Monument to Vasily Zhukovsky, St. Petersburg

Among the monuments adorning Alexander Garden (Russian: Alexandrovsky Sad) in Saint Petersburg there is one of Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky. Situated in the section of the park that borders on Palace Square, it casts a somewhat sad look on the outskirts of the garden.

The foremost Russian poet of the 1810s, Zhukovsky left a noticeable imprint in the cultural heritage of the country and is recognized as one of the founders of romanticism in the Russian literature. A leading literary figure of the day, he also gave rise to the national "poetic star" of all times – Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin.

Solemnly inaugurated on June 4, 1887, the Zhukovsky monument had been in the making since 1883, the year of his centenary. All expenses were born by his friend, doctor K.K. Seidlitz, who by that time had published Zhukovsky's biography and donated all proceeds from the publication to the monument. The actual work was carried out by renowned architect A.S. Lytkin and sculptor V.P. Kreitan, producing a bronze-cast bust perched on a 2.25-meter pedestal made of Finnish red granite.

Engraved on its façade is the inscription "Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky". Below are the lines from a poem by Alexander Pushkin dedicated to Zhukovsky. On the left and right sides of the pedestal there are also lines from Zhukovsky's own poetry.