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Auction: 7023 - The Glenister Collection of British Coins & other Ancient, English & Foreign Coins & Comm Medals
Lot: 348

Alexander II, Monument to Nicholas I in St Petersburg, 1859, bronze medal by P. Brusnitsyn, bust of Nicholas I left, wearing helmet decorated with Imperial Eagle, and uniform, signed ´P. Brunitsyn´ on truncation, rev. the equestrian monument to Nicholas I, signed ´P. Brunitsyn´ on exergue, 86mm. (Diakov 681; Smirnov 621/a), some small scuff marks on the reverse, good very fine Estimate £ 200-300 The equestrian statue of Russia´s soldier Tsar, Nicholas I, designed by Auguste Ricard de Monferrand, was a technical wonder in its time, being the largest sculpture to balance on only two points (the horse´s two back legs). Placed in the centre of the beautiful and historic St Isaac´s Square in St Petersburg, the statue is set on an elaborate pedestal of Finnish granite decorated with sculptures executed by Russia´s leading sculptors. The monument took three years to complete. Considered a marvel still, it is ne of the very few Imperial sculptural monuments to have survived the Soviet era.

Sold for
£750