Consent area. St. Peter's Square: what kind of obelisk stands in the Vatican cities - a sculptural group on the Place de la Concorde

The obelisk was brought to Rome from Egypt during the reign of Emperor Caligula in 37 AD. According to Pliny's description, its origin is from Heliopolis. Later, the obelisk stood at the Forum of Julia of Alexandria in Egypt, and in Rome it was installed in the center of the Circus of Nero. The obelisk remained at the appointed place even after the desolation of the Circus, until the period of the formation of a necropolis there, and subsequently the construction of the ancient St. Peter's Basilica.

In 1586, by order of Pope Sixtus V and under the guidance of the architect Domenico Fontana, the obelisk was transported and installed in the center of the square of St. Peter's Basilica.

Reference: the installation of an obelisk in the center of St. Peter's Square was scheduled for September 10, 1586. First, the obelisk was placed and fixed on a monolith, and then, using a special structure equipped with winches and rollers, they laid it on the ground. The operation was led by Domenico Fontana and required 900 workers, 140 horses and 44 winches. All approaches to the square were blocked, onlookers and a curious crowd were forbidden to make any sounds under fear death penalty. Orders were given with the help of a horn, drums and signal flags. Carefully and slowly they lifted the obelisk to the pedestal, but during the ascent the ropes supporting it weakened and this threatened to fall the obelisk. Everyone froze in horror and deathly silence ... and at that moment, in violation of the ban, a voice from the crowd rang out: “Water on the ropes!” It was the captain of a ship named Domenico Bresca from San Remo. He knew very well from experience that when the ropes get wet, they tighten. So the obelisk was erected, and Captain Bresk was summoned to the Pope. He praised the captain and asked how he could thank him. In response, the captain asked for permission to bring palm branches to the Vatican on Palm Sunday, which happens on the Sunday before Easter.

According to legend, the ball at the top of the obelisk contained the ashes of Caesar. Perhaps the winds of centuries blew it out of there, because when the obelisk was moved, nothing was found there but city dust. The ball, however, was placed in the Capitoline Museums, and a cross was put in its place.

The obelisk is the second tallest after the Lateran. Its height is 25.50 meters, and together with the pedestal and the cross on top it is 41 meters. It is the only obelisk that has not been damaged.

Satellite map of the obelisk:

Place de la Concorde (Paris, France) - description, history, location, reviews, photo and video.

• Tours for the New Year To France
• Hot tours To France

Previous photo Next photo

The Place de la Concorde in Paris is called one of the main squares of the city. It has the shape of a regular octagon, in each corner of which there is a statue symbolizing one of the French cities (Brest, Bordeaux, Lyon, Lille, Marseille, Nantes, Rouen and Strasbourg). Another famous monument is the huge Egyptian obelisk located in the very center.

An interesting fact is that in 1871-1918, when Strasbourg belonged to Germany, the face of the statue symbolizing it was covered with a mourning veil.

Short story

The project of the square was created in 1755 by Gabriel Ange-Jacques. After the French Revolution, a guillotine was installed in the center of the square, and it itself was renamed the “Revolution Square”.

Many noble persons were executed on this square: Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, Charlotte Corday, Madame Elisabeth and others. After the decline of revolutionary sentiment, the guillotine was removed. Somewhat later, the place was renamed "Concord Square".

In 1993, the French AIDS Society organized a provocative action: a giant pink condom was put on the central obelisk.

Place de la Concorde

How to get there

You can get to the square by taxi or by metro to the Concorde station. In addition, more than 5 bus routes run through the square.

Uprising Square neznaiko wrote in January 20th, 2014

Probably, every second person who comes to St. Petersburg leaves the Moscow railway station on Vosstaniya Square. The first thing a guest sees is Ligovsky Prospekt, always stuck in traffic jams, on the square itself, there is an obelisk of victory and the building of the Oktyabrskaya Hotel with the inscription "Hero City Leningrad" on the facade.

Vosstaniya Square, n.v.

The square is very interesting story. Also here you can notice the visual deception of the obelisk, and it has its own, no less interesting, history.

In 1765, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna ordered to build a church at the intersection of Nevsky Prospekt. In those days it was the border of that, the first St. Petersburg. A village was located on the site of the Smolny Cathedral, instead of Ligovsky Prospekt there was a water channel originating in the Liga River. In 1794, instead of the church, a stone church was laid, and in 1804 the construction was completed.
The Church of the Sign is named after the attached chapel. The main aisle was consecrated in the name of the Lord's entry into Jerusalem, the side chapels were consecrated in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and the Sign of the Mother of God.
The Church of the Sign was dismantled in early 1941. (The date 1936 is erroneous - the church was still active in the first half of 1937).

Znamenskaya Square, between 1890 and 1905

Znamenskaya Square, view from the Ligovsky Canal (now - Prospect), 1860s

The square itself was formed in the 1840s in connection with the construction railway Saint Petersburg - Moscow. A little later, the building of the Nikolaevsky (now Moscow) station was built.

The station building of the St. Petersburg-Moscow railway, between 1855-1862

Vosstaniya Square, filmed from an aircraft, 1931.

It was built in the middle of the 19th century. The hotel was then called "Northern", "Big Northern", and after the revolution it became "October". In the 1920s, a city dormitory for the proletariat was organized in the hotel, where all Petrograd homeless children were taken. In short, the hostel was called GOP, and its juvenile inhabitants were called gopniks.

In 1909, a monument was erected in the center of the square. Alexander III. In October 1937, the monument was dismantled and transported to the courtyard of the Russian Museum. In 1994, the monument was erected in the courtyard of the Marble Palace.

Opening of the monument to Alexander III on May 23, 1909

Uprising Square, a monument to Alexander III

On November 17, 1918, the square, where large-scale events and manifestations of the February Revolution unfolded in 1917, was renamed the Uprising Square.
In the late 1930s, work began on the construction of the subway, which were frozen at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War and the blockade of the city.
During the war, Uprising Square was an active active point - the station worked (evacuation of residents of the besieged city), pillboxes were placed.

DOT (long-term firing point) on Vosstaniya Square, 1944

Square on the site of the Church of the Sign, 1948

In the post-war period, in 1952, the square was reconstructed, a front square was laid out, in the center of which it was planned to later erect a monument in memory of historical events cities.

View of Vosstaniya Square from Goncharnaya Street, park in the center, 1970s.

In 1955, the metro station "Ploshchad Vosstaniya" was opened.

Opening Art. m. "Rebellion Square", November 15, 1955

View of Nevsky Prospekt and the lobby of the station. m. "Rebellion Square", between 1960-1970

The obelisk to the "Hero City of Leningrad" was erected in 1985.

Obelisk "To the Hero City of Leningrad", view from Ligovsky Prospekt, 2000s.

Obelisk "To the Hero City of Leningrad", view from Nevsky Prospekt, 2000s.

Interestingly: on Nevsky Prospekt in St. Petersburg, two high-rise dominants - the Tower of the City Duma and the Obelisk "To the Hero City of Leningrad" are regular pentagons in plan.
This creates a favorable effect from all vantage points and fits well into the urban landscape, which is why many citizens traditionally believe that both of these structures are square in their plan.

Piazza della Minerva is located. It is named after an important basilica - Santa Maria sopra Minerva, one of the main temples of the Roman Catholic Dominican order.
The church, in turn, owes its name to a mistake: it was believed that it was erected on the ruins of the ancient temple of Minerva. Indeed, the temple of Minerva was somewhere on the Field of Mars, but the place of the church was most likely occupied by the temple complex of Isis and Separis.
Isis was an Egyptian goddess, but the Romans easily accepted foreign gods into their Pantheon. The cult of Isis and the general fascination with Egypt under Augustus became very fashionable in Rome. Over the centuries, time destroyed and buried these pagan temples, and in the area adjacent to the current church of Santa -Maria sopra Minerva, found several Egyptian obelisks, which may have stood in pairs in front of the entrance to the temple of Isis. One now adorns the fountain in front of the Pantheon, the other stands on the back of an elephant in Minerva Square.

The obelisk on the back of an elephant, which in Rome is affectionately called the "chicken of Minerva" (pulcino della Minerva), refers to the reign of Pharaoh Apria (6th century BC; in the Bible he is mentioned under the name of Horf). Historians suggest that the obelisk was brought to Rome from Heliopolis during the time of the emperor Domitian.
Pope Alexander VII Chigi decided to install an obelisk in the square in front of the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, since during his reign an obelisk was found in 1665. The pope was delighted with the find with hieroglyphs symbolizing sunlight and, in his mind, the light of divine knowledge.
On the pedestal, in particular, it is written - "As the signs of wise Egypt (ie hieroglyphs) support the elephant, the strongest of all animals, so wisdom must support a strong mind."
A competition was announced regarding the installation of an obelisk in the square in front of the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva. Several well-known architects took part in the competition, including Gian Lorenzo Bernini and the priest of the Dominican monastery, Padre Domenico Paglia. According to the project presented by the latter, the obelisk should was leaning on small hills (the heraldic sign of the Chigi surname) and surrounded by four dogs - a Dominican symbol, whose slogan "dogs of the Lord" emphasized fidelity to the Almighty. But this project was rejected by the pope, but the presented works by Bernini pleased him. to the Bernini project, where a standing elephant carried the entire weight of the obelisk on its back.

In all likelihood, Gian Lorenzo was inspired to create such an image by the Renaissance mystical novel Hypnerotomachia Poliphila, in which the protagonist dreamed of a stone elephant with an obelisk on his back, the book was accompanied by an appropriate illustration. The book had a great influence on the culture of the Renaissance, including literature, architecture and landscaping art. The philosophically educated Pope Alexander VII was also a big fan of the Hypnerotomachia.

However, the envious Padre Paglia, whose idea was rejected, convinced the commission and the pope that this monument would not be stable either because of the hollow space at its base. Like, in such an incarnation, the monument would become unstable and unsafe, which, in turn, would would entail the collapse of the obelisk. Bernini was asked to develop a more stable foundation for the obelisk.

Bernini vehemently opposed any innovations, arguing that this would only worsen the appearance of the monument and cited as an example the obelisk in Piazza Navona, installed according to his project in the Fountain of the Four Rivers. "There, a more powerful and heavier obelisk, towered on a rock hollow from below. But Pope Alexander VII decided that additional support was necessary for the safety of the monument.
As a result, a support appeared under the belly of the elephant, which Bernini tried to hide with an elegant blanket. But in this, the final project of the monument, realized in 1667 by his student Ercole Ferrara, Bernini did not miss the opportunity to show his contempt for the Dominicans. elephant tail, was installed directly in front of the windows of the Dominican monastery.
Well, the monument itself, as expected, was decorated with all the signs of the involvement of Pope Alexander VII in the installation of this obelisk - the papal coat of arms on a pedestal and a heraldic eight-pointed star on top of the obelisk.

Bernini had never seen an elephant in his life, and while working he relied only on the words of eyewitnesses, resulting in a rounded elephant, more like a well-fed pig.

In those days, the elephant in Europe was almost a fabulous rarity. Those few animals that could be brought with great difficulty to the royal and papal courts quickly died from the unusual climate and inept care. True, in the 9th century AD. at the court of Charlemagne, an elephant named Abul-Abbas, donated by the legendary caliph Harun al-Rashid, lived for several years, and six centuries later, at the court of Pope Leo X, the white elephant Hanno lived, a gift from the Portuguese king Manuel I. A copy of Raphael's drawing depicting Hanno Na The figure shows that Gannon was an Indian elephant.
The new monument, the Romans called "porcino/porcellino della Minerva", or Minerva's pig. This name eventually evolved into the modern name of the obelisk - "Pulcino della Minerva" - Minerva's chicken, probably due to the similarity of the two words in the Roman dialect.
There is a legend that if you rub the elephant's tail on which the obelisk stands, you can achieve some success in business and career advancement. And if you take a photo against the backdrop of the obelisk in Piazza Minerva, then life will be filled with happy moments.

In the center of the cathedral square of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, in front of the southern facade of the bell tower, there is a structure characteristic of the era of classicism - a stone obelisk. It is a tetrahedral pillar, fixed on a high pedestal, tapering upwards, built of hewn sandstone and completed with a gilded copper ball. On the pedestal, on all four sides, there are four oval copper boards with texts engraved on them, listing the merits of the Lavra to the Fatherland in "unhappy times for Russia" Tatar yoke, Time of Troubles and Streltsy rebellions, when Lavra “contributed and helped to preserve the fatherland”.

The obelisk was erected by order of Metropolitan of Moscow and Holy Archimandrite Lavra Platon (Levshina) v 1792, in the year of the 400th anniversary of the memory of St. Sergius of Radonezh. We learn about this from the text engraved on a copper plate fixed on the western side of the pedestal:

In glorification of the sowing of the monastery and in the eternal memory of the great men, St. Sergius, Archimandrites: Joasaph and Dionysius and Kelarus Avramius, Platon Metropolitan of Moscow and Archimandrite of this Lavra erected and dedicated this monument 1792.

They are in Heaven: they do not need glory,

It should lead us to such things.

It is known that the artel of the peasant of the Olonets governorship Gavrila Karetin erected the obelisk under an agreement concluded with the Lavra in December 1791 and compiled in accordance with the instructions of Metropolitan Platon.

The stones of the obelisk were fastened together with iron filled with lead, and the seams between the stones were smeared with cement with the addition of marble flour. When looking at the obelisk, it is easy to notice that one of the stones of its tetrahedral pillar is somewhat different from the others in structure and color. According to Karetin's explanation given to Metropolitan Platon, a stone of a different "parsing" and color had to be replaced by a stone broken on the road during its transportation to the Lavra.

The resourcefulness of the contractor made it possible to fulfill the contract in a timely manner, and the obelisk adorned the central square of the Lavra on the day of honoring the memory of St. Sergius. In the printed description of the Lavra for 1796 we read:

“In 1792, in an open spatial place, between the bell tower and the Trinity Cathedral, on the one hand, and on the other, between the Assumption Cathedral and the Treasury line, a stone obelisk made of wild large and hewn stone was erected, 14 arshins high, on a platform with a step, and with a pedestal of the same hewn stone. The top of the obelisk is finished with pointed marble, and a gilded copper ball made of fire is placed on it. On the same obelisk, on top of the pedestal, a sundial is fixed on three sides, with gilded fire arrows, and on the pedestal, on all four sides, four oval boards of white marble are embedded, on which those memorabilia are briefly carved, with which at different times this the monastery became famous, and what services were expressed from it to the fatherland. This obelisk was built with the care and dedication of His Grace Metropolitan Platon.

At first, the obelisk was surrounded by a fence of wooden poles dug into the ground. V 1823 a new fence was built from ancient cast-iron cannons removed from the Lavra towers and dug into the ground, connected by forged chains. Many images of the obelisk with cannons dug around it have survived.

V 1930s In the 1990s, the white marble oval plaques with texts and the gilded copper ball that crowned the obelisk were lost, and the sundial was removed and placed on display at the State Museum that opened on the territory of the Lavra. losses 1930s years were replenished in 1950, when a new gilded ball was installed on top of the obelisk, and exact copies of old white marble boards, but already copper ones, were fixed on the pedestal.

The overhaul of the obelisk was carried out in 2000 The main problem was the restoration of the foundation of this structure. The restoration of the foundation was carried out without dismantling the pedestal of the obelisk: the pedestal "caught in grips" and raised on jacks, which made it possible to bring a new foundation slab under the pedestal of the obelisk. Only the stones of the tetrahedral pillar were taken apart; then they were reassembled on a new cement mortar. In the process of restoration, the granite steps of the obelisk and the slabs of the pulpit in front of it were updated. east side, a new sundial was put in its place - exact copies of the old clock, the copper ball crowning the obelisk was gilded.