Demidov Column
Demidov Column
4.5
What people are saying
Takarasina
By Takarasina
Built for 7 years, admired for 102 years, ruined for 13 years, restored 74 years later - this time let's hope for good
5.0 of 5 bubblesJul 2020
Pavel Demidov was a wealthy merchant, rather controversial a personality but loving his city and doing much good for it. Upon his death local authorities asked the emperor to allow them to erect a memorial to him resembling the famous Alexander column in St Petersburg. The emperor was kind enough to agree and seven years later the monument was inaugurated. It lived its peaceful life for more than a century but then communists seized power and unleashed their war on "tzarist past". Unfortunately, there was not a single monument to a tzar in Yaroslavl' so those obscurantists attacked the Demidov column because it was crowned with a double-headed eagle, a symbol of the Russian empire. It took them thirteen years to finish their job. In 1931, when communist industrialization started the country badly needed copper and those fighters for better future of mankind decided that that copper column would be a great contribution to Soviet might. It appeared though that the thing was hollow and filled with trivial sand. Hapless industrializers still gave their precious present to the motherland and that was the end of it. Thanks God, those thugs got bankrupt in 1991 and residents of Yaroslavl' restored it in 2005. A new version, however, has a double-headed eagle looking in the opposite direction, at the beautiful church of Ilya the Prophet (see my corrsponding review) but who cares?

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Takarasina
2 101 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2020 • Family
Pavel Demidov was a wealthy merchant, rather controversial a personality but loving his city and doing much good for it. Upon his death local authorities asked the emperor to allow them to erect a memorial to him resembling the famous Alexander column in St Petersburg. The emperor was kind enough to agree and seven years later the monument was inaugurated. It lived its peaceful life for more than a century but then communists seized power and unleashed their war on "tzarist past". Unfortunately, there was not a single monument to a tzar in Yaroslavl' so those obscurantists attacked the Demidov column because it was crowned with a double-headed eagle, a symbol of the Russian empire. It took them thirteen years to finish their job. In 1931, when communist industrialization started the country badly needed copper and those fighters for better future of mankind decided that that copper column would be a great contribution to Soviet might. It appeared though that the thing was hollow and filled with trivial sand. Hapless industrializers still gave their precious present to the motherland and that was the end of it.
Thanks God, those thugs got bankrupt in 1991 and residents of Yaroslavl' restored it in 2005. A new version, however, has a double-headed eagle looking in the opposite direction, at the beautiful church of Ilya the Prophet (see my corrsponding review) but who cares?
Written 1 August 2020
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DEMIDOV COLUMN: All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (with Photos)

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