In our country, there is probably no person who would not know that there is a monument to Peter the Great on Senate Square in St. Petersburg and that this monument is called "The Bronze Horseman". There is a poem "The Bronze Horseman", written by A. S. Pushkin. They don't study it at school, but they get to know each other … There are postcards, albums, TV … That is, this is a famous monument. Even people know that the sculptor Falcone sculpted him. Less is known about such an important detail of this impressive creation of the human mind and hands, as the stone on which the figure of Peter the Great stands. That is, absolutely everything is also known about this stone. Everything! But … there are people with perseverance worthy of a better application, asking, and for more than one decade (!), An insidious, as it seems to them, question: “How did the ancient Egyptians deliver huge stones and steles to the construction site? As the Incas dragged somewhere a stone of 1200 tons, that is, how "in our days this cannot be done, but in that distant past people did it?" However, they have an answer to it. You just need to agree with him depending on the "orientation" of the questioner. For people, so to speak, of "traditional orientation" all this was done by people, yes people, but … who received some secret knowledge and skills from highly developed aliens from outer space. And then this knowledge was forgotten, and our civilization fell into “decline”. "Unconventional orientation" (and there are more and more of them) about aliens are no longer talked about. Still, it's ridiculous to fly for at least four years at a speed close to the speed of light (and that is how much you need to get to the stars closest to us) in order to turn stones here on Earth or educate local aborigines on how to turn them around. Therefore, they say that they say that we have here Lemuria, Mu, Gondwana, Hyperborea or Atlantis, from where they taught the rest, including levitating stones and softening granite and quartzite with the power of one glance. And as an argument, they give an irresistible argument that, they say, it is not described anywhere how they did it. Egyptian and Assyrian bas-reliefs are not a decree for them, of course. All this is a later hoax. But in our times or those close to them, when there was already a bureaucracy, in order to register everything and count something, they dragged away somewhere. And the appropriate size and weight? And it is here that the pedestal of the Bronze Horseman comes to mind, especially since it is precisely according to it that we have “everything”.
Here he is - "The Bronze Horseman".
Finding the right stone
And it so happened that when Ekaterina Alekseevna, with God's help, got rid of her husband Peter III, flattering courtiers were found near her throne, who immediately began to say that, they say, a monument to the new empress should be erected in St. Petersburg. Fortunately, the queen was smart enough not to listen to them. But she nevertheless decided to erect a monument, not to herself, but to the founder of the city of the capital - Peter the Great.
Nobody, of course, objected to this, and "the case started." The empress herself, in her correspondence with Denis Diderot, found a suitable sculptor, and Ivan Ivanovich Betsky, the former head of the commission for stone construction in St. Petersburg, was made the head of all the works. With a master like Falcone, the figure itself did not have to worry too much. But a serious problem arose - where to get a suitable size stone on which it will stand?
Transporting the Thunder Stone. Engraving by I. F. Shlea after a drawing by Yu. M. Felten, 1770s.
Although the times were very "ancient", construction managers did very modern things. They made an advertisement in the newspaper "St. Petersburg Vedomosti", they say, where to find "for the resolution … of the monument" a stone suitable to deliver it to St. Petersburg.
And there was a state peasant Semyon Grigorievich Vishnyakov, who labored in the field of delivering building stone to the capital. He had known about a suitable stone for a long time, one might say that he had an eye on it, but only he could not split it into suitable pieces for sale. And then everything "grew together" in an instant. Captain Marina Karburi, Count Laskari, chief of detective work on the stone, was immediately reported that there was, they say, a suitable lump, and he did two very important things. Firstly, he paid Vishnyakov 100 rubles, and secondly, having already left Russia, he published his notes in the city of Liege, where he told everything in detail about this stone under the monument. That is, it is clear, of course, that “he invented everything,” but … there were still documents that he could not forge, and for what? Yes, and in the same newspaper they wrote that the stone was found through efforts … and the inhabitants of the city of St. Petersburg need not worry anymore!
One of the inscriptions on the stone base.
And the stone, which even had a proper name - Thunder-stone, was discovered not far from the village of Konnaya Lakhta. Where, by the way, there was a legend that this stone got its shape from a lightning strike, which split it in a very intricate way. And therefore the name, they say: Thunder-stone. And that's it!
More than the stones of the Pharaohs and Incas …
In its natural, natural form, this stone weighed about 2000 tons, and its dimensions were "decent": 13 m long, 8 m high and 6 m wide. True, later part of its granite mass was cut off from it. Yes, even though they cut it off, they did not throw it away, but attached it to the “rock, so that, according to Falcone’s plan, the pedestal could be lengthened. So, together with these two chipped pieces, later docked to the main monolith in front and behind, the total weight of the Thunderstone that needed to be transported was 1,500 tons. However, it is surprising that these fragments of his own docked to the pedestal, which once formed a single whole with him, nevertheless have a different color shade. Here, of course, skeptics can say that … “what is there to admire - they split a stone and transported it in parts. Here are the Incas … they had 1200 tons, here they are …! " But only in life it turned out that when the stone was found and they began to transport it to the capital, the workers, in order to facilitate their work, immediately began to hew it. Yes, only to bring the matter to the end they did not give himself … Empress Catherine II. Either the curiosity inherent in all women prompted her to do this, or the real concern for affairs for the benefit of the Fatherland - this is unknown. Yes, only she personally came to see the transportation of the stone, and forbade its further processing, wishing that it was delivered to St. Petersburg in "its naturally wild form", that is, without losing even a part of its volume. So they finished it off right on the Senate Square, where it significantly lost its original size. Moreover, these works were supervised by Academician Yuri Felten.
Left view. The part attached to the monolith is clearly visible.
Transportation of the stone: "hey-hey!"
However, before Felten over the stone, namely its transportation to St. Petersburg, another academician, Ivan Betsky, had to work hard. He conducted a study of a tenfold reduced model of the "machine" proposed for the carriage of stone, and personally made sure that with the movement of just one finger it would be possible to drag a weight of 75 pounds! A wooden platform was proposed, rolled along two parallel grooves, in which 30 balls with a diameter of five inches were to be laid. Through experiments, they found the material for making both the grooves and these balls. It turned out to be a strange alloy of copper with tin and galmeum - a mineral containing up to 50% zinc. Then they worked out the technology of making balls and grooves, and the process of lifting a stone using levers and jacks, in order to then bring a platform under it for transportation. Measures were also thought out to insure the stone in case of its fall in the event of an accident.
Closed seam. Right view.
Now comes the fun part. Already known to us Karbury, Count Laskari said that he was the inventor of this wonderful "ball machine", and it was not surprising for him to do so. The fact is that Catherine II commanded to pay 7,000 rubles to whatever she figured out how to deliver the stone to St. Petersburg. Although there was talk of something completely different, that, they say, he came to Betsky's office and offered to buy the drawings of the car. Others said that it was Betsky's assistant who did it, but they gave him little money, and also a "certificate of honor" …
Whatever it was, but Lascari himself did not write about anything like that in his memoir. And why? But … and this "but" is very important - he forgot about the payroll!
Front docked.
Why is it important? Yes, that's why. We have many people who do not know how the door in which archive opens, but immediately declare every document stored there a fake. Meanwhile, J. Orwell wrote the best about forging documents in his novel "1984". Even there, in Oceania, where correction of both history and documents (!) Was a state policy, it was not easy at all due to the presence of many … cross-references. That is, you can fake one issue of the newspaper or the memoirs of a contemporary. But it is impossible to forge all the circulation newspapers that have already been sold. And memories … you can, yes, but what if they differ in fact from documents with a seal? The latter, of course, has more faith.
So Laskari wrote about his role in the creation of the "ball machine", but the payrolls indicate that they paid for its "inventory" to the locksmith Fugner, and the foundryman of the cannon shop Emelyan Khailov received money for adapting it to it, who subsequently participated in the casting of the apparatus itself … So it's good that "the manuscripts don't burn." And it is not without reason that it is said that "Pen and paper are a long arm from the grave!"
The stone is fitted very precisely. However, he was supposed to be here, although the color is different.
Well, then on September 26, 1768, preparatory work for transportation began. First, they built barracks for 400 workers, and from the coast of the Gulf of Finland to the stone itself, a wide clearing of 40 meters and a length of 8 km was cut. The stone itself went into the ground for as much as five meters, therefore, in order to get it, it was necessary to dig a foundation pit around it. Then he separated the part that had been chipped off by a lightning strike, and some of the layers were also chipped off, which made it lighter by as much as 600 tons. Well, on March 12, 1769, with the help of the most primitive levers and jacks, he was lifted and hoisted onto a wooden platform - everything is like in the famous Disney cartoon about the adventures of the giant Gulliver.
It is clear that the foundation pit remaining from the stone was filled with water over time. So today there is a reservoir, which is called Petrovsky Pond for old memory. And again, in memory of this historical event on February 15, 2011, together with the adjacent territory, it was given the status of a natural monument. Although, most likely, this is a man-made monument to the human mind and ingenuity!
Delivery of the Thunder Stone to the pier
A unique transport operation began on November 15 (26), 1769 and continued until March 27 (April 7) 1770. They waited for frosts that bound the earth to facilitate the work. So they started it only when the ground froze to one and a half meters deep because of the extreme cold, and now it could withstand the weight of a huge rock. Its movement was carried out with the help of two capstans. Moreover, the platform was moving very slowly. Only 20 … 30 steps per day, and even when cornering, the speed was reduced. The rails at the back were removed as the route passed and moved forward. So little by little the stone drove …
Back view. Another docked part.
And not just driving. It was still a sight! People gathered at him from everywhere and came to see him like a miracle. It has become fashionable among the St. Petersburg aristocracy to go “to look at a stone”. They talked about how he was being taken in the salons and looked at those who did not see it … well, strange, let's put it this way. What a miracle, and you have not seen … Not good, sir!
Drummers stood at the top of the block, giving the command to pull. There were people around. Ohal and gasp, and many were even baptized, looking at such a miracle, created by the will of the mother empress. The peasants also leaned on the capstans - "Come on!" The stone was propped up with logs to prevent it from tilting. Others gave the carters money just to ride on a stone at least a little. Others were betting that they would be delivered or not. And those who bet on "will not take you" more than once heart skipped with the joy of profit. On the way, the stone fell five times and went deep into the ground! "Now you certainly can't get it!" - the skeptics argued. But every time people took him out of the ground and dragged him on.
Close-up of the seam of the docked front.
Finally, all the versts of the road were left behind and the stone ended up on the shore to the east of the modern nature reserve Northern coast of the Neva Bay, where by that time a special pier had been built for its loading. With low water, what has survived from it can still be seen near the coast, not far from the split boulder, which lies near the very edge of the water.
That stones can float …
To deliver the stone by water to the desired place, a special vessel was built at the same time, similar to the Volga Belyana. And it is known about it that it was designed and drawn by the famous galley master Grigory Korchebnikov. Its center of gravity was initially located very high, so that later … it could plunge into the water under the weight of the stone. Since the ship itself could not sail, two sailing transport kraers, three-masted sailing vessels, which walked side by side with it to increase stability, drove to tow it. The escort of the transport with a stone on board began again in the fall and were very afraid of storms, since it was nearly 13 kilometers to sail along the Marquis puddle. But we got there because the weather was good. On September 26, 1770, a giant Thunder-stone was brought in front of the Winter Palace, from where Catherine greeted the procession from the balcony and, with a huge crowd of people, was taken directly to Senate Square. In order to unload it off the coast of the Neva, the ship was sunk so that it sat on piles that had been driven into the bottom of the river beforehand, after which the stone was again moved along the rails to the shore.
Medal in memory …
The transportation of such a huge block of stone to St. Petersburg so amazed the minds of contemporaries that in honor of this event, by order of Catherine II, a special commemorative medal was even knocked out with the inscription: “Like daring. Genvarya, 20. 1770.
This is how this medal looked …
Well, the inhabitants of the city of St. Petersburg were so surprised by the sight of a huge rock, which, at the behest of their empress, ended up in its very center, that, as the newspapers wrote then, “many hunters, for the sake of a memorable definition of this stone, ordered to make various cufflinks, knobs and the like from the fragments..
The very same monument to Peter was opened only 12 years after the Thunder-stone arrived at the place allotted to him, on August 7, 1782 - on the centenary of the accession of Peter I to the throne, and with a huge crowd of people, in the presence of members of the imperial family, the entire diplomatic corps, many guests from different countries and to the thunder of the orchestra and cannon fire.
Opening of the monument to Peter the Great. Engraving by A. K. Melnikov from the drawing by A. P. Davydov, 1782
And as you can see, no secret knowledge of the Atlanteans and Hyperboreans was needed. A need arose and - people invented everything! Well, and among the ancient Egyptians, who built monumental structures, one might say, from morning to evening, all this was completely put on stream. That is why at that time they were not interested in technology, but how many onions and garlic the builders ate and drank beer, because this is … much more interesting!
P. S. The author and editors of the VO website express their sincere gratitude to N. Mikhailov for the photographs of the Bronze Horseman pedestal provided to him.
