The Monument to Alexander Dmitrievich Lansky (“Marble Pedestal in Honor of Virtue and Merit”) is a monument in the Catherine Park of Tsarskoye Selo, dedicated to the memory of Catherine II’s favorite, A. D. Lansky. It was presumably erected according to a project by the Italian architect Rinaldi in 1773 as an abstract architectural allegory of “virtues and merits,” not connected to any specific person or event. It became a monument to Lansky after his death in 1784.

The structure is a marble pedestal crowned with a shaped vase, featuring bas-reliefs and a bronze plaque containing a dedicatory inscription. In the 1770s to early 1780s, a whole group of memorial structures appeared in Catherine Park, built according to Rinaldi’s designs (his authorship is firmly established for some objects and assumed with varying degrees of certainty for others). These include primarily military memorials commemorating victories in the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774 — the Chesme and Morea Rostral Columns, the Kagul Obelisk, the Crimean Column, as well as the Orlov (Gatchina) Gates, constructed to honor the merits of the Serene Prince Orlov. The features of the execution of the pedestal of the “Marble Pedestal” and its color scheme are the same as those of the Crimean and Morea Columns and the Kagul Obelisk.

Archival documents show that in February 1773, elements for the monument were delivered to Tsarskoye Selo — steps, the lower pedestal, the pedestal itself, three bas-reliefs, a copper plaque, a vase, and its top in the form of a flame tongue. The monument, installed that same year, was known in 1770s sources as the “Marble Pedestal” or, in a more extended form, as the “Marble Pedestal in Honor of Virtue and Merit.” It was also referred to as the “Pedestal with Vase.”

This was an allegorical structure created to glorify abstract “virtues and merits,” without dedication to any particular person or event. In any case, researchers of the monument have not been able to establish in honor of whose “virtue” and which “merit” it was erected. Such park objects were generally characteristic of English landscape parks of the 18th century and were even considered typical architectural decorations of such parks in gardening and landscaping manuals.

There are known images, descriptions, and other evidence of the monument’s existence in Catherine Park in the 1770s. In particular, it appears on several plans of Tsarskoye Selo from the early decade, including the general plan engraved by master Kuvakin. The 1776 album of Tsarskoye Selo buildings by architect V. I. Neelov contains an image of the monument, including drawings of the three bas-reliefs; according to it, the commemorative plaque on the pedestal contains only the inscription text and nothing more. The monument is also presented in the 1779 album with views of the imperial residence.

On June 25, 1784, after a brief five-day illness, the young favorite of Catherine II, Lieutenant General and General-Adjutant Alexander Dmitrievich Lansky, died in Tsarskoye Selo. “The Empress’s grief was great,” writes the Russian Biographical Dictionary. Catherine left Tsarskoye Selo and spent the rest of the summer in Peterhof. Vilchkovsky, citing the Empress’s letters to Baron Grimm from 1784 and 1785, writes that she “spent the entire summer grieving her loss; Count Fyodor Orlov and Potemkin barely managed to dispel” her gloomy mood. She “was burdened by receptions and did not wish for any entertainments” all winter, settling after her return to Saint Petersburg in the Small Hermitage. Only after six months, by her own words, did Catherine “come to herself.”

In 1784 or 1785, probably by order of Catherine II, the inscription on the “Marble Pedestal in Honor of Virtue and Merit” was supplemented so that the monument was now dedicated to Lansky’s memory. According to some assumptions, the plaque with the text disappeared from the pedestal during Emperor Paul I’s reign. According to other information, the dedication to Lansky was removed from the monument in the 1830s or specifically in 1830 by decision of Nicholas I, as the mention of Catherine’s favorite, in his opinion, compromised the ruling dynasty.

Yakobkin, one of the first to study the history of Tsarskoye Selo, wrote in his 1830 book about this monument that “nothing is known about the time or reason for erecting this monument.” By that time, the copper plaque with the inscription had been removed from its intended niche; Yakobkin, without mentioning Lansky, recalled from memory the text praising virtues and merits, which he had read on it “about twenty years ago.” In the 19th century, the structure was also sometimes called the “Pedestal of Benefit and Merit.”

In the 1900s, the lost bronze plaque from Lansky’s monument was found in the storerooms of the Tsarskoye Selo residence. Besides the laudatory inscription, it bore a relief gilded coat of arms of the Lansky family, as well as the obverse and reverse of a memorial medal minted in honor of the Empress’s favorite after his death. At least as of the early 1910s (according to Vilchkovsky’s guide), it was reinstalled on the pedestal.

The Lansky monument stands among trees near the shore of the Upper Ponds, at the edge of the Great Meadow. In the second half of the 18th century, one of the best views of the landscaped part of Catherine Park was the view from the Great Catherine Palace onto this meadow, in the middle of which rose the Kagul Obelisk, and further, somewhat to the side, a small monument to Lansky was visible. According to Kyucharyants, the obelisk and the monument, located on the same axis, enrich the park landscape and are visually perceived as a pair, which is also characteristic of other Rinaldi structures in Tsarskoye Selo — the Chesme and Morea Columns. Today, the view from the palace to the meadow and ponds is blocked by the objects of the Private Garden.

Behind the green meadow sloping down to the reservoir grows an island in the middle of the pond, where the Concert Hall and the Kitchen Ruin are located. The monument is clearly visible from the island. Another visual axis of this part of the park is provided by the view from the Granite Terrace. The Lansky monument stands slightly off this axis, but it can be viewed from a winding side path running parallel to Ramp Alley. According to Kyucharyants, this is the most romantic part of Catherine Park.

The memorial is set on a three-step stylobate made of gray-pink granite, square in plan. The steps are profiled. The high pedestal and the lower part of the pedestal, which also has profiling, are carved from dark gray marble with white veins. The pedestal itself is a tall quadrangular marble column with rectangular sides. Its middle part is made of pink marble with gray and white inclusions. On all four sides, there are recessed panels with profiling. The upper part of the pedestal features a projecting profiled cornice made of light gray marble.

The other three faces of the pedestal are decorated with white marble inserts with bas-reliefs depicting a laurel wreath on a ribbon with a bow, a shield with a spear also hung on a ribbon with a bow, and a cornucopia with flowers. According to the 18th-century collection “Symbols and Emblems,” the wreath on the ribbon is interpreted as a dedication “to one who fought lawfully, doing good to you.” The suspended shield and spear are emblems of Mars and Bellona, a sign of prudence, peace, and “protection.” The memorial is crowned by a shaped vase or urn, also made of white marble, installed on a smoothly tapering, upward-reaching massive shaped pedestal. The vase has profiling elements; its midsection is constricted. The lower half of the vase is decorated with a fluted ornament, and an ornamental band runs along its upper edge as well. The finial is shaped like a flame tongue. The writer and essayist Saburov wrote in the Literary Supplements to the newspaper “Russian Invalid” in 1834 about the decorations of Lansky’s monument: “…under the gloomy shade of birches and firs flickers a funerary urn; the shield and sword hang idle, and the myrtle wreath has withered.”

During the Great Patriotic War, the monument was damaged. The memorial plaque was lost, and of the three bas-reliefs, only one — depicting the shield — survived. Subsequently, the monument was fully restored.

Sources:

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monument_to_A._D._Lansky