"Major Kovalev's nose" - three monuments, three stories

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:55

There are only three monuments in the world to the famous nose of Major Kovalev, who is the hero of the story "The Nose" by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. And you can see all three monuments walking along the streets of St. Petersburg. Not many literary characters and even historical figures (except perhaps Lenin and Peter the Great) were so lucky to be immortalized three times in the Northern capital, and even more so just the olfactory organ of the hero.

In the history of the appearance of the monuments "Major Kovalev's Nose", the first, second and third, we will try to understand this article.

But first, let's recall the content of the story itself.

What is "The Nose" about?

The barber Ivan Yakovlevich has breakfast and discovers his nose in the bread just baked for the meal. The nose is very familiar to him - it belonged to the collegiate assessor Kovalev. The frightened barber wraps his nose in a rag and throws him off St. Isaac's Bridge.

But Kovalev wakes up without a nose. On the face - a completely flat place, like a freshly baked pancake, without any hint of a former decoration. Kovalev went to the ober-police chief to report the loss, but suddenly he saw his own nose. He keeps himself human. Moreover, a difficult person. He is wearing a uniform embroidered with gold and a hat with the plume of a state councilor. The nose jumps into the carriage, preparing to go to the Kazan Cathedral. Struck by such an incredible event, the major catches up with him and asks him to return, but with the arrogance inherent in a senior in rank, he says that he does not understand what is at stake.

Kovalev comes up with the idea to advertise the missing nose in the newspaper. But the idea was rejected in the editorial office - the case is too scandalous, whether it will damage the reputation of a respected publication. Major - to a private bailiff. But the out-of-shape official just brushes it off - they say, a decent person's nose will not be torn off.

Upset Kovalev arrives home, where soon a quarter warder comes to visit him, who brings the lost - a nose wrapped in a piece of paper. Allegedly, he was intercepted with a fake passport on the way to Riga.

Kovalev rejoices, but it turns out that the nose does not want to return to its original place. Despite all the efforts of the owner and even the invited doctor, he lags behind his face and falls on the table.

And on the seventh of April, the nose, as if nothing had happened, is again between the cheeks of the major, its rightful owner. And Kovalev's life is getting back on track.

The story of the first nose

On the wall of house No. 11/36 on Rimsky-Korsakov Avenue (at the intersection with Voznesensky Avenue), the very first "spree" once nose flaunts.

The history of the nose monument is also very mysterious,only it happened in our day.

As you know, on November 27, 1995, during the festival of satire and humor "Golden Ostap" held in the Northern capital, the nose of Major Kovalev was immortalized by the artist Rezo Gabriadze and sculptor Vladimir Panfilov at the suggestion of the actor and director Vadim Zhuk.

Gabriadze and Panfilov, by the way, in 1994 already decorated St. Petersburg with a small masterpiece - the sculpture "Chizhik-Pyzhik" on the Fontanka, which is well known to the residents of the city and attracts many tourists.

Why they decided to decorate the house on Voznesensky with a nose is understandable. Although the olfactory organ that escaped from the owner "walked" along Nevsky Prospekt, it was first discovered by a barber in his bread right here, on Voznesensky.

For the new monument, they ordered and brought pink granite from the native Ukrainian spaces of the writer. The massive nose (which, according to rumors, repeats the nose of the sculptor with its curves) was built into a small gray limestone slab, an explanatory inscription was made about its literary owner and hoisted onto the wall. The monument turned out to be small - 60 by 35 cm, but weighty - about a hundred kilograms. He hung quietly until 2002, and suddenly disappeared in September.

Major Kovalev's nose, even the monument, was obliged to disappear, Petersburgers joked then. They also said that at night the nose, as expected, walks around the streets of the city, sniffing out various secrets. Only for some reason he can't find his way back.

Tourists were upset by the disappearance of the sights, the police starteda criminal case, but the perpetrators were never found.

Second nose and unexpected find

Then the city authorities decided to install a duplicate - another "Nose of Major Kovalev" in St. Petersburg. This time on the facade of the new exhibition hall of the Museum of Urban Sculpture. This museum is located in Chernoretsky lane, house 2. It was assumed that the new bas-relief would be an actual copy of the former one. It was created by the architect and sculptor Vyacheslav Bukhaev. True, the size of this commemorative sign is smaller. But he has a distinctive feature - a pimple at the very tip. Such as the one that once disturbed the hero of the story, Major Kovalev, with his presence.

However, a year after the mysterious loss, the original was found! A board with a nose in a dilapidated state was found in one of the city entrances on Srednyaya Podyacheskaya Street. What was to be done? The first nose was restored and put back in its original place. They say they used stronger mounts and hung them higher than the previous place, especially since the investigating authorities assumed: the board fell off the wall by itself, and then someone just picked it up and dragged it away.

But whether this version is true or whether the monument was stolen by unknown hooligans remains a mystery to this day.

So now there are two twin brothers in St. Petersburg, two almost identical noses.

Nose number three

But the story of the legendary olfactory organs is not over yet. Because on Universitetskaya embankment (building 7-9) in commemoration of the upcoming bicentenaryThe great writer in 2008 was no longer a wall memorial, but a full-fledged sculpture. On thin crooked legs in an overcoat stands Mr. Nos in the courtyard of the Faculty of Philology of St. Petersburg State University.

By the way, it's carved from stones sent by the biggest universities in the world.

Fourth nose

Here comes the next one. But this is no longer in St. Petersburg. And in Kyiv, on the old Andreevsky Descent. And "this nose is not that nose at all" - to paraphrase a well-known expression. This memorial is dedicated to the olfactory organ of the writer himself, who, according to one of the legends, suffering from a cold, it was in Kyiv that he made the first sketches of a fantastic story.