The first monument to F. Dostoevsky was erected in Moscow on Tsvetnoy Boulevard in 1918 as part of Lenin’s plan of monumental propaganda – a granite statue by the sculptor Merkurov of 1911-1913. However, in 1936 the monument was moved to Dostoevsky Street in front of the Mariinsky Hospital, where the writer was born. But his entire subsequent life was immensely closely connected with the Northern capital of Russia. It was here, in St. Petersburg, for some inexplicable reason that no monuments to Fyodor Mikhailovich were erected for a long time. The only exception can be considered his tombstone in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.
The idea of creating a monument to a person whose work was inseparably connected with St. Petersburg has long been looking for its embodiment. Master Kholina developed the first layout back in 1956, but it was never realized. And all because sixty years ago the party leaders of Leningrad were categorically against perpetuating the memory of a reactionary writer. At the end of 1988, the competition for the best design of the Dostoevsky monument was launched. The final compromise decision of sculptors, architects and city authorities to erect a monument to Dostoevsky in a small park, opposite the gates of the Cathedral of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, where the writer liked to spend his free time from work, was to the liking of St. Petersburgers.
The site of the monument was chosen on the initiative of the Museum of F.M.Dostoevsky and the main artist of the city Uralov: Boulevard of Bolshaya Moskovskaya Street next to the house at the corner of Kuznechny Pereulok and Yamskaya (now Dostoevsky) Streets; it was here that Dostoevsky ended his days. The museum in the apartment on Kuznechny lane, where the master spent the last 3 years of his life, was founded in 1971, to the 150th anniversary of Dostoevsky’s birth.
The long history of the creation of the monument finally got its happy ending. But, in it, some adjustments had to be made, changing the material of the sculpture, granite to bronze, and on May 30, 1997, already after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the monument was opened.
The sculpture is two meters high, cast in bronze, without protruding parts. At the same time, Dostoevsky’s face clearly conveys the feeling of fatigue from continuous work, his brow is tense from the gloomy thoughts that overwhelm him. The figure of a creative person looks somewhat drooping, which clearly speaks of the monetary and other difficulties that he experienced during his lifetime.
However, the whole appearance and sitting posture of Fyodor Mikhailovich with intertwined fingers of both hands and resting on one of the knees of his legs folded crosswise indicate that he is thinking about another novel. A simple inscription “to Dostoevsky” is carved on a one and a half meter pedestal of pink polished granite.
The nearby metro station also bears the name of the world famous writer. Every first Saturday in July, the Dostoevsky Days in St. Petersburg open next to the monument.
Information About the Excursion
Schedule
Open for external visits all year round
Public Transport
| Address | |
|---|---|
Bolshaya Moskovskaya Street | |
| Metro / Subway | |
| Vladimirskaya | |
| Minibuses (marshrutkas) | |
| Vladimirskaya Ploschad | K-177, K-25, K-258, K-90 |
| Trolleys | |
| Vladimirskaya Ploschad | 3, 8, 15 |
Share