Monuments: Brazen Hare, a master of an island
St. Petersburg has numerous significant large monuments, sculptures, and so on, but there is also a few very interesting little amazing monuments, which sometimes origin from city legends, sometimes are symbols of important events taken place in past.
The hare under the Ioann’s bridge, which connects the Peter and Paul fortress with “big land”, reminds us how the island now hosting the fortress was named before the Russians’ arrival in 1703. Its name was Jaennisaari, which means in translation from Finnish ‘the hare’s island”, and now it’s called in the same way in Russian. So, the 58-sm statue pictured above is a symbol of the master of the island.
Photo credit: Russian Media Agency
Made of bronze, it was established in May 2003, when the city was preparing to celebrate its 300th anniversary. The postament is made of logs, and you can see many coins on them. When visiting the fortress, try to throw a coin so that it stays on a log. It’s difficult, but success promises you good luck, as a legend has it.
The Ioann’s bridge is one of few wooden bridges left in St. Petersburg. The Peter and Paul fortress is the site from where the city started to grow. The fortress was erected to prevent possible invasion of Swedish army, then the main enemy of the Russian Empire. Like a few others little monuments in St. Petersburg the hare was stolen for several times, because of precious metall it is made of, or maybe due to mere thirst of adrenaline. I’ve checked the other day: he now remains on the site.
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