The Bronze Horseman
Equestrian statue of Peter the Great. Unveiled in 1782 as a tribute from Catherine the Great. Designed by the French sculptor Etienne Falconet between 1766-1778. The pedestal weighs 1,625 tonnes and was hewn from a single block of granite which was hauled from the Gulf of Finland.
The inscription reads 'To Peter I from Catherine II' in Russian and Latin. A serpent, symbolising treason, is crushed beneath the horse's hooves.
The statue is popularly known today as 'the Bronze Horseman' after Alexander Pushkin's epic poem The Bronze Horseman (1833).
