The Peter the Great Statue is a monument to

Peter the Great Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...

, located at the western confluence of the

Moskva River The Moskva (russian: река Москва, Москва-река, ''Moskva-reka'') is a river running through western Russia. It rises about west of Moscow and flows roughly east through the Smolensk and Moscow Oblasts, passing through centra ...

and the

Vodootvodny Canal Vodootvodny Canal (russian: Водоотводный канал, "water bypass canal") is a 4 kilometre long, 30-60 metre wide canal in downtown Moscow, Russia. It was built in the 1780s on the old riverbed of the Moskva River to control floods a ...

in central

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. It was designed by the Georgian designer

Zurab Tsereteli Zurab Konstantinovich Tsereteli ( ka, ზურაბ კონსტანტინეს ძე წერეთელი, russian: Зураб Константинович Церетели; born 4 January 1934) is a Georgian-Russian painter, sc ...

to commemorate 300 years of the Russian Navy, which Peter the Great established. It was erected in 1997 and is the eighth-tallest statue in the world. It weighs around 1,000 tons and contains 600 tons of stainless steel, bronze and copper.

History

Since its inception, the statue has courted controversy. In November 2008, it was voted the tenth ugliest building in the world by Virtual Tourist. In 2010, it was included in a list of the world's ugliest statues by ''

Foreign Policy A State (polity), state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterall ...

'' magazine. ''

Lonely Planet Lonely Planet is a travel guide book publisher. Founded in Australia in 1973, the company has printed over 150 million books. History Early years Lonely Planet was founded by married couple Maureen and Tony Wheeler. In 1972, they embarked ...

'' commented: "Questions of taste aside, Muscovites were sceptical about the whole idea: why pay tribute to Peter the Great, who loathed Moscow and moved the capital to St Petersburg?" The designer Zurab Tsereteli is known as a friend and favorite of Moscow's former Mayor

Yury Luzhkov Yury Mikhailovich Luzhkov ( rus, Ю́рий Миха́йлович Лужко́в, p=ˈjʉrʲɪj mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪtɕ lʊˈʂkof; 21 September 1936 – 10 December 2019) was a Russian politician who served as mayor of Moscow from 1992 to 2010 ...

, and the artist received a number of municipal art commissions under his patronage, such as the

Cathedral of Christ the Savior The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour ( rus, Храм Христа́ Спаси́теля, r=Khram Khristá Spasítelya, p=xram xrʲɪˈsta spɐˈsʲitʲɪlʲə) is a Russian Orthodox cathedral in Moscow, Russia, on the northern bank of the Mosk ...

, the Manege Square ensemble and the War Memorial Complex on

Poklonnaya Gora Poklonnaya Gora (russian: Покло́нная гора́, literally "bow-down hill"; metaphorically "Worshipful Submission Hill"') is, at 171.5 meters, one of the highest natural spots in Moscow. Its two summits used to be separated by the Setun ...

. In October 2010, following Luzhkov's departure from office, Moscow authorities, reportedly keen to get rid of the Peter the Great Statue, offered to relocate it to

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, but this offer was refused by the city. Authorities in

Arkhangelsk Arkhangelsk (, ; rus, Арха́нгельск, p=ɐrˈxanɡʲɪlʲsk), also known in English as Archangel and Archangelsk, is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies o ...

and

Petrozavodsk Petrozavodsk (russian: Петрозаводск, p=pʲɪtrəzɐˈvotsk; Karelian, Vepsian and fi, Petroskoi) is the capital city of the Republic of Karelia, Russia, which stretches along the western shore of Lake Onega for some . The population ...

have offered to accept the monument. The statue is allegedly based on a design originally intended to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the first voyage of

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus * lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo * es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón * pt, Cristóvão Colombo * ca, Cristòfor (or ) * la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...

in 1992. When an American customer for the project could not be found, it was re-purposed with a Russian theme."First they toppled the Moscow mayor, now they're after his sculptor"
''Washington Post'', October 5, 2010 Tsereteli denies this story. A separate, equally colossal statue of Columbus, known as ''

Birth of the New World The ''Birth of the New World'' ( es, Nacimiento del Nuevo Mundo, colloquially known as ''La Estatua de Colón'' or literally ''Columbus' Statue'') is a bronze sculpture located on the Atlantic coastline of Arecibo, Puerto Rico. When complete ...

'', by the same designer was constructed in Puerto Rico in 2016, after being rejected by various US cities. The statue was unveiled in the city of Arecibo on 14 June 2016. A somewhat smaller but similar sculpture by Tsereteli, ''

Birth of a New Man ''Birth of a New Man'' (Spanish: ''Nacimiento de un Hombre Nuevo''), popularly known as ''el huevo de Colón'' ("the Columbus' egg"), is a monument in Seville, Spain. It is a work by Zurab Tsereteli, consisting of a colossal statue representing C ...

'', was deposited in Seville. Statue of Peter the Great in Moscow1

References

External links

Peter the Great Statue at kingdouglas.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peter The Great Statue, The Russian art Monuments and memorials in Moscow Outdoor sculptures in Russia Colossal statues in Russia 1997 sculptures Buildings and structures completed in 1997 Monuments and memorials to Peter the Great Sculptures by Zurab Tsereteli Ships in art