The war with monuments practically does not stop in Russia (yes, in Russia - in the USA they are also fighting right now). At different times and different years, these were different persons who were demolished, then set, and then demolished again. Personally, I am a supporter of the fact that any historical person who has entered the history of the country can be marked as a monument. The person was - the monument shows it. And then different groups of people will approach them and they will be told different versions of the history and relationships of these people, because there will never be a single approved history.
But did you know that on the monument erected in Novgorod back in 1861 on the theme “Millennium of Russia” there is no one of the most striking historical characters of Russia. You know him for sure.
Guess who?
The idea of erecting a monument to the 1000th anniversary of Russian statehood belonged to Alexander II and was supported by the Committee of Ministers. In 1859, a competition was held, for which 52 works were submitted. The winner was an unknown graduate of the Imperial Academy of Arts Mikhail Mikeshin, who was assisted by the sculptor Ivan Schroeder.
It took almost a year and a half to create the monument. The laying of the monument took place on May 28, 1861 on the square between the St. Sophia Cathedral and public places.
The structure of the monument
Promotional video:
The silhouette of the monument is associated with two important symbols of Russian and Novgorod history: an attribute of the tsarist power - the cap of Monomakh - and a veche bell. The division of the monument into three levels underlines the famous formula of the official doctrine of that time: "Orthodoxy, autocracy, nationality."
In the upper part there is an angel, personifying Orthodoxy, blessing the kneeling woman - Russia. The second level consists of six groups. Each represents one of the stages in the development of Russian statehood: from Rurik (on the south side) to Peter I (on the north). The ribbon of high relief, going in a circle below, contains the entire history of Russia.
129 figures, approved by Alexander II, are united into groups: statesmen, military men and heroes, cultural figures, educators.
It is interesting that on the monument there is no figure of Ivan the Terrible - one of the most famous representatives of the Rurik dynasty. It was decided that it would be unethical to place his image in Novgorod, because the tsar "became famous" including the brutal pogrom of this city. But on the monument there is a figure of Martha the Posadnitsa, who defended the ancient Novgorodian liberties and for this was expelled by Ivan III from the city. Nikolai Gogol was included among the great literary figures at the last moment, at Mikeshin's insistence, but Alexander II struck out the Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko from the list.
The monument to the 1000th anniversary of Russian statehood has long been the subject of all kinds of discussions. Most of the public favorably accepted the unusual monument. Others, such as Herzen, actively criticized him. But even the Bolsheviks did not dare to demolish it.
"Millennium of Russia" during the war and in the post-war period
During the Great Patriotic War, during the Nazi occupation, the monument was dismantled by the Germans. They brought a narrow-gauge railway to the destroyed Novgorod Kremlin: the dismantled figures and reliefs of the monument were planned to be sent to Germany. The Soviet soldiers who entered the Kremlin found fragments half-covered with snow …
And already on November 7, 1944, after restoration, the monument was reopened.