Monument to Catherine II

The Monument to Catherine II stands in Catherine Garden on Ostrovsky Square in St Petersburg, in front of the Alexandrinsky Theatre. A design competition marking the 100th anniversary of the empress's accession to the throne was announced by the Academy of Sciences in early 1861; of the eight entries submitted, the winning design was awarded to the artist Mikhail Mikeshin. The monument was originally planned for a site near the Catherine Palace at Tsarskoye Selo, but in 1865 it was decided to erect it in the capital instead, in front of the Alexandrinsky Theatre, with the composition expanded to include figures of Ivan Betskoy and Alexander Bezborodko. The foundation stone was laid on 24 November 1869 in the presence of Emperor Alexander II, and the ceremonial unveiling and consecration took place on 24 November (6 December) 1873. Construction of the monument took more than ten years and cost the treasury 456,896 roubles, including the redesign of the garden square, where around 200 trees were planted.

The bronze statue of Catherine II was created by the sculptor Matvei Chizhov, the figures surrounding the pedestal by Alexander Opekushin, while the design of the pedestal, the laurel wreath, the torchères and the inscription was developed by the architect David Grimm, who oversaw the entire project. The figure of the empress stands 4.35 metres tall, and the monument's total height exceeds 10 metres; the statue and the four candelabra required 3,100 poods of bronze, roughly 50.8 tonnes. The pedestal is built from several varieties of granite brought from the Karelian Isthmus.

Catherine is depicted holding a sceptre and a laurel wreath, wearing an ermine mantle, with the Order of St Andrew the First-Called on her chest and the crown of the Russian Empire at her feet. Arranged around the pedestal are nine bronze figures of statesmen from her era: Field Marshal Pyotr Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky, Prince Grigory Potemkin, the military commander Alexander Suvorov, the poet Gavriil Derzhavin, the president of the Academy Ekaterina Dashkova, Prince Alexander Bezborodko, the president of the Academy of Arts Ivan Betskoy, the naval commander Vasily Chichagov, and the statesman Alexei Orlov-Chesmensky. On the front face is a bronze plaque bearing emblems of the sciences, the arts, agriculture and the military, along with an inscription honouring the empress. In the late 1960s and again in the 1990s, vandals repeatedly stole bronze details from the monument — Suvorov's sword, Catherine's order chain — and the missing elements were restored during a further round of restoration in 2003.