In the Footsteps of Tsars

The Bronze Horseman is the most famous monument in St Petersburg.
Constructed as a memorial to Peter I by his grandaughter, Catherine II,
it is the masterpiece of French sculpter Etienne Maurice Falconet.
The statue consists of Peter, sitting atop a wild steed (Russia) with his hand
outstretched towards his great city. The horse stands atop the massive rock,
originally located four miles away on the Gulf of Finland, on which Peter
would stand to inspect his port. The statue gained fame thanks to
Pushkin's poem of the same name, from which I have posted a few lines

Behind him to the darkness wedded,
Lit by the moon's pale ray and slight,
One hand in warning raised, the dreaded,
Bronze Horseman galloped through the night.

Aleksander Pushkin
1833

Statue to Peter the Great outside the Park Inn.

The Rostral Columns sit on either side of Nevsky Spit, framing the Stock
Exchange building, and completing what is considered to be one of the most beautiful architectural ensembles in the city. The red lighthouses are decorated with ship prows representing each of the major Russian Rivers. On very special occasions, the columns are lit by a gas fed flame. I was luck enough to see this a few weeks ago (will post pictures in my post about Nevsky Spit). To be completely honest, when I first saw the Rostral Columns, I thought they were terribly ugly, but since then, they have really grown on me and I can see how perfectly they fit in.

Чижик-Пыжик (Cheezheek-Peezheek) was installed by
the same Petersburg artist who installed the cat on Nevsky
mentioned below. It is a very small (and very difficult to locate) statue
of an owl sitting right on the water line of the Fontanka Canal near
Engineer's Castle. It is tradition to attempt landing a coin
on the Owl's shelf for good luck.

The Horse Trainers on Anichkov Bridge are one of the most photographed things on Nevsky Prospekt. They were sculpted by Peter Klodt von Urgensburg under the commission of Nicholas I (who actually had given them as gifts to rulers of Prussia and Naples before they were returned to the bridge in 1851) to sit on the four corners of the recently completed Anichkov Bridge spanning the Fontanka Canal. According to Wikipedia (Mark did not speak much about them in class...) they came under heavy bombardment during the siege of Leningrad and had to be buried in the gardens of Anichkov Palace for safekeeping.

Little cat that sits way up on the corner
near Nevsky Prospekt. It took me a while to find this one, but
when it was worth the search. The way that he peeks down at you from
high above is perfect.

The Pushkin Statue outside the Russian Museum on the Square of the Arts.
This is probably my favorite monument mentioned in this post, primarily
because of the way that birds seem to flock to the statue, alluding to
the humble nature of the greatest Russian poet.