|
|
|
The Alexander Column
The Formal Inauguration of the Monument
The formal inauguration of the monument took place exactly
two years after the column was set upon its pedestal, on 30 August 1834.
The poet Vasily Zhukovsky left his recollections of the event: "No
pen can describe the grandeur of that moment when, at the sound of three
cannon shots, from all the streets there suddenly appeared, as if springing
out from the earth, huge, shapely columns of Russian troops moving to
the thunder of drums and the sound of the Parisian March. The ceremonial
march-past began: Russia's forces went past the Alexander Column. This
magnificence, this unique spectacle, lasted two hours..."
The column fitted harmoniously into the Palace Square ensemble. Montferrand
placed the monument not in the geometrical centre of the square, but on
the axis of the arc of the General Staff and the central entrance to the
Winter Palace. Its height is 47.5 metres, making it the tallest triumphal
column in the world. It can be seen along four streets converging on Palace
Square. "The view of the soaring column, elegantly and solidly constructed,
evokes genuine satisfaction mixed with astonishment. The satisfied eye
views the details with affection and rests upon the whole", one contemporary
wrote.
|
|
Celebrating the inauguration of the Alexander Column
From Montferrand's book
Larger view
View through the arch of the General Staff
From Montferrand's book
Larger view
View through the arch of the General Staff
From Montferrand's book
Larger view
Sketches for figures and groups to go on top of the
column. Proposals
From Montferrand's book
Larger view
|
