Monument to Alexander Butlerov

The monument to Alexander Butlerov stands at the entrance to Pushkin Square, which Kazan residents, out of old habit, often still call the “Lenin Garden,” at the far end of Universitetskaya Street. The bronze figure shows the scientist seated in an armchair with his legs crossed, his gaze thoughtful and focused — the sculptors sought to convey not formal grandeur, but the simplicity and inner concentration of the outstanding chemist.

Alexander Mikhailovich Butlerov spent almost the entire first half of his scientific career at Kazan University: here he taught chemistry, founded his own scientific school, and in 1861 formulated the theory of the chemical structure of organic compounds, one of the fundamental achievements of world chemistry. In 1860, on the recommendation of the trustee of the educational district, he was elected rector of the university, and in the autumn of 1862 he became the first rector elected by the professorial corporation rather than appointed from above. While holding this post, Butlerov also concerned himself with matters of civic improvement — in particular, he pressed for the monument to Gavriil Derzhavin to be moved from the university courtyard to a more prominent location in the city.

The monument to Butlerov himself appeared more than a century after his time as rector — in 1978, marking the hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary of the scientist’s birth. The monument was created by sculptor Yuri Orekhov together with architects Viktor Peterburzhtsev and Alexander Stepantsev. Engraved on the left face of the granite pedestal is the structural formula of the benzene ring — a symbol of Butlerov’s principal scientific discovery, which transformed understanding of the structure of organic molecules.

The monument stands in the historic part of the university quarter, close to the main building of Kazan University and its old architectural ensemble, recognised as a cultural heritage site as far back as the mid-twentieth century. The scientist’s calm, almost domestic pose contrasts with the strict classical façades of the surrounding buildings and underscores that this is not a statesman being depicted, but above all a scholar who devoted his whole life to the laboratory and to his students.

Today the square around the monument remains a favourite spot for Kazan residents and students from neighbouring faculties to relax: people arrange to meet here, walk with their children, or simply rest in the shade of the trees a stone’s throw from the bustling Kremlyovskaya Street. For the university, the figure of the chemist seated in his chair is not merely a tribute to one of its most famous graduates and professors, but also a reminder of the Kazan school of chemistry, whose reputation was built precisely on the work of Butlerov and his students.

Almost a century and a half after the discovery of the theory of the structure of organic compounds, Butlerov’s name remains inseparably linked with Kazan — the city where he made his principal discoveries long before moving to St Petersburg University in 1868. The monument at the entrance to Pushkin Square is one of the few in the city dedicated not to a statesman or a writer, but specifically to a natural scientist, and in this respect it stands apart from the other monuments of the historic centre.