Polotsk. Monument to the heroes of the Patriotic War of 1812

The main memorial in memory of the Patriotic War of 1812 was a monument of the 1st class, erected on August 26, 1839 on Borodino field. Monuments of the 2nd class — chapels, which combined the features of an Orthodox church and an obelisk, were erected in Smolensk on November 5, 1841, in Kovno on October 29, 1843, in Krasny in 1847, and in Polotsk on August 26, 1850. The last planned monument designed by Antonio Adamini, dedicated to the Patriotic War of 1812, was opened in Klyastitsy, Vitebsk province, in August 1857, after the death of Emperor Nicholas I.

The monument to the Heroes of the Patriotic War of 1812, opened in Polotsk in 1850 by Antonio Adamini, was slightly different from the previously installed monuments due to financial difficulties in the country caused by the tense political situation in Europe, which was preparing for war with the Russian Empire due to contradictions in the Caucasian-Black Sea region. By order of Emperor Nicholas I, while preserving the basic concept of monuments of the 2nd class, the creators of the Polotsk monument were forced to significantly reduce the number of gilded decorative elements, abandoning gilded swords with a wreath, bas-reliefs "Military Glory" and "Ribbons", which were present at monuments in Smolensk, Kovno, Maloyaroslavets and Krasny.

This majestic monument with a height of more than 23 meters and a weight of more than 220 tons had eight gilded medals "The All-seeing Eye of the Lord" around the perimeter. Eight paired columns with 16 decorative capitals are installed on the cylinder of the monument. Eight small domes are mounted on top of the columns, on which gilded double-headed eagles are mounted. The octagonal pyramid of the monument was crowned by a large dome with a six-pointed cross. The monument was surrounded by a fence of iron chains suspended from 20 round cast-iron bollards. On the ledge of the second tier, a cast-iron grenade found during the excavation of the foundation pit was screwed to the upper side of the cornice.

For more than 80 years, the monument to the Heroes of the Patriotic War of 1812 decorated Polotsk and survived the years of the First World War. In the 1930s, this monument, like other monuments built in the Russian Empire by Antonio Adamini, was dismantled for the needs of Soviet industry. The only monument that survived in its original form was the monument in Smolensk, which was taken as the basis for the reconstruction of destroyed monuments in Polotsk, Maloyaroslavets and Krasny.

In June 2006, at the thirtieth session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union State of Russia and Belarus, held in Polotsk, it was decided to restore the monuments of the Patriotic War of 1812 in Polotsk, Maloyaroslavets and Krasny. More than 44 million Russian rubles were allocated from the budget of the Union State for the restoration of the Polotsk monument. Local designers have developed unified design and estimate documentation for all three monuments. All three monuments were cast at the Polotsk foundry "Technolit". On May 21, 2010, a solemn opening ceremony of the restored monument to the Heroes of the Patriotic War of 1812 took place on Freedom Square in Polotsk.