In 1831, a monument to Emperor Alexander I was erected on Jerusalem Square in Taganrog to commemorate the emperor’s visit to the city. This was the first monument in the history of Taganrog. It was designed by the Russian sculptor Ivan Petrovich Martos (1754–1835).
The history of this monument was reflected in the 1912 book “Monuments to Emperor Alexander I, as well as the Heroes and Events of the Patriotic War of 1812.” Its author Stefan Pedashenko was a member of the Society for the Memory of the Patriotic War of 1812 at the Moscow branch of the Imperial Russian Military Historical Society formed in 1910. The book was issued by the society’s publishing house.
In his book, Stefan Pedashenko gave particular attention to the monuments to Emperor Alexander I. He provided 69 detailed descriptions, accompanied by two portraits of the emperor and images of 27 monuments. His publication is of high value due to its unique subject and to the fact that very few of the described monuments have been preserved. For example, the 1831 monument to Alexander I was melted down 101 years later and restored only in 1998.
Most likely, the book belonged to a private collection. Later, it was donated to the library of the Taganrog Museum of Local Lore. It contains 60 pages and includes a preface, three chapters, and a table of contents. The first chapter describes monuments commemorating Alexander I, his reign, and his achievements. The second chapter focuses on monuments related to the Patriotic War of 1812. The third chapter is dedicated to monuments associated with the emperor’s visits to various regions. The book was compiled primarily to describe Russian monuments related to one of the most significant events in Russian history — the struggle of the Russian people against Napoleon I.
