Yekaterinburg is one of the most developed cities in Russia. It occupies the fourth place in terms of population and is a large industrial and economic center of the state. However, production is not the only thing the city is famous for. It is attractive to tourists. Yekaterinburg has many interesting sights, beautiful architecture. But, unfortunately, not all the monuments have been preserved, and now, having no opportunity to admire them live, we can only read about them, consider old photographs.
About one of these monuments: namely, the monument to Alexander II in Yekaterinburg, read in this article.
Alexander the Second. What kind of emperor and why should he erect a monument?
Of course, before they did not think about what kind of merit for the Fatherland they erect a monument to this or that emperor. It was enough that the monarch is a protege of God on earth. However, Alexander the Second truly deserved to be remembered by his descendants.
Reformer Alexander
During his lifetime, His Imperial Majesty began to be called nothing more than a liberating king. After all, it was Alexander the Second who decided to implement the long-overdue Peasant reform. In 1861, he abolished serfdom in Russia. However, the emperor not only gave freedom to the peasants, he carried out a host of important transformations that affected all spheres of public life: these were judicial, military and educational reforms, and changes in the system of urban governance ...
The murder of the liberating king
During his reign, and this is more than a quarter of a century (Alexander II was in power from 1855 to 1881), the emperor managed to do a lot and, perhaps, would have done more if the eighth attempt on the monarch’s life had not ended in 1881 his death. The killer of the emperor was sent by Ignatius Grinevitsky. At the site of the explosion, the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood was erected, inside of which a part of the pavement, sprinkled with the blood of Alexander the Second, is still preserved.
Monuments to the ruler are installed around the world. There is a monument in the city of Helsinki, in the Bulgarian Sofia, of course, in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Monument to the Emperor in Yekaterinburg
But not only in the capital cities erected monuments to the monarchs. In Yekaterinburg, the monument to Alexander II also once was. Moreover, not one: at the beginning of the twentieth century in the city there were as many as four monuments in honor of the monarch-reformer. Unfortunately, none of them survived - everything that could connect the history of the state with its imperial period was eradicated in connection with the revolutionary policy of the Communist Party. Not a wave of destruction and these monuments. But let's talk about the main one. He stood on the main square of the city - then the Cathedral, now called the Square of 1905.
What did it look like?
The monument to Emperor Alexander in Yekaterinburg depicts a monarch in full growth. The emperor is dressed in a general's uniform, in his right hand is a scroll with the inscription "February 19, 1861" - this is a manifesto on the liberation of the peasants. The proud, high-raised head of Alexander the Second is facing east. The pedestal depicts a laurel wreath - a symbol of the winner, borrowed from the ancient Greeks. Also on the stand is a ceremonial inscription “To the Tsar the Liberator in memory of February 19, 1861 from the city society and mining workshops. Autumn yourself with the banner of the Cross, Orthodox people, and call upon us God's blessing for your free labor. ” She speaks not only about the “nationality” of the monument, but also about the fact that it was made here at the local factory and that the same Yekaterinburg masters worked to create the monument. To make the sculpture look even more magnificent, marble steps lead to it from four sides, there is a lantern on each corner of this platform, so that the figure of Alexander the Second looked impressive and attracted the views of the citizens passing by, not only in the afternoon, but also in the middle of the night.
What material is made of?
The monument to Alexander the Second was cast from cast iron at the Kaslinsky plant, which exists and has been successfully operating to this day. The weight of the monument, by the way, is almost nine tons! The material for the pedestal is also Russian - this is Ural marble.
People’s Tsar - People’s Monument
The idea of erecting a monument to Alexander 2 in Yekaterinburg came to the former serf Olympia Klevakin, apparently grateful for his liberation from landlord oppression. He became a doorman - for the peasant it was an incredible turn of life, simply impossible before the reform. Klevakin in 1886 initiated a fundraising for construction. The Yekaterinburg merchants did not stand aside: thanks to the wealthy wealthy residents of the city, about thirty-eight to thirty-nine thousand rubles were collected — an impressive amount at that time. So the monument in honor of the emperor-liberator can truly be called a folk.
History of creation
However, the construction of the monument to Alexander II in Yekaterinburg did not begin immediately. The first draft was rejected due to the fact that it did not meet the "high purpose". Later, the City Duma decided to install a copy of an existing monument, the author of which was the sculptor Mikhail Petrovich Popov. By the way, the monument of his authorship is located in the Catherine Hall in the Moscow District Court. So those who want to see what the sculpture looked like can do it in the capital. The rest can be judged on the monument to Alexander 2 in Yekaterinburg from a photo that has been preserved enough to appreciate the grandeur of the monument. You see one of them below.
So, in 1906, in Yekaterinburg, on Square 1905, the monument to Alexander the Second was inaugurated, or rather, it was opened on Cathedral Square, because that was what the main city square was called in those days.
The destruction of the monument
Unfortunately, the monument to Alexander II did not stand in Yekaterinburg for long. Already in 1917, after the February Revolution, the emperor was replaced by a new sculpture, reminiscent of something of the American Statue of Liberty. This monument suffered the same fate - the White Guards, who occupied the city in 1918, dismantled the newly-minted statue. A year later, the head of Karl Marx appeared on the pedestal - this is the result of the activities of the Reds who took power over Yekaterinburg. Another year passed - in the place of Alexander II there was already a naked man, or rather, a sculpture in the form of a naked man, which symbolized liberated labor. The townspeople also nicknamed the statue of Vanka Naked. This attraction lasted a little longer than its predecessors - it adorned the city until 1925, then the sculpture was dismantled, and the pedestal was empty for some time. Only in 1957, a monument to Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was opened on the 1905 square in Yekaterinburg. To this very monument residents and visitors of the city admire to this day.
Alexander the Second to its rightful place?
Now that Russia has finally established more or less ideological diversity, freedom of opinion, a tendency has been seen towards the return of destroyed monuments to the original names of previously renamed geographical objects. The process in which people seek to get rid of the symbolism common during the existence of the Soviet Union and return everything to the roots of history is called decommunization - the elimination of everything connected with communism. This trend did not bypass Yekaterinburg. The townspeople thought about returning to the "rightful place" of the monument to Emperor Alexander II in Yekaterinburg.
The idea of restoring the monument to the Tsar-Liberator began to soar in the air a few years ago. However, until now the public cannot come to a consensus. The townspeople were divided into two camps, each of which argues in defense of its point of view.
On the one hand, the monument, built on public money, was barbarously destroyed in 1917, and the mistakes of history must be corrected, so the monument simply needs to be put in its rightful place.
If we take the opposite point of view, then the communist period of the Soviet Union is also part of the history of our state, which is equivalent and equal in importance, albeit not in duration, to the imperial period. Therefore, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin also "has the right" to stand on the main square of Yekaterinburg. In addition, even such an economically successful city as Yekaterinburg, the restoration of a huge monument will cost a very, very expensive.
Well, as long as the discussion continues, this question remains open. It's up to you which side to support. However, the fact that the monument to Alexander II, the Tsar-Liberator and the monarch-reformer, is not only a monument of art, but also a symbol of popular love, remains an indisputable fact.