The Minin and Pozharsky Monument

The monument to Minin and Pozharsky, the leaders of national resistance of 1612, was erected in Red Square in 1818 on the design of sculptor I.Martos.

You are now looking at the monument to Minin and Pozharsky, the leaders of public irregulars on 1612, standing to the right of the cathedral. One of its bas-relieves pictures the citizens of Nizhny Nogdorod bringing their sons for general arming at the call of Minin; another bas-relief reflects the Polish army running away pursued by Russian men. The sign on the monument says: "To citizen Minin and Prince Pozharsky from Thankful Russia". The Minin and Pozharsky monument became the first monument in Moscow created in honour of not a monarch, but of people's heroes. It's construction was funded by common people's money gathered though subscription. A special event was the water-route transportation of the monument from Saint-Petersburg, where it was cast, via Nizhniy Novgorod to Moscow since May 21 to September 6, 1817.

Interestingly, before 1936 the monument was situated right in the center of Red Square and Minin symbolically pointed at the Kremlin seized by the Polish army calling Pozharsky to liberate it. After the Lenin's Mausoleum (2) was built the monument appeared to stand in front of it, and Minin's belligerent gesture was rather ambiguous. Moreover, the monument stood in the way of parades. It was going to be destroyed but later it was moved to its current place.



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