Antonio Adamini (25 December 1792 in Bigogno,

Ticino Ticino ( ), sometimes Tessin (), officially the Republic and Canton of Ticino or less formally the Canton of Ticino, is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eight districts ...

⁣ – 16 June 1846,

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

) was a Swiss-born Russian architect and engineer. Of his training little is known, but he was appointed in the late spring of 1816 (some say 1818) with his cousin Domenico Adamini to the court of the Russian Tsar. After furthered his career in the administration, and he was the architect of the State Bank in the 1830s. Adamini's significant structural performance was to construct the 25-meter-high monument to

Tsar Alexander Alexander of Russia may refer to: * Alexander I of Russia (1777–1825), also known as Alexander the Blessed * Alexander II of Russia (1818–1881), also known as Alexander the Liberator * Alexander III of Russia Alexander III (; 10 March 184 ...

, a monolithic granite pillar, the

Alexander Column The Alexander Column (, ''Aleksandrovskaya kolonna''), also known as Alexandrian Column (, ''Aleksandriyskaya kolonna''), is the focal point of Palace Square in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The monument was raised after the Russian victory in the w ...

in 1832 and 1834, before the

Winter Palace The Winter Palace is a palace in Saint Petersburg that served as the official residence of the House of Romanov, previous emperors, from 1732 to 1917. The palace and its precincts now house the Hermitage Museum. The floor area is 233,345 square ...

with

Auguste de Montferrand Auguste de Montferrand (; ; January 23, 1786 – July 10, 1858) was a French classicist architect who worked primarily in Russia. His two best known works are the Saint Isaac's Cathedral and the Alexander Column in Saint Petersburg. Early life ...

. The logistical preparation for this project took four years. Adamini also designed a monument to the

Battle of Borodino The Battle of Borodino ( ) or Battle of Moscow (), in popular literature also known as the Battle of the Generals, took place on the outskirts of Moscow near the village of Borodino on 7 September 1812 during Napoleon's invasion of Russia. ...

on the road to

Smolensk Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest cities in Russia. It has been a regional capital for most of ...

. In 1835,

Nicholas I of Russia Nicholas I, group=pron (Russian language, Russian: Николай I Павлович; – ) was Emperor of Russia, List of rulers of Partitioned Poland#Kings of the Kingdom of Poland, King of Congress Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland from 18 ...

ordered to install 16 standard cast-iron monuments in the places of the most important battles of the

Patriotic War of 1812 The French invasion of Russia, also known as the Russian campaign (), the Second Polish War, and in Russia as the Patriotic War of 1812 (), was initiated by Napoleon with the aim of compelling the Russian Empire to comply with the continent ...

. The monuments were divided into three classes: the first class monument was to be installed in Borodino, the second class monuments in Tarutino, Maloyaroslavets, Krasnoye, Studenka (at the Berezina), Klyastitsy (near Vitebsk), Smolensk, Polotsk,

Chashniki Chashniki is a town in Vitebsk Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Chashniki District. It is famous for the Battle of Ula during the Livonian War and the Battle of Chashniki that took place during the French invasion of ...

Kulakovo Kulakovo () is a rural locality (a village) in Pokrovskoye Rural Settlement, Velikoustyugsky District, Vologda Oblast, Russia. The population was 7 as of 2002. Geography Kulakovo is located 26 km southeast of Veliky Ustyug Veliky Ustyug () i ...

and

Kovno Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...

, the third class monuments - in Saltykovka (east and outside Moscow), Vitebsk,

Kobrin Kobryn or Kobrin is a town in Brest Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Kobryn District. It is located in the southwestern corner of Belarus, where the Mukhavets river and Dnieper–Bug Canal meet. The town lies about e ...

, Vyazma. The place of installation of the 16th monument is absent in the documents. However, this plan was not fully realized. The first monuments were installed in Borodino, Smolensk and Kovno, then there were monuments in Maloyaroslavets and Krasny. But at the beginning of 1848 it became clear that the rest of the monuments lacked funds, and the program of installation of monuments had to be curtailed. Only two more monuments of the second class, already cast by that time, were installed - in Polotsk and Klyastitsy. Thus, seven of the planned sixteen monuments were installed. The monument in Kovno disappeared already in 1915. It was melted down by the Germans occupying the city. The rest of the monuments were destroyed by the communist authorities in 1931 - 1932. The monuments in Borodino, Maloyaroslavets, Krasny and Polotsk were blown up and melted down, and in 1939, the monument in Klyastitsy. By some miracle only one monument survived - in Smolensk.https://www.prlib.ru/en/history/619723

Literature

*Isabelle Rucki und Dorothee Huber (Hg): ''Architektenlexikon der Schweiz — 19./20. Jahrhundert'' Basel: Birkhäuser 1998.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adamini, Antonio Swiss expatriates in Russia 1792 births 1846 deaths Russian architects Swiss engineers Architects from Ticino