Count Georg von Cancrin, the elderly and influential
Minister of Finance, enjoyed evening walks. Crossing palace square in 1841, he noticed
a vertical crack in the granite of the Alexander Column that had been erected on
August 30th 1834.
Grigory Chernetsov’s painting (below) of Palace Square
on August 30th 1834
With his knowledge of mineralogy, he understood the
danger of water seeping through the cracks and mixing with granite.
Although stringent in controlling the state budgets, Cancrin proposed to cover
the column with copper and was willing to fund the project.
Alphonse Bichebois’s painting (below) of Palace Square
on August 30th 1834
Court officials were reluctant to acknowledge that
there were any defects in the recently installed monument. To avoid a scandal
as the minister was respected by the Emperor Nicholas I, a committee of the
original builders was formed.
They concluded ‘after a most thorough examination that
the column was found to be in perfect order. Some granite crystals had crumbled
and formed small rough depressions that were not glossed. These hollows appear
to be cracks’. It was an ‘optical illusion’. It is unknown if Nicholas was
deliberately deceived by the builders hiding the flaws with their work.
Twenty years later the problem became dire. Alexander
II established another committee in1861 of experts including engineers,
scientists, professors and architects to inspect the column. They agreed that ‘cracks
appeared even before the column was put in place and were skillfully filled
with mastic [resin from the mastic tree used as putty-like filler and sealant]
that later fell out’.
Photograph c1870s (below) of the Alexander Column with
the wooden gates to the Winter Palace’s large inner courtyard
The column was repaired using a solution of Portland cement
mixed with liquid glass and then polishing the surface. As it was necessary to
annually inspect the column to seal up any damage, four copper chains with
rings at the end were attached at the top for lifting and lowering a worker.
Photograph (below) of the Angel representing Alexander
I at the top of the column
Wonderful images! Very interesting to see the temporary staircase erected against the facade of the palace; I've never seen the Winter Palace "amended" that way. Did this occur more than once, frequently, or was that the only time this was done? (There's a painting of a big soirée at the Tuileries Palace in 1867 that shows a temporarily grand staircase leading from the Salle des Maréchaux in the Pavillon de l'Horloge down into the gardens.)
ReplyDeleteI expect that even today they need to keep a close eye on the column?
Prior to the 1837 fire, a wooden balcony is mentioned in memoirs through the years during various ceremonial occasions. The palace and admiralty squares were used for military parades. Note one of the awnings over the gates that I write about in my book.
ReplyDeleteThey used the wrong granite for the Alexander column that they were careful to change with future monuments. The column would continue to be monitored.