On September 6, 2011, a 5,000-ruble banknote was put into circulation in Russia. The obverse depicts a monument on the high bank of the Amur River in Khabarovsk. The fate of this monument, created by the famous sculptor Alexander Opekushin, approved by the great artist Ilya Repin, approved by Emperor Alexander III and inaugurated by the future Emperor Nicholas II, is surprising.
Nikolai Roganov
The famous monument of the coveted banknote.
Idea
The initiator and organizer of the annexation of the Amur, Primorye, Sakhalin Islands to Russia, the founder of Khabarovsk, Blagoveshchensk and Vladivostok, the governor of Eastern Siberia Nikolai Nikolaevich Muravyov-Amursky enjoyed respect and popularity in all strata of Russian society. And it is no coincidence that in November 1881, immediately after his death, the idea of a monument to an outstanding compatriot arose in Paris. And already in December, permission came from Emperor Alexander III to collect voluntary donations.
In less than a year, they raised a huge sum of 62 thousand rubles at that time. The then governor of Eastern Siberia, Dmitry Gavrilovich Anuchin, wanted to use most of the funds to create boarding houses and asylums. And in honour of Muravyov-Amursky he proposed to erect a modest column. But Prince Mikhail Sergeevich Volkonsky, then a comrade of the Minister of Public Education, son of the famous Russian Decembrist and comrade-in-arms of Muravyov-Amursky, was sharply opposed to this.
The choice of the site for the future monument was also not easy; among the contenders were Irkutsk, Blagoveshchensk and Vladivostok. But the active position of the commander of the troops of the Amur military district, Baron Andrei Nikolaevich Korf, tipped the scales in favor of Khabarovsk. In 1886, a committee for the construction of the monument was created, chaired by M. S. Volkonsky, which developed a clear program for perpetuating Muravyov-Amursky:
“The monument should consist of a standing figure of the count, in the uniform of an adjutant general, and resemble the count’s activities in Siberia. The statue should be at least 5 arshins high and cast in bronze in St. Petersburg. The pedestal for it should be an artificial rock and purchased in Khabarovsk.”
Contest
In the spring of 1887, a competition was held, in which 18 sculpture projects were submitted. The level of the contestants is already indicated by the fact that among them was the author of the monument to the Millennium of Russia in Novgorod, M. Opekushin. But the jury, which included M. S. Volkonsky, painter I. E. Repin, poet A. N. Maikov, unanimously awarded the first prize to Alexander Mikhailovich Opekushin by secret ballot. The author of the immortal monument to Pushkin in Moscow…
“The work of A.M. Opekushin,” recalled the then Governor-General of Eastern Siberia, D.G. Anuchin, “artistically, was the personification of energy and strength and had the very qualities that should have distinguished a monument designated to be erected on the border with China, on the banks of the Amur returned to our possession.”
On February 14, 1888, in the Anichkov Palace, the project was presented to Emperor Alexander III, who pointed out “the need to replace the uniform with a Cossack inspector.”
Opening
On the large model Opekushin made all the necessary corrections, including replacing the binoculars with a telescope. The monumental figure (over 3.5 m high) was completed in the summer of 1890. Prince Volkonsky sent a photograph of the statue to France to Muravyov-Amursky’s widow Ekaterina Nikolaevna and received a reply from the countess: “The statue is wonderful, it bears a clear resemblance to the original.” The count’s widow regretted that she could not come to Khabarovsk for the unveiling of the monument because of her age. From 10 to 14 January 1891, before the bronze monument was sent to the Far East, it was publicly displayed in the Mikhailovsky Manege in St. Petersburg.
Monument to the Governor General of Eastern Siberia, Count Muravyov-Amursky, in Khabarovsk. Photo: Sergei Subbotin/RIA Novosti
And then there was a long sea voyage from Odessa to Vladivostok and then to Khabarovsk.
The monument was unveiled on May 30, 1891, on the Amur cliff. At 10 o’clock in the morning, the heir to the throne, Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich, arrived and opened the monument. The troops present stood guard, the artillery fired a salute, and the orchestra, instead of a countermarch, played the so-called Amur march, with which the day always began under the command of Count Muravyov. The celebration was accompanied by fair festivities, a concert of military bands, and special illumination. It was truly a great national holiday.
Demolition
Unfortunately, the bronze count remained in place for only 34 years. After the Bolshevik coup and the end of the civil war, on January 26, 1925, the decision to tear down the monument was approved by the chairman of the Dalrevkom Jan Gamarnik and the secretary of the Dalrevkom of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks Nikolai Kubyak. According to Bolshevik officials, the work of the famous sculptor was of no interest either from an artistic or historical point of view.
At night, the statue was brutally smashed, and the flying bronze head remained for a long time not far from the pedestal. The fragments of the monument remained for several years in the courtyard of the local history museum, and then were removed for melting. Soon a two-meter concrete statue of Lenin was placed on the pedestal. The small figure on the monumental base made a comical impression. And in 1983, on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of the founding of Khabarovsk, it was decided to “restructure” the monument. On the repaired pedestal a stele “Tower” was installed in memory of the Russian pioneers. But “Ladya” stood for only nine years.
Strange things did not take root on the high bank of the Amur…
Return
In 1988, after perestroika, a committee was set up to restore the monument to Muravyov-Amursky. Just like a hundred years ago, money was collected. Many people responded. At the central food market in Khabarovsk, elderly summer residents contributed three rubles. The main contribution, 100 thousand rubles, was made by the regional administration.
On May 31, 1992, the day of the birthday of the city of Khabarovsk, the restored monument was unveiled. And almost twenty years later, Count Nikolai Nikolaevich Muravyov-Amursky appeared on the largest Russian banknote.
