Monument to Minin and Pozharsky

The Monument to Minin and Pozharsky is a bronze monument on Red Square honoring the two leaders of the militia that drove Polish forces out of Moscow in 1612 and put an end to the years-long Time of Troubles. Created by sculptor Ivan Martos, it began the tradition of large-scale monumental sculpture in the capital and remains an exemplary work of Russian Classicism.

The idea of commemorating the Nizhny Novgorod merchant elder Kuzma Minin and his comrade-in-arms Prince Dmitry Pozharsky was first voiced in 1802 within the walls of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. Martos himself presented the first model of the future monument in 1804, and several years later, once the residents of Nizhny Novgorod had raised funds by subscription, an official competition was announced. It was won by Martos's design, which outperformed the works of other well-known sculptors and architects; funds for erecting the monument were collected throughout the country, and part of the donations from Nizhny Novgorod went toward a separate obelisk honoring Minin in his home city.

Work on the sculptural group stretched over years: the small model was begun in 1811, and the large version was completed in 1815 with the help of assistant Ivan Timofeev, who spent two years dampening the enormous clay model with water every day. The bronze casting was carried out by founder Vasily Yekimov — on August 6, 1816, he succeeded, for the first time in Russian practice, in casting the complex two-figure composition whole in a single pour, a process that took just nine minutes. The granite blocks for the pedestal were quarried by stonemason Samson Sukhanov in Vyborg Province, and the drawings for its decoration were prepared by Martos's son-in-law, architect Avraam Melnikov.

The monument was solemnly unveiled in 1818 on Red Square in front of the Upper Trading Rows, today's GUM department store. The pedestal was decorated with bronze relief scenes and a dedicatory inscription from a grateful posterity to both heroes, and the monument's overall height ranges from 8.3 to 8.9 meters according to various researchers' estimates. Contemporaries praised Martos's work highly: the publicist Nikolai Polevoy wrote of the monument's grandeur, and the sculptor himself was awarded a high civil rank and a lifetime pension granted by the emperor for his labors.

In 1931, when the square was being redeveloped and Lenin's Mausoleum was being built nearby, the monument was moved to the southern façade of the Cathedral of the Intercession, also known as St. Basil's Cathedral, where it stands to this day. The composition depicts the moment when Minin hands his sword to Pozharsky, calling on him to lead the militia, while the wounded prince leans on his shield, rising to answer the call.

Today the monument remains one of the principal monumental symbols of national unity and one of the oldest secular sculptural works in the Russian capital, gathering official delegations at its base every year on National Unity Day.