The Robespierre Monument (russian: Памятник Робеспьеру) was one of the first monuments erected in the

Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

(later part of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

), raised in Moscow on 3 November 1918 – just ahead of the first anniversary of the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mome ...

, which had brought the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

to power. It depicted

Maximilien de Robespierre Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre (; 6 May 1758 – 28 July 1794) was a French lawyer and statesman who became one of the best-known, influential and controversial figures of the French Revolution. As a member of the Esta ...

, a prominent figure of the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

. Located in

Alexander Garden Alexander Gardens (russian: Александровский сад) was one of the first urban public parks in Moscow, Russia. The park comprises three separate gardens, which stretch along all the length of the western Kremlin wall for between ...

, it had been designed by the sculptor Beatrice Yuryevna Sandomierz (russian: Беатриса Юрьевна Сандомирская). Created as part of the "

monumental propaganda Lenin's Plan of "Monumental Propaganda" – is a strategy proposed by Vladimir Lenin of employing visual monumental art (revolutionary slogans and monumental sculpture) as an important means for propagating revolutionary and communist ideas. "The p ...

" plan, the monument was commissioned by

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...

, who in an edict referred to Robespierre as a "Bolshevik ''

avant la lettre Many words in the English vocabulary are of French origin, most coming from the Anglo-Norman spoken by the upper classes in England for several hundred years after the Norman Conquest, before the language settled into what became Modern Engli ...

''". It was only one of several planned statues depicting French revolutionaries – others were to be made of Georges Danton,

François-Noël Babeuf François-Noël Babeuf (; 23 November 1760 – 27 May 1797), also known as Gracchus Babeuf, was a French proto-communist, revolutionary, and journalist of the French Revolutionary period. His newspaper ''Le tribun du peuple'' (''The Tribune of ...

and Jean-Paul Marat, although only the one of Danton was never completed. Created in the context of the ongoing

Russian Civil War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Russian Civil War , partof = the Russian Revolution and the aftermath of World War I , image = , caption = Clockwise from top left: {{flatlist, *Soldiers ...

and with the country in a state of

war communism War communism or military communism (russian: Военный коммунизм, ''Voyennyy kommunizm'') was the economic and political system that existed in Soviet Russia during the Russian Civil War from 1918 to 1921. According to Soviet histo ...

, there were few materials available to make the statue. Lacking bronze or marble, the monument was instead constructed using concrete, with hollow pipes running through it. This design proved frail, lasting only a few days. On the morning of 7 November only a pile of rubble remained. Over the following days different newspapers supplied varying versions as to why it collapsed, with ''

Znamya Trudovoi Kommuny ''Znamya Trudovoi Kommuny'' (Banner of the Labour Commune) was a Russian newspaper, published originally, from July 26 to August 18, 1918, under the title «Знамя борьбы» (''Znamya Borby'', Banner of Struggle) as the organ of a group of ...

'' and others saying it was the work of "criminal" (

counter-revolutionary A counter-revolutionary or an anti-revolutionary is anyone who opposes or resists a revolution, particularly one who acts after a revolution in order to try to overturn it or reverse its course, in full or in part. The adjective "counter-revolut ...

) hands, and ''

Izvestia ''Izvestia'' ( rus, Известия, p=ɪzˈvʲesʲtʲɪjə, "The News") is a daily broadsheet newspaper in Russia. Founded in 1917, it was a newspaper of record in the Soviet Union until the Soviet Union's dissolution in 1991, and describes i ...

'' stating the statue's demise was caused by improper construction.

References

1918 sculptures Concrete sculptures in Russia Demolished buildings and structures in Moscow Cultural depictions of Maximilien Robespierre Monuments and memorials built in the Soviet Union Monuments and memorials in Moscow Sculptures in the Soviet Union Statues in Russia Sculptures of men {{Kremlin, state=collapsed

See also

References