Monument to Vladimir the Great (Kiev)

Before the monument was erected, the territory was occupied by the vineyards of the St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery . However, the numerous spills of the Dnieper caused severe subsidence of the soil under the vineyards and provoked a series of landslides on the Vladimir Descent. This provoked indignation of the local authorities, as a lot of money was invested in dressing Vladimirsky descent into stone. And to prevent this from happening again, it was decided to strengthen the slope by establishing a park there. The park was called the Vladimir Hill, because according to legend, it was here that Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich once baptized Kievites.

In order to prevent landslides that threatened the Alexander Descent , in 1840, work was carried out to strengthen and improve the future Vladimir Hill (received the name later ^[1] - after the monument was unveiled, and in his honor - previously known as Mikhailovskaya, or Alexandrovskaya ^[2] ). In view of the special significance of the area, which is traditionally associated with the Baptism of Russia in 988, it was envisaged to perpetuate this action by constructing a chapel or arbor on the newly equipped lower terrace.

Design and Construction

But already in 1843, the rector of the Imperial Academy of Arts , the Russian sculptor Vasily Demut-Malinovsky submitted for the highest consideration the first “Project for the construction in Kiev at the highest steepness of the corner of the Alexander Mountain, over the very place where the baptism of the Russian people - the monument to the Holy Equal Apostles took place To Prince Vladimir. ”

Emperor Nicholas I approved this initiative. Meanwhile, the prospect of building the monument was not approved by the Kiev Metropolitan Filaret (it was considered blasphemous to put the figure of an idol to the greatest fighter against idolatry . A compromise was found - in the form of approval in July 1853 of the construction project of the Vladimir Cathedral lobbied by the metropolitan. September 28 ( October 10, Nov. ) 1853 ^{[3] the} monument was inaugurated.

Such sculptors and architects as Peter Klodt (casting the statues of Vladimir), Alexander Ton (pedestal) and Vasily Demut-Malinovsky (bas-reliefs, the figure of Vladimir) worked on the creation of the monument.

XIX - XX centuries.

At the end of the XIX century, Vladimirskaya Gorka was turned into a park in its modern form. Sergey Romishovsky, the head of the Kiev City Garden Commission, wrote that this place, chosen by the people of Kiev, is arranged like a Swiss mountain with numerous highway tracks, brick tanks and slopes that combine platforms and terraces ^[4] .

Even then, the city authorities sought to somewhat “revive” a rather gloomy monument. In particular, for some time the surface of the pedestal was painted with white paint. They tried to equip the backlight with gas burners.

In 1895, at the expense of the philanthropist and Kiev entrepreneur Semyon Mogilevtsev , electric illumination of the cross was organized. The writer Mikhail Bulgakov wrote in the novel The White Guard :

But the electric white cross sparkled best of all in the hands of the enormous Vladimir on Vladimirskaya Gorka, and it was visible far, and often in the summer, in black mist, in the tangled backwaters and bends of the old river, from the willow, the boat saw him and found water in its light way to the city, to its marinas. In winter, the cross shone in the black thick of the heavens and reigned coldly and calmly over the dark shallow distances of the Moscow coast, from which two huge bridges were thrown. One chain, heavy, Nikolaev , leading to a settlement on the other side, the other is tall, swept along which trains ran from there, where mysterious Moscow was sitting very, very far away, spreading its colorful cap.

In Soviet times, the illumination of the cross was removed, but restored after the collapse of the USSR and currently exists.

Soviet times

In Soviet times, the monument became one of the few monuments of Kiev, built before 1917 , which managed to survive. Although, attempts were made to remove all decorations of religious content from the monument ^[5] . Probably not without success, since in 1953 - 1954 . (to the 100th anniversary) the monument needed restoration ^[6] . After restoration, the monument did not change significantly. It became a kind of visiting card of Kiev, and in 1988 even hit the Soviet commemorative coin on the occasion of the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Russia .

After 1991

The monument was depicted on paper bills in denominations of 10,000, 20,000, 50,000, 100,000, 500,000 coupon-carbovans .

In March 2009, rumors began to spread in Kiev about the threatening condition of the monument - the possibility of its collapse due to landslides . The media then indicated the causes of the emergency cutting down trees by modern developers ^[7] , or pointed to similar problems back in the 19th century ^[8] .

A bronze 4.4-meter statue of the Baptist of Russia Vladimir , depicted in a cloak with a large cross in his right hand and a grand-cap in his left hand, stands on a 16-meter pedestal that has the outline of an octagonal pseudo-Byzantine chapel on a square stylobate . The brick pedestal and stylobate are lined with cast-iron plates. The total height of the monument is 20.4 m. ^[9]

The sculptural design of the pedestal ( high relief “ Baptism of Rus ”, bas-reliefs with the coat of arms of Kiev and the star of the Order of St. Vladimir ) was completed by Vasily Demut-Malinovsky in 1843 . After his death in 1846, the work was continued by the Russian sculptor Baron von Klodt . He created a statue of Vladimir. There is a widespread version that the architect of the monument pedestal was allegedly the leading architect of the time, Konstantin Ton , the author of the projects of the Grand Kremlin Palace and the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. But, in fact, the drawings of the Kiev monument bear a clear signature of his older brother, professor of the Academy of Arts, Alexander Ton ^[10] .

The sculptural details of the pedestal are cast at the Dugninsky factory near Kaluga , the statue is in St. Petersburg , personally by Peter Klodt in his workshop ^[11] . From St. Petersburg to Moscow, the statue was transported by train. Towards Kiev at that time there was no railway , so the statue was further transported by horse traction.

General views of the monument

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  Monument to Vladimir the Great

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  Panorama of the Dnieper and the left bank of Kiev

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  On the postcard of 1905

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  General form

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  Statue of Vladimir the Great

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  High relief “ Baptism of Rus ”

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  Reconstruction board ( 1953 )

Banknote Images

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  10 thousand coupons of 1995

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  10 thousand coupons of 1993

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  20 thousand coupons of 1993

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  20 thousand coupons 1994

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  20 thousand coupons of 1995

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  20 thousand coupons of 1996

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  50 thousand coupons of 1993

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  50 thousand coupons of 1995

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  100 thousand coupons of 1993

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  100 thousand coupons 1994

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  200 thousand coupons

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  500 thousand coupons