Peter the Great, a photo from Moscow, Center

Photographer's Note

I planned to show another picture from Northern Thailand but I changed my mind after seeing yesterday Jorge's photo. You could see there a strange black thing behind the white sculptures. It is the Peter the great monument.
I want to show it to you. I had usually wonderful weather in Russia but on my last day, it was cloudy, so the picture is not so sharp and attractive.

The Peter the Great Statue is a 98-metre-high (322 ft) monument to Peter the Great, located at the western confluence of the Moskva River and the Vodootvodny Canal in central Moscow, Russia. It was designed by the Georgian designer Zurab Tsereteli to commemorate 300 years of the Russian Navy, which Peter the Great established. It was erected in 1997 and is the eighth-tallest statue in the world. It weighs around 1,000 tons and contains 600 tons of stainless steel, bronze and copper.
In November 2008, it was voted the tenth ugliest building in the world by Virtual Tourist. In 2010, it was included in a list of the world's ugliest statues by Foreign Policy magazine. Lonely Planet commented: "Questions of taste aside, Muscovites were sceptical about the whole idea: why pay tribute to Peter the Great, who loathed Moscow and moved the capital to St Petersburg?"
In October 2010 Moscow authorities, reportedly keen to get rid of the Peter the Great Statue, offered to relocate it to Saint Petersburg, but this offer was refused by the city.
The statue is allegedly based on a design originally intended to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the first voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1992. When an American customer for the project could not be found, it was re-purposed with a Russian theme. Tsereteli denies this story.

There was no one there, but you can imagine the scale looking at the lamps and fence.

You can see the lower part and upper part in two Workshops.

ikeharel, jean113, ChrisJ, Royaldevon, holmertz, pierrefonds, jhm, jemaflor, adramad, ricardomattos, alvaraalto, COSTANTINO has marked this note useful

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jean113 (28221) 2020-12-11 0:51

Hello Malgo, this statue makes quite a statement, love it or loathe it, one has to admit that it is very impressive.
Your information is very interesting and thorough.
All three pictures give us a great impression of the statue.
You are quite right, the lamp posts give us an excellent idea of the scale.
Thanks for sharing, Jean.

ChrisJ (172372) 2020-12-11 1:40

Hello Malgo,

Thanks for posting the full image. I too saw something in the distance that looked like a pirates ship. No skull & crossbones here but it's still an impressive monument. Tfs!

GyurMaster (24996) 2020-12-11 1:42

Dear Malgo,

Of course we can feel the scale of this monument, so we have no doubt that he was really great.

Best Wishes,
Gy

PS: Thank you for your kind words under my latest photo. This time I went alone, without my fiance. It was a kid-parents walk. :)

Royaldevon (86328) 2020-12-11 1:58

Hello Malgo,

Thank you for attaching the interesting notes, too.
This is one colossal sculpture.
It gives the impression that it is top heavy and about to topple over at any moment and I felt immediately that the boat would have been fine without all the lower layers.

Ha! ha! I can see why Saint Petersburg refused it!

You didn't have the best of weather for taking photographs and it is sad that the sculpture has similar tones to the clouds but, you have, with your three shots, shown us the details and the scale of this controversial sculpture.

Have a good w/e,
Bev :-)

holmertz (103520) 2020-12-11 4:24

Hello Malgo,
The note is funnier than the statue, which is not funny at all. I agree with those who had deemed it one of the ugliest buildings or monuments anywhere. Maybe the reason it's still standing is that it is as indestructible as the thousands of bunkers in Albania.
Kind regards,
Gert

pierrefonds (115408) 2020-12-11 4:42

Hi Malgo,

The subject is well placed in the frame. The pooint of view is showing the details of the Peter the Greast statue or monument. The flags are eyecatching. Have a nice day.

Pierre

Silvio1953 (222747) 2020-12-11 6:32

Ciao cara Malgo, great view of fantastic monument, fine details, splendid light, wonderful colors and excellent clarity, very well done, my friend, have a good week end, ciao Silvio

jhm (211738) 2020-12-11 9:10

Hello Malgo,

This is real a nice subject with Peter the great
Of course are statues through everyone to judge differently
An excellent composition, very sharp and clear photographed.
Very well done, TFS.

Best regards,
John

jmdias (116307) 2020-12-11 9:56

malgo

of course taste is a taste, here in my town we have a terrible dirty saying about this. But I can't write it here. haha
I don't think the monument is ugly, there are so many famous structures so terrible and people like them a lot. for example, I hated that ugly wheel in london and people love that stuff and created others in others places. If I was the dictator of UK I would transfer that thing to another place..
Tudo bem, eu ia postar uma foto desse monumento amanh� e voc� se antecipou... mas meu 穗gulo � diferente. enquanto eu fui ver as outras esculturas voc� foi ver a escultura maior bem de perto. boa foto. meu nariz est� escorrendo, espero que n縊 seja covid..

abra輟

jorge

Tue (93296) 2020-12-11 10:39

Hello Malgo,
That is one very impressive monument with several ships placed on top of each other to support the largest ship with Peter on top as well. Those many small flags add a nice repeating pattern as well.
Lars

lousat (139906) 2020-12-11 16:27

Ciao Malgo,great statue for a great man of the russian history! But very very big as i can read,and your pic is perfect to understand that in its imposing perspective. Just a pity for the quality because the difficult light,so i like a lot the 2 WS showing some details in 2 excellent close up! Have a nice weekend and thanks,Luciano

ifege (49257) 2020-12-11 19:20

Hi Malgo
I assume that this was taken while you were on one of the canal cruises. I remember it well - probably one of the worlds ugliest but very prominent sculptures. Good photos given the conditions.
cheers
Ian

jemaflor (148094) 2020-12-11 23:05

Hi Malgo,
Impressive artwork, well framed, good vertical format, tfs.

abmdsudi (95869) 2020-12-12 6:05

Hi Malgorzata
Symbol of power and success! Imposing monument to match the surrounding features and good attention to detail throughout under a trying condition. Interesting narratives too, excellent shot
Best regards

adramad (73376) 2020-12-12 10:12

Hello Malgo.
Well, if it is a monument with not much grace, it looks very heavy, so overloaded with ornaments, like so many boats, banners until boring.
Good perspective of the image. Good lighting management
Very good composition.
Have a good weekend.
Very best regards.
Luis.

ricardomattos (17560) 2020-12-17 15:18

Hi Malgo,

Impressionante este monumento. Muito bem feito e original. Apesar do mau tempo � muito impactante esta foto.

Parab駭s

Ricardo

alvaraalto (42804) 2020-12-18 2:06

Hello Malgo,
Too bad you had such a grim weather when you took this picture of this statue of Peter the Great, which clearly shows his fascination with naval ships.
Did you know that Peter the Great came to the Netherlands specifically to study the art of shipbuilding here?
Well done
Have a good weekend, groet Rob

ikeharel (114435) 2020-12-23 0:39

It is an impressive monument, Malgo, and you did fairly well under the cloudy sky, even though it was late summer days.
Nonetheless, details appear marvelously clear, the "flags" and "ropes" and other objects upon.
Have a nice new day,
Ike

COSTANTINO (117652) 2020-12-23 22:28

Hello dear Malgorzata and have
a nice day and a happy evening
dynamic photo presenting
this sculpture that dominates the photo
thanks for the useful notes
about the Peter the Greta staue...sometimes
we must refresh notes about
history
regards
Costantino