Monument to Pushkin (Odessa)

The monument is located on Primorsky Boulevard in the part adjacent to the City Duma building (at the time of the construction of the monument, the city exchange was not located in this building). The monument is a bust of the poet, placed on a high square cross-section of a granite pedestal . Under the bust is a lyre, behind it, diagonally, is a feather and a five-pointed star with a ray pointing down. This arrangement of the star symbolized the poet’s connection with the Polar Star almanac . Once a star was made of crystal , it was even supposed to be lit with electricity, but the project was not implemented ^[2] .

In the lower part of the pedestal, from four corners of it, water jets pouring out of the mouths of sea creatures (stylized dolphins ) and falling into four large bronze vases located at the corners of the pedestal at its base. Water, overflowing the vases, flows into a large granite reservoir framing the monument ^[2] .

On the front side of the monument, facing the boulevard, there is an inscription: “A. S. Pushkin, citizens of Odessa ”, emphasizing whose means the monument was placed on. Above, on the tapes at the base of the lyre is inscribed: "1820-1824" - the years of the poet's southern exile. From the front side of the monument on the upper step there is a half-worn inscription: “Granite of the Gnivanski scrap of the Vinnitsa district of Podolsk lips. donated ... "On a semicircular roller bordering the base of the bust, from the side facing the sea, is carved:" According to the design of Chr. Vasilyeva sculpted by J. Polonskaya, ebb. A. Moran . " On the drapery of the bust where it falls on the old coat of arms of Odessa, the inscription is engraved: "J. Polonskaya ". Below, on a granite pedestal, it is engraved: “Built in 1888” ^[2] .

The plans for the construction of the monument to A.S. Pushkin were announced in the summer of 1880, during events dedicated to the poet's birthday. In Odessa, a university city and associated with the biography of the poet himself, memorable Pushkin days were held. On the eve of the poet’s birthday, at a meeting at the Imperial Novorossiysk University , convened on the initiative of the Odessa mayor G.G. Marazli , a joint initiative was voiced by the Slavic charity , the Odessa city public administration and the Novorossiysk University to memorialize Pushkin in Odessa. At the meeting, among other things, Nikolai Troinitsky, the then editor of the newspaper " Odessa Herald ", spoke, who in his youth, during his studies at the Richelieu Lyceum , saw Pushkin. The Odessa delegation attended the main event of the all-Russian celebration of those days - the opening of the first monument to Pushkin in Moscow by A. M. Opekushin ^[4] .

Initially, the monument was supposed to be installed on Theater Square, between the City Theater and the English Club, but they considered the existing place to be insufficient in size. On June 25, 1880, the City Duma decided to allocate a place on Nikolaevsky Boulevard, opposite the Exchange building, for the construction of a fountain with a bust by private subscription. By the same decree, Slavic society was allocated 300 rubles from city amounts for an award for the best design of the monument. Then the Italian street of Odessa was renamed Pushkinskaya ^[4] .

At the end of 1880, the Commission for the construction of the monument was formed, which included representatives of the City Council ( N.V. Velkoborsky ), university (professors N.P. Kondakov, A.A. Kochubinsky), Slavic society (I.I. Bobarykin , Chairman of the Commission, and R.I. Mrachek), Society of Fine Arts ( D.E. Mazirov , F.O. Morandi, V.A. Krasovsky, subsequently - L. L. Vlodek ). The commission opened its operations on May 29, 1881, publishing an appeal to Odessa residents in newspapers asking them to donate funds for the construction of the monument and announcing the terms of the competition for the best monument. Under the terms of the latter, the total estimate was determined at 5,000 rubles, two prizes for the best projects at 300 and 100 rubles, respectively, and the deadline for submitting projects was until December 31, 1881. Projects were to be evaluated by an expert council, which included worthy professionals: architects A.I. Bernardazzi, A.D. Todorov, A.E. Shains, engineer A.A.Shvendner.

Only four papers were submitted by the deadline, but all of them were rejected by the Commission and the expert council. The competition was extended until May 1, 1882, and by this date five new proposals had arrived. The first prize was awarded to the project under the motto: “This is the insignificant of the world that when the lyre rattled, it burned our hearts like a prophet,” the second with the motto “The poet is an architect”. After decoding the mottoes, it turned out that the first was named architect Kh. K. Vasiliev, and the second - Z. I. Zhukovsky.

After the final approval of the project of the monument and the study of the condition of the soil at the construction site, the total cost estimate was already 6520 rubles. Fundraising was very slow - mercantile residents of Odessa were in no hurry to donate money to the monument. In March 1886, the Commission requested the city public administration to erect a monument at the expense of the city for the 50th anniversary of the death of the poet, that is, on January 29 ( February 10 ), 1887 , but this request was refused, because the Duma did not want to change the original idea of ​​building a monument by popular subscription, for which at the time the highest resolution was given ^[3] .

On January 26, 1887, realizing that the construction of the monument was in jeopardy, the Commission turned to the board of the Slavic Charity Society with a proposal to take the matter of raising funds for the monument for itself, to produce new signature sheets and to coincide with the laying of the monument on the anniversary of the poet's death. Already on February 2, a solemn laying of the monument took place with the participation of the highest authorities of the city, representatives of the municipality and a large public ^[3] :

Bookmark holiday gave brilliant results ... 600 p. Were collected for this day, and besides, it aroused great interest among citizens. The chairman of the Society began to receive donations.

- Report of the Commission on the construction of the monument-fountain to A. S. Pushkin in Odessa

The grand opening of the monument took place on April 16, 1889 at 12 o’clock in the afternoon ^[2] .

Patrons

The contributions of the inhabitants of Odessa to the construction of the monument were very diverse: from 9 cents to 100 rubles. Among the philanthropists who donated large sums were aristocrats, Odessa dignitaries and representatives of the business community: Governor General Kh. H. Roop, town governor P. A. Zelenaya, brothers Anatra, Arist Mas and Co. firm, Count M. donated 100 rubles each . M. Tolstoy , M.V. and A.V. Shimanovsky, N.F. Fan der Flit; “Rafalovich and Co.”, “Trubotti and Co.”, F. P. Rodokanaki, A. Sh. Grinberg, “Dreyfus and brothers”, Mavro-Biyazi, Moses Ashkinazi - 50 rubles each; 25 rubles each - I. P. Skarzhinsky, M. N. Bukharin, N. F. Sukhomlinov , R. A. Brodskaya, A. A. Brodsky, Ya. A. Novikov, “S. I. Brodsky and Co. ”, Lev Brodsky, Leon Rabinovich, Ivan Dialemeno, A. P. Russov, Ivan Vuchina, Solomon Barzhansky; Prince G.I. Manuk Bay, K. Ya. Rink-Wagner, P.S. Rally, F. Shpolyansky, S. Zusman, R. Zonshtein, O. Khais, L. Levenson, “Blank and Ephrussi”, A Brodsky, V. Santsenbacher donated 10 rubles each, Prince Yuri Gagarin and Baroness Bistrom - 5 rubles each, Count Marhotsky - 3 rubles ^[3] .

Among the donors were the names well-known in Odessa: the owner of the Palais Royal fashion store L. Lantie, lawyer Y. I. Weinberg, the owner of the hotel Avdey Yashchuk, the future owner of the Passage M. Mendelevich and the owner of this hotel, Y. Kulinets, the author of a book about commercial History of Odessa Simon Bernstein, wine producer Sklavo, newspaper publishers Navrotsky and Grossul-Tolstoy, owner of a watch and jewelry store Mel, son of a medic Andreyevsky, the oldest Odessa photo master Haaz, owner of the store of military officers and church things Khakalovsky, realizer “The best foreign strong drinks” Ginand, architect Reinerz, publisher of postcards and bookbinder Geselle, pharmacist Gayevsky, thinker Bukovetsky (artist’s father), professor of mineralogy Prendel, booksellers Bely and Rousseau, typographer Kirchner, owner of Isakovich hydropathic institution, and holders of private gymnasiums Balen de Balu, Brackenheimer, Scholp, manufacturer Ptashnikov, deli Dubinin, baker-confectioner Libman, tobacco manufacturer Asvadurov, toy dealer Kalpakchi, hat maker Delpesh, grocer Vetkov , wallpaper makers brothers Tarnopol, pianist Rausch, marble maker Mentsion, jewelers Mangubi and Kohricht, optician Engel ^[3] .

Unknown residents of all professions and nationalities donated to the monument: 300 rubles came from the meeting of shareholders of the Odessa Mutual Credit Society, the People’s Reading Commission collected one hundred rubles, “yes 3 rubles 96 kopecks from a circle at a public reading audience”, the trustee of the Odessa school district raised 45 rubles , the board of the Society for Mutual Aid to the Printing Workers of Odessa donated 25 rubles, "gentlemen officers of the 13th Rifle Battalion" donated 13 rubles 35 kopecks ^[3] .

The retired Novorossiysk governor A. G. Stroganov , who personally saw Pushkin and is a distant relative of the poet (he was a second cousin of Natalia Nikolaevna Pushkina ), who was then living in Odessa, categorically refused to donate anything to the monument ^[2] and the petitioners who came to him said: " II don’t put monuments to the daggers ! ... I haven’t reached this yet! ... What is it - a monument to Pushkin! ... Ah? ... But what is the police watching? ... What is it watching? ... Subscription! ... And to whom? ... No, I can’t to allow such a course of action ... We need to inform the police ... ” But M. D. Tolstoy , who also knew the poet personally, gladly donated 100 rubles to the monument ^[3] .

In addition to money donations, Odessa residents contributed to the construction of the monument by offering the Commission free services and materials - a variety of sculptural, calligraphic, plumbing, asphalt and other works were performed free of charge - so the architects F.O. Morandi and Yu. M. Dmitrenko undertook to supervise the construction works for free; an employee of the Gorodishchensky Labrador Resource Development Partnership N. I. Barinov requested the consent of his partnership to supply the Labrador without payment; the tenant of Gnivan granite scrap donated granite; N. Shevtsov provided slabs for the foundation, cement and sand (totaling 1,189 rubles); Z. Chernobyl - forest for 73 rubles 45 kopecks; Y. Novikov - ropes for 120 rubles; the Jewish society “Trud” performed all works from cast iron free of charge (for 300 rubles); Abram, Moses and Mordka Rosenov, Leyser Zimmerman and Zakhary Loginov provided a piece of stone for 160 rubles, Odessa newspaper V.V. Navrotsky for free printed posters and tickets for the Pushkin ball and celebration; The Southwestern Railways Society refused to pay for the delivery of a bust and bronze jewelry cast in St. Petersburg at the Moran factory to Odessa ^[3] .

According to the existing urban legend, the bronze Pushkin “turned away” from the City Duma and “stands with his back”, allegedly because she refused to allocate funds for the construction of a monument to him. This does not correspond to the actual state of affairs, since during the design and construction of the monument the City Duma was located on the other side of the boulevard, opposite the giant staircase , near the Richelieu monument . That is, the back to the Duma was just a monument to the Duke, and Pushkin was facing the Duma, and his back to the city exchange, which was located just in the building in which the Odessa City Council, the City Council, and Odessa City Hall were subsequently located ^{[4] [3]} .

Moreover, this legend is untrue in relation to the actual participation of the City Council in financing the construction of the monument. The multi-year fundraising from the public, carried out by the Slavic charity, did not keep up with the increase in the cost of the necessary work (the final cost of the project exceeded 18,000 rubles). And although the Duma in 1886 really rejected the Commission’s request to allocate funds for the construction of the monument from the city budget, however, at the final stage of work, when all the money collected from private donors had already been spent, on December 5, 1888, the City Duma allocated 9,000 rubles for the construction the monument. This was almost half of the total project estimate. At this stage, the Duma considered it possible to take part in a popular project, to which ordinary citizens of the city so vividly responded ^[4] .

• Monument to Pushkin on Pushkinskaya street
• Monument to Isaac Babel

• Kokhansky V. Odessa and its surroundings. A complete illustrated guide and reference book. - 3rd. - Odessa: L. Nitche, 1892 .-- S. 67. - 554 p.

• Ratushnyak E.I. - The disappeared star // Evening Odessa: Newspaper. - Odessa. - No. 41–42 (9959-9960) // March 20, 2014
• Paramonov Yu. Where does the bronze Pushkin look? (Russian) . An essay . The site "About Odessa with love." Date of treatment June 7, 2012. Archived on October 5, 2012.
• Kamenetsky F. “Monument to Pushkin at the head of the boulevard ...” (Russian) // Porto-Franco: Newspaper. - Odessa: Black Sea, 04/03/2009. - No. 12 (957) .
• Gubar O. About how Odessa all over the world raised money for a monument to A. S. Pushkin (Russian) (inaccessible link) . Official site of the World Odessa Club . Date of treatment September 5, 2012. Archived on October 4, 2012.