In this article, I want to talk about the absurd version of the construction of another fairly popular object in Russia to this day - this is the Alexandrian pillar or column.
I'll start, as usual, with a little information in the official history. The Alexander Column was delivered from Finland to St. Petersburg, which sounds funny to me, but this is just the beginning.
How much was the weight of the workpiece itself is unknown, but I will assume that somewhere around 1,100 tons, maybe a little less or more. But at one point, the already processed column was 700 tons.
With the help of what and how even 700 tons were moved from Finland to St. Petersburg, it is impossible to explain. No matter how many “experts” there are now, in our time there is no such equipment that will allow transporting such a weight, over such distances.
And then, in the 19th century, it was allegedly done on a quickly built wooden barge. Let's say the question of transportation can be left, but it still remains unanswered.
The column itself was occupied by Auguste Montferrand, a French architect who, at the same time, also built St. Isaac's Cathedral, apparently everything was too simple for him in those days.
Promotional video:
Now for the main facts. The shape of the column is entasis, it is a smooth change in the diameter of the object itself, and this is done not by some manual labor, but on high-tech machines.
Although even now they note that it is almost impossible to make such an object as the Pillar of Alexandria. It is granite with a jeweler's precision processing, and is also completely polished.
Anyone can say: “But there are drawings and other works of art with the installation of a column.” And here it starts even more interesting.
To begin with, it is worth saying that not a single sketch of how the workpiece was processed to create a column is simply not there. As if there were no blanks from granite at all, but already immediately processed and polished monolithic granite column.
When I wrote about St. Isaac's Cathedral, I cited as an example some notes, drawings and even documents that the building had already been built before the start of its construction according to the official history, isn't it funny?
Here the situation is exactly the same. Yes, some pictures show how the column was moved, lifted and even installed, while others, on the contrary, contradict this whole version.
The column was installed in September 1834 according to the official history. But judging by the drawings, the object was already standing before, but how?
Lithograph by K. P. Beggrova, 1830, 4 years before the construction of the column.
The same applies to St. Isaac's Cathedral. There are drawings where the object was already built in 1817, although it was officially built from 1818 to 1858.
But the point is not in this, but in the fact that the drawings of this very column, on which the already built St. Isaac's Cathedral can be seen in the 20-30s, although then construction was just beginning, and in the 30s the first floor was being built.
In general, I think everyone already understands what an absurdity with these dates and drawings, everything is confused, there are many inconsistencies, but I have only one conclusion.
Based on the impossibility to build such a structure as St. Isaac's Cathedral in our time (and this is a fact), as well as the Alexandrian pillar, the most difficult to handle, we can conclude that they stood there long before the 19th century.
By the way, in one of the drawings, where the Alexander Column is already standing before its official erection, you can see a strange flag in the background, which is not similar to the Russian one, but rather to the states of Oldenburg. Of course, the stripes are poorly visible in the figure, but the white color is not visible there at all.
To summarize, it all looks strange and difficult to explain, but the fact is only one thing, the official version of the construction of the Alexandrian column seems to be invented, like St. Isaac's Cathedral.
In general, what happened in the 18th century in Russia, or it might be more correct to say, in Great Tartary, is unknown, but there are many inconsistencies, too many.