The very first monument to Mikhail Lermontov was erected in Pyatigorsk, not far from the place where he died. The body of the poet by that time had long been reburied from Pyatigorsk, but the city where he spent the last months of his life, where his last poems were born, was not in vain awarded the first monument to Lermontov in Russia.
I was happy with you, mountain gorges
Lermontov selflessly loved the mountains, loved the Caucasus. Since those years, when his grandmother Elizaveta Alekseevna Arsenyeva brought him very young to Hot Waters, as Pyatigorsk was once called. Many lines of his works are devoted to the Caucasus, the beauties of its nature. Perhaps that is why that love is perceived by us so tragically. By the will of fate, Lermontov came here after his first exile to the Nizhny Novgorod Dragoon Regiment for the rebellious poem "On the Death of a Poet", then it was here that he came for the whole summer to relax. And never returned from.
That Lermontov's house in Pyatigorsk, which he rented from the parade-major Vasily Ivanovich Chilaev, is still standing. It now houses the poet's museum. And the monument, which became the first to perpetuateLermontov in stone, installed in the city square, which was specially smashed before the opening. Behind him is the foot of Mount Mashuk, where on July 27, 1841, the life of the poet ended in a duel. His gaze is fixed on the top of Elbrus, the majestic peak of the Caucasus Mountains so beloved by the poet. The monument to Lermontov in Pyatigorsk, whose photo every tourist who has visited the city takes with him, is a symbol of selfless love for the poet of enlightened minds of that time.
To the thirtieth anniversary of the death of the poet
The story of Lermontov's duel and the name of his killer is known to almost everyone in modern Russia. This was told at school in the lessons of native speech, this is written in textbooks. And the names of those who initiated the installation of the first monument to him, who created it, are known mainly by professional writers.
There aren't too many people who initiated the installation process to make their names hard to remember. In 1870, the poet Pyotr Kuzmich Martyanov published the following lines in the journal World Labor: “Petersburg and Kronstadt erect monuments to Krusenstern and Bellingshausen, Kyiv to Bogdan Khmelnitsky and Count Bobrinsky, Smolensk to Glinka, why not Pyatigorsk, with its thousands of visitors to the waters, take initiatives in the construction of a monument to M. Yu. Lermontov?” The main tenant of the Caucasian Mineral Waters at that time, Andrey Matveyevich Baikov, warmly supported Martyanov's idea. Another name was listed in the group of initiators - Alexander Andreevich Vitman, a doctor and court counselor of Pyatigorsk. Baikov and Witman asked for assistance from Baron A. P. Nikolai, who was at that timeHead of the Main Directorate of the Caucasian Governor - Grand Duke Mikhail Romanov. So a year later, through many hands, Tsar Alexander II learned about the initiative to erect a monument to Lermontov in Pyatigorsk. His highest permission for this event was received on July 23, 1871, almost on the day of the thirtieth anniversary of the death of the poet.
Thousands, rubles, kopecks
The king's response also spelled out the funds to be used to build the monument. He announced "… the opening of a subscription throughout the Empire to collect donations for this monument." A fundraising committee was immediately set up and the Ministry of Finance began registering donations.
The first installment came from two unknown peasants from the Tauride province. He made two rubles. But soon donations began to come from everywhere. Some amounts have gone down in history. So, a check for a thousand rubles - a lot of money in those years - sent Prince Alexander Illarionovich Vasilchikov, who was Lermontov's second in that fatal duel. Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky was so indignant at the deposit of one kopeck from a certain official Mishchenko that he even described this incident as a warning to posterity. And the fact that an ordinary peasant Ivan Andreichev supplemented this contribution to the ruble is also described by him.
In just 18 years, during which money was received for the monument to Lermontov in Pyatigorsk, 53 thousand 398 rubles and 46 kopecks were collected.
Competition for the best project
By 1881, the collected money was already enough to start the project of the future monument. Installation Committeemanaged to recapture the city of Pyatigorsk as a place of permanent registration of the monument, although some members of the committee proposed to install it in one of the two capitals, arguing that "Lermontov belongs to all of Russia", and in return offering to open the Lermontov Museum in Pyatigorsk.
In total, three rounds were held to select the best design of the monument. Neither the first nor the second rounds, and more than 120 proposals were sent to them, did not reveal that special sketch that the entire commission would approve. The results of the third round were summed up on October 30, 1883. 15 applicants sent their projects to it, among which number 14 was the sketch of the future monument. It came from the then-famous sculptor Alexander Mikhailovich Opekushin, who created a monument to Alexander Pushkin three years earlier, which was installed on Tverskoy Boulevard in Moscow. The monument to Lermontov in Pyatigorsk, which Opekushin proposed to install, was notable for its simplicity of composition, it included only a few minor details, but according to the author's intention, it was supposed to reflect the short but bright life of the poet. And this idea was accepted by the members of the commission.
One portrait and one drawing
Strange as it may seem, it was not so easy to achieve a portrait likeness of the bronze poet with his face during his lifetime. For some reason, the death mask was not removed from Lermontov. As an example of his appearance, Opekushinin was given only a self-portrait of the poet, painted by him in watercolor four years before his death, and a pencil drawing of fellow soldier Lermontov, BaronD. P. Palena, drawn in 1840, showing the poet in profile.
Alexander Mikhailovich Opekushin did a great job. The monument to Lermontov in Pyatigorsk was subsequently recognized as the most accurate in terms of portrait resemblance to the poet. And this was not surprising, because the sculptor created many drawings of Lermontov before providing them for comparison to the living acquaintances of the poet, among whom was his second Vasilchikov. The facial features were written out on the sketch chosen by the experts directly under the guidance of Alexander Illarionovich, before the final version of the monument was approved. The author wanted not only to give the statue a portrait resemblance, but also to create a highly artistic work of art worthy of a poet.
From Crimea and St. Petersburg to Pyatigorsk
As a result, the author of the monument to Lermontov in Pyatigorsk not only created the very statue of the poet, but also proposed a drawing of a pedestal for it. Light-colored granite slabs had to be laid out in the form of a monumental rock, on which, apart from a lyre, a laurel wreath and a feather, there were no more decorations. Everything is concise, but each of the details had to carry a deep symbolic meaning.
In St. Petersburg, at the A Moran bronze foundry, the bronze statue itself (2 meters 35 centimeters high) and details of the pedestal decor were cast. Then the sculpture, while in Pyatigorsk they urgently arranged a public garden and installed a pedestal, was put up in the capital for public viewing.
For the pedestal, blocks of light granite were brought specially from the Crimea - only eight units. He chose the place for the monument himselfsculptor long before its installation. Thanks to this, it was possible to organically connect the statue of the poet and the area surrounding the square. According to his drawing, local craftsmen were engaged in the construction of the pedestal. The installation of the bronze sculpture of the poet, which was first delivered to Pyatigorsk by rail, then by carts, was directed by Opekushin himself, with the help of masters brought by him from the capital. The total height of the monument after the installation was completed was 5 meters 65 centimeters.
Wreaths and speeches at the foot of Mashuk
The original opening of the monument was scheduled for October 1889. But Alexander Mikhailovich Opekushin could not come to Pyatigorsk in October, and many visitors to Vody would like to be present at this significant event, and therefore the opening date of the monument was postponed to Sunday, August 16.
Besides Opekushin, in order to personally see how the monument to Lermontov in Pyatigorsk will be opened, almost all members of the committee for its installation, local nobility, heads of the Water Administration, city officials, residents of the surrounding area and visitors to the resort arrived at the ceremony. A report on the collection and spending of money was read out, after which the snow-white veil, like the top of Elbrus, was removed from the monument.
Wreaths of natural flowers, silver, metal lay at the feet of the poet. Solemn speeches were made about the importance of the poet's creative heritage for the Russian people, the march "Lermontov", composed by V. I. Saul, the poem "In front of the monument to M. Yu. Lermontov", read by the author Kosta Khetagurov. Wasa short play "At the monument to Lermontov", written by G. Schmidt, was played.
Andrey Matveyevich Baikov alone was not among those present. At that time, he, seriously ill, was at a resort in Merano, Austria, where he died a month after the opening of the monument.
The very first and best today
That bronze Lermontov, for which the whole world raised money, became not only the first monument erected to the poet, but also the best of all existing today. This opinion was expressed by art historians, historians, writers quite a long time ago. How many new monuments were erected after that, but it remains unchanged: the best monument to Lermontov is in Pyatigorsk. His photo, along with images of what was installed by Pushkin on Tverskoy, is in almost all encyclopedias. At the feet of the poet on the front side of the pedestal are two inscriptions; at the top: "M. Y. Lermontov", a little lower - "August 16, 1889".
The face of the bronze Lermontov seems to convey poetic lines that are about to spill onto paper, his expression seems so inspired. But the pen is indestructible, the book fell out of the hands of the poet, and his gaze is turned to the snow-covered Elbrus. Behind him is Mashuk. Even these details carry a high meaning: behind the back is the past, ahead is eternity. This is how the great Russian poet Lermontov is depicted in Pyatigorsk. A photo of the monument against the backdrop of the infamous mountain is more expensive for many tourists than images of the beautiful peaks of the Caucasus Range.
House under the reed roof
In May 1841, wanting to spend a few months in his beloved Pyatigorsk, Lermontov came to the Caucasus. I accidentally stumbled upon a simple but rather well-kept house, covered with reeds, on Nagornaya Street, on the outskirts of the city. With the owner of the house, retired parade-major V. I. Chilaev, they managed to come to an agreement for 100 silver rubles - a rather considerable amount, but it allowed them to rent a house for the whole summer. He once “settled” his Pechorin in such mansions, the same house became the last earthly refuge of the poet.
After the fatal duel, long before the building was turned into the Lermontov House-Museum, little care was taken in Pyatigorsk about this house. Often the owners changed, none of them followed its arrangement, gradually the building began to fall into disrepair. The first thing the locals did when the threat of collapse became fairly obvious was to make and attach a memorial marble slab to the wall, which still hangs to this day. There are only a few words on it: "The house in which the poet M. Yu. Lermontov lived." Only in 1922, the department of public education in Pyatigorsk formalized the right to own the house. It took a year to bring it back to its proper form for the museum.
Today, this is practically the only monument associated with Lermontov that has survived in its original form. Here, not only this house, but also all the houses in the quarter stand as they stood in 1841 - a unique case.
From the Pyatigorsk cemetery to the family crypt in Tarkhany
Here, in a house under a reed roof, and brought on a rainy Tuesday July 27the lifeless body of the poet after the duel, from here he was taken to the last, as it was then believed, the way to the Pyatigorsk cemetery.
The grandmother who raised Mikhail Lermontov, Elizaveta Alekseevna Arsenyeva, eight months after the death of her grandson, secured the right to reburial and moved the body of the poet to the family estate of Tarkhany, Penza province, where his mother and grandfather were already lying in the family crypt by that time. But the Lermontov Museum in Pyatigorsk was replenished with the poet's personal belongings, which were donated by the second cousin of Mikhail Yuryevich, Evgenia Akimovna Shan-Giray.
Reburial took place on May 5, 1842. And on the first grave of Lermontov at the Pyatigorsk cemetery, a memorial plaque was installed, where, as well as to the monument and the house under a reed roof, numerous fans of his work come.
Lermontov's favorite places in Pyatigorsk
Not only the city square, the museum complex and the cemetery are visited by numerous tourists in Pyatigorsk. There are several beautiful places in the mountains, where the poet once liked to visit, where tourist routes now lead. Among the main attractions is Lermontov's grotto in Pyatigorsk on the spur of Mashuk. There is a picture written by the poet in 1837 - “View of Pyatigorsk”, which depicts this spur. He, by the will of Lermontov, became the place of secret meetings between Pechorin and Vera.
Until 1831, it was an ordinary mountain cave, which offered a stunning view of Pyatigorsk. Then the Bernardazzi brothers (Johann and Joseph, local builders) converted it into a grotto,benches were installed in it, and an iron grate to it appeared only in the seventies of the XIX century. The cast-iron memorial plaque "Lermontov's Grotto" was installed in 1961. Far from the city and people, Lermontov rested here from the hustle and bustle.
Like the sweet song of my fatherland…
Many tourists will be offered to visit the Lermontov Museum-Reserve in Pyatigorsk, the monument, the stele in the cemetery, and the duel site at the foot of Mount Mashuk. Many show a desire to walk around the poet's favorite places in the vicinity of the city, where he often walked. So did Leo Tolstoy, Sergei Yesenin, Vasily Shukshin, who honored the last refuge of the great writer, poet and artist with their personal visit.
Especially crowded here on the Poet's Memorial Day - July 27th. Literary readings are held, Lermontov's poems are heard. And quite often - these lines: "Like a sweet song of my homeland, I love the Caucasus!"
