Peter I Monument in Taganrog - History of The Monument

History of The Monument

The idea to open a memorial to Peter I of Russia, who founded Taganrog in 1698, came to Achilles Alferaki, Mayor of Taganrog 1880–1887. The Russian Emperor Alexander III of Russia gave his permission on June 5, 1893.

In 1897, Taganrog City Council (Duma) issued a resolution to request the sculptor Mark Antokolski to produce a memorial to Peter I The Great. In April 1898, Anton Chekhov met with Mark Antokolski in Paris, France to arrange the production of a bronze statue. The statue was molded in the atelier of Thibaut Brothers in Paris. The pedestal for the monument was made in 1901 by the artist Eduards, owner of an atelier in Odessa. The monument was delivered from Marseilles to Taganrog on July 27, 1901 by the steamboat Despino.

Petrovskaya Street near the central gates to the Municipal Park was selected as the site for the monument. The memorial to Peter I The Great was solemnly inaugurated on May 13, 1903 on Petrovskaya Street at the crossing with Campehnausen Street. The inscription on the pedestal reads: To the Emperor Peter I, Taganrog 1698-1898.

January 25, 1924 the monument was dismantled and placed in the Chekhov Museum, which was at that time located at Chekhov Library.

In 1933 the monument was enclosed into a wooden box in the court of Chekhov Museum.

In 1940, the Rostov Oblast government decided to re-inaugurate the monument, though not at its historical location on Petrovskaya street, but on Komsomolsky Blvd near the Taganrog seaport. The preparations began, but the start of the World War II prevented these plans from realization.

July 18, 1943 during Occupation of Taganrog, it was re-inaugurated by Nazi Germany authorities in front of the central entrance to the Gorky Park.

In September 1948, during the celebrations of the city's 250th foundation, the monument was placed on Komsomolsky Blvd.