PETERSBURG. 
7S9 
Great. This ftatue is truly a mafter-piece. It is of a 
coloflal lize, and is the work of Stephen Falconet, the 
celebrated French ftatuary, cad at the expenfe of Catha¬ 
rine II. in honour of her great predecefl'or. Falconet 
has fucceeded in the refemblance to admiration ; the fea¬ 
tures of the czar’s countenance are admirably exprefled. 
The artift reprefents the hero on horfeback, as in the aft 
of afcenjding a deep rock, the fummit of which he pro- 
pofes to attain. Peter is in an Afiatic drefs, and crowned 
with laurels; he extends his right arm with graceful 
dignity, while with the left he holds the bridle of his 
horfe, vyhofe beauty of form, and elegant attitude, capti¬ 
vate the admiration of all fpeftators. The defign is maf- 
terly, and the attitude is bold and fpirited. If there be 
any defeft in the figure, (fays Mr. Coxe,) it confids in the 
fiat pofition of the right hand ; and for this reafon the 
view of the left fide is the mod driking, where the whole 
appearance is graceful and animated. The fiery courfer 
riles on his hinderfeet, and is in the attitude of llretching 
to attain the fummit of the rock. To combine folidity 
with excellence was therefore a difficult talk; but this 
the ingenious artid found a way to accomplidi. The 
brazen ferpent, which is trampled on by the horfe, is em¬ 
blematical, doubtlefs, of oppofition to the views of the 
monarch; but it artfully ferves likewife to give the pro¬ 
per equipoife to the datue ; the point of bearing being 
by this means not perceived, which is the full and flowing 
tail of the horfe gently falling on the ferpent writhing 
with pain. 
Theexpenfeof this grand monument w'as truly impe¬ 
rial. When Falconet had conceived the defign of his 
ftatue, the bafe of which was to be formed by a huge rock, 
he had to enquire where one could be found of magni¬ 
tude correfpondent to the dimenfions of the equedrian 
figure. After confiderable refearch, he difcovered a ftu- 
pendous mafs half buried in the midd of a rnorafs at 
Lachta in Finland. The expenfe and difficulty of tranf- 
porting it were no obdacles to Catharine II. By her or¬ 
der the rnorafs was drained, a road was cut through a fo- 
red, and carried over the marlhy ground; and the done, 
which, after it had been fomewhat reduced, weighed at 
lead 1500 tons, was removed to Peterlburg. This more 
than Roman work was, in lefs than fix months from the 
time of its fird difcovery, accompliffied by a windlafs, and 
by means of large fridlion-balls alternately placed and re¬ 
moved in grooves fixed on each fide of the road. In this 
manner it was drawn, with forty men feated upon its top, 
about four miles to the banks of the Neva \ there it was 
embarked in a velfel condrufted on purpofe to receive it, 
and thus conveyed about tlie fame didance by water to 
the fpot where it now Hands. When landed at Peterf- 
burg, it was 42 feet long at the bafe, 36 at the top, 21 
thick, and 17 high 5 a bulk greatly furpaffing in weight 
the mod bonded monuments of Roman grandeur. The 
pededal, however, though dill of prodigious magnitude, 
is at prefent far from retaining its original dimenfions, as, 
in order to form a proper flation for the datue, and to re- 
prefentan afcent, the fummit whereof the horfe is endea¬ 
vouring to attain, its bulk has-been neceffarily diminidied. 
But the artid has been defirous to improve upon nature : 
and, in order to produce a refemblance of an abrupt bro¬ 
ken precipice, has been too lavifli of thechifel: the ef- 
feft would have been far more fublime, if the done 
had been left as much as poffible in its rude date, a 
vad unwieldy dupendous mafs. Be this as it may, the 
cod of placing it where it is, and as it is, was 70,000 ru¬ 
bles. Stephen Falconet, the datuary, received, during his 
nine years’ day, about 48,000 rubles ; for his maintenance, 
26,800 rubles; apart tor the calling, 17,500 rubles; his 
three fubordinate artificers, 27,284; the founder Chailof, 
2500 rubles, befides incidental charges; the whole 
amounting,according to the report of the board of works, 
to 424,610 rubles, or near 70,000!. derling. The datue 
is a bell-metal of copper, with a fmall mixture of tin and 
zinc, and weighed 44,041 Ruffian pounds. The figure of 
the horfe is feventeen feet in height; that of the king 
eleven ; the head of the hero was modelled by Mad. Col- 
lot, who was afterwards married to Peter Falconet, fon 
of the datuary. The whole was erefted on the pededal 
on the 27th of Augud, 1782. The ceremony was per¬ 
formed with great pomp, and was accompanied with a fo- 
lemn inauguration. At the fame time the emprefs iflued 
a proclamation, in which, among other indances of her 
clemency, die pardons all criminals under fentence of 
death; all deferters who ffiould return to their refpeftive 
corps within a limited time; and releafes all criminals 
condemned to hard labour, provided they had not been 
guilty of murder. 
We have given an Engraving^of this dupendous and 
beautiful monument, from a book publiffied before the 
datue was fixed on its pededal; and the defeft noticed by 
Mr. Coxe, the flatnefs of the right hand, is very evident. 
This, however, is a very fmall drawback upon the general 
excellence of the work. The fimplicity of the infcrip- 
tion (fays Mr. Coxe) correfponds to the fublimityof the 
defign, and is far preferable to a pompons detail of ex¬ 
alted virtues, which the. voice of flattery applies to every 
fovereign without diftinftion. It is elegantly finidied in 
brafs charafters, on one fide in Ruffian, and on the op- 
pofite in Latin : 
FETRU PERVOMU 
EKATERINA VTORA 1 A. 
LIETA 1782. 
PETRO PRIMO 
CATARINA SECUNDA. 
MDCCLXXXII. 
“ Dedicated to Peter I. by Catharine II.” 
In this quarter of the town, moreover, is the marble 
palace. This fuperb edifice, built originally by Catharine 
for the manfion of Gregory Orlof, at his death reverted 
to the emprefs, and during her life-time it remained un¬ 
inhabited; but her fon and fuccelfor Paul, having invited 
Staniflaus Poniatowlky king of Poland to St. Peterlburg, 
affigned him this palace for his refidence ; and here, by a 
lingular turn of fortune, he terminated his troublefoms 
and inglorious life. 
The college of foreign affairs, the poft-offices, the fe- 
nate, and the loan-bank, are among the public ftruftures; 
which, either from their magnificence or ftyle of archi- 
tefture, deferve to be reckoned remarkable objefts in 
this quarter of the town ; and the number of which is 
augmented by fixteen palaces of noblemen, and a multi¬ 
plicity of other beautiful and fpacious buildings. 
A very important rank in the topography of the fame 
diftrift is alfo maintained by the Admiralty, with its 
lofty tower, from which it affords a view up the ffreets 
diverging from it as radii from their centre, and efpecially 
that called the Great Perfpeftive, extending at leaft five 
miles in length. The b'ody of the building is an oblong 
fquare, and, as is juftly obferved by M. Storch, remark¬ 
able for nothing fo much as its ugly appearance. The 
fide of the admiralty to the Neva occafionally prefents 
the public with a magnificent fpeftacle; here being the 
wharf and dock-yard from whence fliips of war of fixty 
to a hundred guns are built, and every launch is a great 
holiday. 
The grand church dedicated to St. Ifaac, which was 
intended by the emprefs Catharine II. to be the moll 
fumptuous of all the city, was not completed in her 
reign. Like the marble palace, it is erefted on a bafe- 
ment of granite, the fuperffrufture, both within and with¬ 
out, being of marble, jafper, and porphyry. This 
church, which at the deceafe of Catharine had been 
building upwards of twenty-fix years, was raifed to the 
top of the walls, and a beginning had been made with 
the dome. Her fuccelfor, impatient to fee the edifice 
completed, to the amazement of all who were not ac¬ 
quainted with his imperial tafte, caufed it to be finilhed 
of brick. 
The fquare, contiguous to the fummer-gardens, is re¬ 
markable for nothing except the ponderous monument 
erefted to the memory of field-marflial Romanzof. Ifaaq 
Place, 
