Monument to Krylov

Near the main avenue of the Summer Garden sits, on a granite pedestal, a bronze figure of the fabulist Ivan Krylov — the first monument to a writer in Russia and the first monument to an author to appear in St Petersburg. The sculpture was created by Baron Pyotr Klodt, already famous for the horse-tamer groups on the Anichkov Bridge, and it became one of the last major works of his career.

The idea of erecting a monument to the fabulist belonged to General Yakov Rostovtsev, a close friend of Krylov in his final years and the executor of his will. In 1848, with the highest permission, a nationwide subscription was opened, raising more than 30,000 roubles, while the Academy of Arts simultaneously announced a competition for designs among the leading sculptors of the day. Klodt won: his design was approved at the end of 1849, and, owing to the complexity of the work, it took more than five years to complete the monument. It was cast and unveiled in May 1855, to mark the tenth anniversary of Krylov's death.

The fabulist is depicted seated in a relaxed pose, holding an open book; the bronze figure stands about three metres high, and the granite pedestal about three and a half metres. The pedestal is decorated with bas-reliefs depicting characters from some thirty of Krylov's fables, including "The Quartet", "The Fox and the Grapes", and "The Pig under the Oak Tree". While working on the reliefs, Klodt strove for near-documentary accuracy: his studio for a long time housed a tame wolf, a fox, a bear brought from Novgorod province, a crane, a donkey and a monkey, all serving as live models, while the model of the elephant was provided to the sculptor from the royal menagerie.

Contemporaries received the monument with mixed feelings: some found the figure of Krylov lifelike and truthful, while others — such as Taras Shevchenko, who visited the garden — lamented the lack of grandeur in the fabulist's appearance. Over time the monument was adopted by the young: students of the nearby School of Jurisprudence favoured the spot near the pedestal for their walks, and the dapper colours of their uniforms and fur caps earned them the nickname "chizhiki-pyzhiki" ("siskin-pyzhiks"), which later entered city folklore. The sculpture has been mentioned more than once in literature: one of the characters in Dostoevsky's novel "Demons" refers to it while arguing about the enlightenment of Russia, and in the early twentieth century the image of "grandfather Krylov" from the Summer Garden appeared in the verses of Symbolist poets.

During the siege of Leningrad the monument was covered with wooden shields, but shell fragments still damaged both the statue and the garden's fence; after the war the sculpture was restored in 1945, and a second restoration took place in 1966. Today the monument remains one of the most recognisable corners of the Summer Garden: children and tourists still love to gather at the pedestal with its fables, studying the animals familiar to them since childhood.

The monument to Krylov is a rare example of a sculpture that combines a serious ambition to commemorate a writer with the homely charm of his fables, and for this reason it has remained, for more than a century and a half, one of St Petersburg residents' favourite spots in the Summer Garden.