The history of St. Petersburg is closely connected with the navy. And this is not surprising, because the city has become a gateway (or, if you like, a window) to Europe. Today "Secrets of the XX century" will open the veil of secrecy over one of the two most famous (along with the cruiser "Aurora") ships. This is … a weather vane on the spire of the Admiralty.
Various cases master
A native of Amsterdam, "various craftsmen" Harman van Bolos came to the Russian capital under a contract in 1711, when he was only 22 years old. As it turned out, Petersburg became a second home for him - the Dutchman worked here without interruption until his death in 1764.
Van Bolos had a hand in many of the capital's buildings: in 1721 he rebuilt the Anichkov Bridge, in 1725-1726 under his leadership a wooden aqueduct bridge was erected to power the fountains of the Summer Garden (now the Panteleimonovsky Bridge is located on this site). In 1747-1750, the master significantly expanded and rebuilt the Yekateringofsky Palace and, finally, in 1753, he erected the Bolshoi Konyushenny Bridge across the Moika. However, spiky tops of buildings were especially good at carpentry. The spiers of St. Isaac's Church, Konyushenny Dvor, Peter and Paul Cathedral and Simeon's Church are his work. In addition, the master erected a spire on the Admiralty building. As the order read,van Bolos was instructed to "finish building the Admiralty Spitz with all kinds of joinery and carpentry work and reinforce it with his artisans and put an apple and a ship on this spitz and put a crown on top of it."
The Dutch master coped with the task, as always, excellently, and soon in the gray-leaden sky of the Russian capital, the weathervane boat set sail in full sail. But what ship served as the prototype for the embodiment of van Bolos? And did this prototype even exist?
Promotional video:
"Eagle"? "Dont touch me"
According to the most widespread version, the craftsmen were inspired by the images of the Russian ship "Eagle" - for example, the engraving by his compatriot Konraad Dekker "View of the city of Astrakhan and the frigate" Eagle "with a flotilla.
This ship, laid down by order of the sovereign Alexei Mikhailovich in 1667, was built according to the project of the Dutch shipbuilder Cornelius van Bukoven and, not surprisingly, strongly resembled the Dutch pinas (small merchant ship). However, the combat path of the first Russian ship of the Western European type was short-lived: in 1670, the Cossacks of Stepan Razin captured Astrakhan and at the same time the ship standing in the harbor.
However, the comparison with the Eagle does not stand up to criticism: even after a cursory glance at the Admiralty weather vane and the picture with the Eagle, it becomes clear that these are different ships: the Russian frigate was single-deck, and the ship on the spire had two rows of cannon ports. In addition, already in the next century, citizens with good eyesight made out some kind of inscription on the sails of a ship. True, opinions were divided with its decoding: someone managed to read "Towards Storms", someone dreamed of "Don't touch me." But wait, "Don't touch me" is the name of a 54-gun battleship built at these very shipyards of the St. Petersburg Admiralty.
The ghost of "Poltava"
The ship "Don't touch me" is one of four 54-gun battleships of the "Saint Michael" class laid down and launched at the Admiralty in 1721-1724. Van Bolos, of course, could not be inspired by their contours, since he built the spire 10 years earlier - in 1711. However, there was another 54-gun ship, which outwardly resembled the Admiralty weathervane: on December 5, 1709, at the Admiralty shipyard, in commemoration of the Poltava victory, Peter I laid the foundation stone for the Poltava ship.
However, there is one problem here as well - the Poltava has more guns on its side than the ship on the spire. By the same criterion, it will be necessary to weed out domestic 32- and 36-gun ships. The closest thing to a weather vane in terms of the number of guns resembles the model of a two-deck ship built by Peter I during his training in Holland, but there is a mismatch in sailing equipment. So we have to admit that van Bolos installed on the top of the spire of the Admiralty a certain collective image of Russian ships being built at the St. Petersburg shipyard, without reference to any particular prototype. Or indeed, as the legend says, he immortalized the very first ship that entered the harbor of St. Petersburg after its foundation …
Treasure at height
The mysterious boat, meanwhile, was spinning on the spire of the Admiralty until 1815, after which … it disappeared. The motivation of those who "found" it is clear - according to rumors, the 65-kilogram sailing ship was richly gilded. After all, 16 kilograms of gold coins were spent on the gilding of the dome, spire and weather vane. The personal compass of Peter the Great, according to legend, kept in the bow of the ship, also “dissolved” in the humid St. Petersburg air …
However, after the completion of the repair work of the Admiralty, the weather vane was restored in its previous form, but only the flags remained gilded - again, according to rumors, they took two kilograms of pure gold. In 1886, the authorities realized themselves and during the next repair they replaced the boat with its third version - this time made of sheet copper (we can see it today on the spire). The "original" with the "golden" flags was given to the Central Naval Museum, where the weather vane is still located.
However, this is not all the riches that the "sky frigate" has. The composition also includes a gilded ball, inside which lies … a box of pure gold, filled to the brim with gold coins minted in St. Petersburg since its foundation. However, it is not possible to get them, because the secret of opening the capsule (for this you need to rotate one of the halves in a strictly defined way) is lost.
Who knows, maybe originally van Bolos put something similar in the ball under the boat, but today a completely different box lies on this place. However, it also contains valuable things: papers about all the repairs of the spire from the builders themselves, St. Petersburg and Leningrad newspapers and even … the text of the USSR Constitution.
Leningraders also had a chance to encounter the difficulties of work on the top of the spire (and the boat soars up 72 meters!) At one time - during the years of the blockade. Since the needle shining in the sun turned out to be a good guide for the German gunners, it was decided to put on a special cover. However, due to the capricious Leningrad weather, aeronaut pilot Vladimir Sudakov on a single-seat balloon only after 15 days of unsuccessful attempts was able to secure a block with a rope on the spire. Then young climbers went upstairs, who gradually pulled on, sewn up and tied with ropes a half-ton "clothes". After that, the climbers more than once climbed to the very top to repair the cover torn by fragments from continuous shelling.
With a crown of gold rushes upward …
The weather vane ship, a symbol of determination and fortitude, even before the 1917 revolution became a real symbol of the city on the Neva. Poems were dedicated to him - so, in the work of Mikhail Dmitriev "The Underwater City" (1847), only our ship remained on the surface from St. Petersburg that had gone under water.
So to this day, as Alexander Rosenbaum sings, "the pride and beauty of the All-Russian fleet rises with a golden crown …".
Alexey Yamshchikov