Thunder stone

In order to find a stone for the “Bronze Horseman” pedestal, the newspaper “ St. Petersburg Vedomosti ” published an appeal to private individuals who would like “to order ... a monument uphill to be broken down and brought here to St. Petersburg.”

A suitable stone was proposed by the official peasant Semyon Grigoryevich Vishnyakov, a supplier of building stone to St. Petersburg. Knowing about this block for a long time, he had planned to split it into pieces for sale earlier, but technically he could not carry it out. The stone was reported to the head of the project’s search work - Captain Marina Karburi ( Greek Μαρίνος Χαρβούρης ) Count Laskari, later in the French Liege , who published detailed notes on the works ^[1] . Semyon Vishnyakov received from him 100 rubles - a very decent amount for those times ^[2] .

Thunder-stone was located in the vicinity of the village of Horse Lahta . According to local legend, the stone acquired its original shape as a result of a lightning strike that split a granite rock. Hence its name.

In its original form, the stone weighed about 2000 tons, measuring about 13 m in length, 8 m in height and 6 m in width. Later, part of it was chipped. The cut off parts of the stone were attached to the main monolith, in order to subsequently use it according to the artistic design of Falconet to “lengthen” the pedestal. Together with two chipped pieces, later docked with the main monolith in the front and rear parts, the total transported weight of the Thunder-stone was 1500 tons ^[2] . Despite the fact that the fragments, once docked to the pedestal in its frontal and rear parts, once made up a monolith of one stone, they have a different color shade ^[1] .

Scraping of the stone was carried out during its transportation until Ekaterina II , who visited Lakhta and arrived to see the stone’s movement, forbade further processing, wishing that the stone would arrive in St. Petersburg in its “wild” form without losing volume. The stone acquired its final form already on Senate Square, having significantly lost its original size. This refinement was led by academician Yuri Felten .

Preparatory work

The beginning of the transportation of the stone corresponded to serious preparation. The recommendations of Academician Ivan Betsky were taken into account. A study of the ten times reduced model of the “machine” proposed for stone transportation was carried out. Her tests showed that you can drag with a finger75 pounds heaviness. It was found that the most rational is the installation of stone on a wooden platform, rolled on two parallel gutters, in which 30 five inch balls. Through the experiment, a sufficiently strong material was selected for the gutters and balls. It consisted of an alloy of copper with tin and galme . The technology of their manufacture was developed ^[1] . A process has been developed for lifting stones using levers and jacks to bring the platform under it. At the same time, special measures were taken to insure the stone against its fall during an accident ^[3] .

Direct preparatory work for moving the stone began on September 26, 1768. Barracks were built for 400 workers, and a glade 40 meters wide and almost 8 km long was cut into the Gulf of Finland . Further, around the boulder, which went into the ground for five meters, they dug a pit, thereby completely freeing it. The part separated by a lightning bolt was separated from the stone, and it was freed from unnecessary deposits, which lightened the load by about 600 tons. On March 12, 1769, the stone was hoisted with levers onto a wooden platform ^[4] .

After removing the stone, the remaining foundation pit was gradually filled with water. The reservoir formed has survived to the present. It is called Petrovsky Pond ^{[5] [6]} ; On February 15, 2011, this pond with adjoining territory was given the status of a natural monument ^[7] .

Jetty Delivery

The unique transport operation lasted from November 15 ( 26 ), 1769 to March 27 ( April 7 ), 1770 , when the paved road, frozen by 1.5 meters, could withstand the load. With the help of huge jacks, the rock was lifted and placed on a transport vehicle specially created as part of the preparatory work. Direct movement of the transport machine was carried out by two capstans ^[4] . For a day, in a straight line, about 20-3 steps were taken. On corners, the speed decreased ^[8] .

The stone was delivered ashore east of the current North Coast of the Neva Bay reserve ^[9] , where a special pier was built for its loading. With low water, the remnants of this pier can be seen off the coast not far from a split boulder lying at the very edge of the water ^{[5] [10]} .

Water transportation

Transportation of stone by water was carried out on a ship, such as whitewash , specially built according to the drawing of the famous galley master Grigory Korchebnikov. It was transported by two sailing craters supporting on the sides for increased stability . Posting began only in the fall. The length of the route was almost 13 kilometers. The giant Thunder-stone with a huge crowd of people arrived in St. Petersburg on Senate Square on September 26, 1770. To unload the stone off the banks of the Neva , a technique already used during loading was used: the ship was sunk and landed on piles previously driven into the bottom of the river, which made it possible to move the stone ashore ^[2] .

• Despite the measures taken, emergency situations repeatedly occurred that threatened to collapse the entire enterprise. Five times a stone fell off a transport vehicle and went deep into the ground. Nevertheless, all problems were successfully resolved ^[8] .
• In honor of the transportation of the stone, a commemorative medal with the inscription “To boldness is like. Henry, 20. 1770 ” ^[4] .
• The inhabitants of St. Petersburg were so surprised by the view of the huge rock that, as they wrote then, "for the sake of a memorable definition of this stone, many hunters ordered different cufflinks, knobs and the like to be made of its fragments."
• The monument itself was opened only 12 years after the delivery of the stone, on August 7, 1782 - to the centenary of accession to the throne of Peter I, with a huge gathering of people, in the presence of the imperial family, the diplomatic corps, invited guests and the thunder of the orchestra with cannon fire ^{[2 ] [12]} .

• Marin Carburi . Monument élevé à la gloire de Pierre-le-Grand . - Paris, 1977 .-- 47 p.