlin's Kutafya Tower; however, a new place was found for it around Christ the Savior Cathedral. The Moscow Government reserved 60 million rubles for financing works on design, making of the granite pedestal, setting of the monument and finishing of the surrounding territory. On June 7, 2005 His Holiness Alexius II
Patriarch Alexius II
Patriarch Alexy II was the 15th Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church....
, Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, performed the consecration of the new monument.
The monument envisages the full height figure of the Emperor — 5 meters high, standing on a 5 meter pedestal. The new monument is located in a slope, made use of it in such a way that, from one side, the emperor is elevated on a pedestal and, from the other side, it seems that the emperor is standing right on the ground, portraying a man who is just standing and looking into the distance, facing the cathedral.
Alexander II is probably best known for his 1861 order to end serfdom, and an inscription on the monument listing his accomplishments says he "freed millions of peasants from centuries of slavery". The inscription also mentions Alexander's military, judicial and administrative reforms, changes aimed at establishing a more Western-style system based on elements such as the rule of law and individual rights. It incorrectly claims that he ended the war in the Caucasus
Caucasian War
The Caucasian War of 1817–1864, also known as the Russian conquest of the Caucasus was an invasion of the Caucasus by the Russian Empire which ended with the annexation of the areas of the North Caucasus to Russia...
, a reference to the 1859 capture of Imam Shamil
Imam Shamil
Imam Shamil also spelled Shamyl, Schamil, Schamyl or Shameel was an Avar political and religious leader of the Muslim tribes of the Northern Caucasus...
, the warlord who led longstanding resistance to Russian rule in the region. The monument also claims that Alexander freed Slavs from "the Ottoman yoke", a reference to the Balkan war against Turkey
Russo-Turkish War, 1877–1878
The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 was a conflict between the Ottoman Empire and the Eastern Orthodox coalition led by the Russian Empire and composed of numerous Balkan...
in the 1870s. Under Alexander, the Russian empire expanded with major territorial gains in Central Asia.