Sergievka Park is located in the vicinity of St. Petersburg, on the border between the village of Martyshkino and Old Peterhof. The park is known as the former Leuchtenberg manor and is considered a unique cultural and historical monument of the 19th century.
If you go down one of the park paths along the stream flowing into the ravine, you will see an incredible sight - a huge stone head, half embedded in the ground.
This is one of the most mysterious sculptures in the vicinity of St. Petersburg. Where it came from and who placed it there is a mystery. She is called "The Old Man", "The Head of Adam", "Rusich".
The exact date of creation of the stone head and its author are unknown. Until now, its origin causes a lot of controversy among historians. It is interesting that this monument is not mentioned in any of the historical documents, there are no pre-revolutionary photographs or drawings of this head.
One of the rare mentions of the monument in the 19th century is a fragment in Lewis Carroll's "Diary of a Journey to Russia in 1867": “Here we admired the smooth veil of a waterfall cascading down from wide stone steps; here - a long alley, running under the arch of climbing plants down the stairs and slopes; there - a huge stone, hewn in the form of a giant head with a face and eyes, mysterious, like that of a gentle sphinx, so that it seemed as if some Titan was trying to free himself from the burden of the earth that fell on his shoulders …"
Probably, the sculpture is the decoration of a water source that flows into a stream here.
The official version says that the head was carved out of a boulder in 1800 by order of Emperor Paul I and designed by architect F. Brouwer. She portrayed a Russian knight, and a bronze helmet was attached to it, from which a fastening hole on the bridge of the head is still preserved. According to legend, it was when he saw this head during his visit to Sergievka in 1818 that Pushkin created his immortal image of a beheaded giant.
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There is a point of view that this is the head of Peter I, allegedly made by a master from the Peterhof Granite Factory as a token of gratitude for the fact that the tsar agreed to become the godfather of his daughter.
There are other legends explaining the appearance of this monument. According to one of them, the head was sculpted by the Swedes. It was the image of one of the Scandinavian kings. The Swedes dragged their heads to the sea, but did not finish their journey and threw a stone where it still lies.
All these versions are not documented and are rather of folk origin.
Author: Elena Krumbo