From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Frontal place- a monument of ancient Russian architecture, located in Moscow, on Red Square. It is an elevation surrounded by a stone fence. In addition to Moscow, there is a "frontal place" in the Kremlin in Astrakhan.
origin of name
There is also an erroneous opinion that the Execution Ground was a place of public execution in the XIV-XIX centuries. However, executions at the Execution Ground itself were carried out very rarely, for it was revered as a saint. It was a place for the announcement of royal decrees and other solemn public events. Contrary to the legends, the Place of execution was not an ordinary place of execution (they were usually executed in the Swamp). On July 11, 1682, the head of the schismatic Nikita Pustosvyat was cut off on it, by a decree of February 5, 1685, it was ordered to continue executions at the Execution Ground, but it became a witness to executions only in 1698 during the suppression of the streltsy revolt. For executions, a special wooden scaffold was erected next to the stone platform. Nevertheless, in a figurative sense, the phrase "frontal place" (with a small letter, since it does not mean a proper name) is still sometimes used as a synonym for the place of execution, without geographic reference to any city.
Story
Tradition links the arrangement of the Execution Ground with the deliverance of Moscow from the invasion of the Tatars in 1521. In the annals, it was first mentioned in 1549, when the twenty-year-old Tsar Ivan the Terrible made a speech to the people from the Execution Ground, calling for the reconciliation of the warring boyars.
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Notes
Literature
- // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
- Libson V. Ya., Domshlak M. I., Arenkova Yu. I. et al. Kremlin. China town. Central squares // Architectural monuments of Moscow. - M .: Art, 1983. - S. 403. - 504 p. - 25,000 copies.
Coordinates : 55°45′12″ N sh. 37°37′21″ in. d. / 55.75333° N sh. 37.62250° E d. / 55.75333; 37.62250(G) (I)
An excerpt characterizing the Execution Ground
- Sonya? are you sleeping? Mother? she whispered. No one answered. Natasha slowly and cautiously got up, crossed herself and carefully stepped with her narrow and flexible bare foot on the dirty cold floor. The floorboard creaked. She, quickly moving her feet, ran like a kitten a few steps and took hold of the cold bracket of the door.It seemed to her that something heavy, evenly striking, was knocking on all the walls of the hut: it was beating her heart, which was dying from fear, from horror and love, bursting.
She opened the door, stepped over the threshold and stepped onto the damp, cold earth of the porch. The chill that gripped her refreshed her. She felt the sleeping man with her bare foot, stepped over him and opened the door to the hut where Prince Andrei lay. It was dark in this hut. In the back corner, by the bed, on which something was lying, on a bench stood a tallow candle burnt with a large mushroom.
In the morning, Natasha, when she was told about the wound and the presence of Prince Andrei, decided that she should see him. She didn't know what it was for, but she knew that the date would be painful, and she was even more convinced that it was necessary.
All day she lived only in the hope that at night she would see him. But now that the moment had come, she was terrified of what she would see. How was he mutilated? What was left of him? Was he like that, what was that unceasing groan of the adjutant? Yes, he was. He was in her imagination the personification of that terrible moan. When she saw an indistinct mass in the corner and took his knees raised under the covers by his shoulders, she imagined some kind of terrible body and stopped in horror. But an irresistible force pulled her forward. She cautiously took one step, then another, and found herself in the middle of a small cluttered hut. In the hut, under the images, another person was lying on benches (it was Timokhin), and two more people were lying on the floor (they were a doctor and a valet).
The valet got up and whispered something. Timokhin, suffering from pain in his wounded leg, did not sleep and looked with all his eyes at the strange appearance of a girl in a poor shirt, jacket and eternal cap. The sleepy and frightened words of the valet; "What do you want, why?" - they only made Natasha come up to the one that lay in the corner as soon as possible. As terrifying as this body was, it must have been visible to her. She passed the valet: the burning mushroom of the candle fell off, and she clearly saw Prince Andrei lying on the blanket with outstretched arms, just as she had always seen him.
He was the same as always; but the inflamed complexion of his face, the brilliant eyes fixed enthusiastically on her, and especially the tender childish neck protruding from the laid back collar of his shirt, gave him a special, innocent, childish look, which, however, she had never seen in Prince Andrei. She walked over to him and, with a quick, lithe, youthful movement, knelt down.
He smiled and extended his hand to her.
For Prince Andrei, seven days have passed since he woke up at the dressing station in the Borodino field. All this time he was almost in constant unconsciousness. The fever and inflammation of the intestines, which were damaged, in the opinion of the doctor who was traveling with the wounded, must have carried him away. But on the seventh day he ate a piece of bread with tea with pleasure, and the doctor noticed that the general fever had decreased. Prince Andrei regained consciousness in the morning. The first night after leaving Moscow was quite warm, and Prince Andrei was left to sleep in a carriage; but in Mytishchi the wounded man himself demanded to be carried out and to be given tea. The pain inflicted on him by being carried to the hut made Prince Andrei moan loudly and lose consciousness again. When they laid him down on the camp bed, he lay with his eyes closed for a long time without moving. Then he opened them and whispered softly: “What about tea?” This memory for the small details of life struck the doctor. He felt his pulse and, to his surprise and displeasure, noticed that the pulse was better. To his displeasure, the doctor noticed this because, from his experience, he was convinced that Prince Andrei could not live, and that if he did not die now, he would only die with great suffering some time later. With Prince Andrei they carried the major of his regiment Timokhin, who had joined them in Moscow, with a red nose, wounded in the leg in the same Battle of Borodino. They were accompanied by a doctor, the prince's valet, his coachman and two batmen.
Prince Andrei was given tea. He drank greedily, looking ahead at the door with feverish eyes, as if trying to understand and remember something.
- I don't want any more. Timokhin here? - he asked. Timokhin crawled up to him along the bench.
“I'm here, Your Excellency.
- How is the wound?
– My then with? Nothing. Here you are? - Prince Andrei again thought, as if remembering something.
- Could you get a book? - he said.
- Which book?
– Gospel! I have no.
The doctor promised to get it and began to question the prince about how he felt. Prince Andrei reluctantly but reasonably answered all the doctor's questions and then said that he should have put a roller on him, otherwise it would be awkward and very painful. The doctor and the valet raised the overcoat with which he was covered, and, wincing at the heavy smell of rotten meat spreading from the wound, began to examine this terrible place. The doctor was very dissatisfied with something, he altered something differently, turned the wounded man over so that he again groaned and, from pain during the turning, again lost consciousness and began to rave. He kept talking about getting this book as soon as possible and putting it there.
- And what does it cost you! he said. “I don’t have it, please take it out, put it on for a minute,” he said in a pitiful voice.
The doctor went out into the hallway to wash his hands.
“Ah, shameless, really,” said the doctor to the valet, who was pouring water on his hands. I just didn't watch it for a minute. After all, you put it right on the wound. It's such a pain that I wonder how he endures.
“We seem to have planted, Lord Jesus Christ,” said the valet.
For the first time, Prince Andrei understood where he was and what had happened to him, and remembered that he had been wounded and that at the moment when the carriage stopped in Mytishchi, he asked to go to the hut. Confused again from pain, he came to his senses another time in the hut, when he was drinking tea, and then again, repeating in his recollection everything that had happened to him, he most vividly imagined that moment at the dressing station when, at the sight of the suffering of a person he did not love , these new thoughts that promised him happiness came to him. And these thoughts, although vague and indefinite, now again took possession of his soul. He remembered that he now had a new happiness and that this happiness had something in common with the Gospel. That's why he asked for the gospel. But the bad position that had been given to his wound, the new turning over again confused his thoughts, and for the third time he woke up to life in the perfect stillness of the night. Everyone was sleeping around him. The cricket was shouting across the entryway, someone was shouting and singing in the street, cockroaches rustled on the table and icons, in autumn a thick fly beat on his headboard and near a tallow candle that was burning with a large mushroom and stood beside him.
Content Topics
Very unusual in its previous purpose and execution in terms of architecture, is considered an unusual object of Red Square - Lobnoye Mesto. This unique building attracts a large flow of visitors who walk around the monument for a long time, take pictures, and simply contemplate, in an attempt to embrace the immensity.
The execution place was rebuilt on Moscow Square many centuries ago, around the 16th century.
Until the significant days of the October Revolution, the pedestal was used to promulgate the decrees of the king, and much later, religious processions were made here and church holidays were celebrated. The pedestal itself is made in the style of Russian architecture of the Middle Ages, and was first mentioned in the chronicles from the 12th century, which suggests that it is possible that its appearance dates back to around this time.
Researchers of our time suggest that the proposal to lay the foundation of the Execution Ground belonged to the Metropolitan of All Rus' and Muscovy Macarius, who lived in the 16th century.
Due to the fact that at that historical period the Church of the Intercession was also called Jerusalem, there was an idea to establish a pedestal for public speaking, for complete similarity with the Holy Land.
No one can give an exact date for the appearance of the Execution Ground, it is only known that Ivan the Terrible in his youth used this tribune for his speech before the Zemsky Assembly, which is recorded in the writings.
Later, the Lobnoye Mesto became widely used for holding church processions on Orthodox holidays. At the same time, numerous guests of Moscow and ambassadors from other countries were obliged to observe these processions, which were considered one of the main rites in the capital, and they certainly recorded this in the records. It is characteristic that after the completion of the processions, the king always presented foreign ambassadors and guests with dishes from his table, in the form of the greatest mercy and goodwill.
There is a fact that once, forcibly, the prisoners of the Polish army became eyewitnesses of the festive procession, but in this case the king did not treat them from his table, he only inquired about their condition.
Location of the Execution Ground
The ancient tribune - Lobnoye Mesto, was erected right in front of the Spasskaya Tower, the Church of the Intercession is located nearby, and is made of a round stone pedestal, its diameter is 13 meters, 1 meter high, and has a fence, also made of stone blocks.
The first building of the Execution Ground was brick, and at the end of the 16th century, by order of Tsar Boris Godunov, it was remade, built of stone materials, and put up a lattice fence. not far from the pedestal in that historical period was the Tsar Cannon, mounted on a wooden platform. This historical fact is described in many records of foreign visitors, and is depicted in the illustrations for the notes of traveling Europeans of the 17th century.
In the 18th century, the complex was restored, and the appearance of the Execution Ground has not changed since then.
Events in history
turmoil
During the Time of Troubles, the Execution Ground changed its purpose. After the death of Tsar Theodore the Blessed, all kinds of parties began to gather crowds of citizens at Lobnoye Mesto, using political levers to direct the people in the direction they needed.
So, the first to use the stone platform was False Dmitry the First, known from history, his call to the masses was read out by his heralds - governor Gavriil Pushkin and close associate of Tsar Vasily Shuisky, Naum Pleshcheev. The appeal outlined the accusations of Boris Godunov of attempted murder of a descendant of Ivan the Terrible - Dimitri, and the successor to the throne Fyodor Borisovich Godunov - a traitor. The circulation also contained generous promises to all classes of the urban population, up to the distribution of land titles, and guarantees of life without war.
After the announcement of the letter, wild jubilation reigned in the square, the roar and cries of the crowd were heard - confusion was sown. Immediately, in a fit of emotion, crowds of people rushed into the royal chambers, the king with his family and all those close to him were arrested. A few hours later, chaos reigned in the capital - the looting of all the mansions of the close people of the overthrown king swept through. This event took place on June 1, 1605.
The new pretender to the throne of the Russian state - False Dmitry the First arrived at the walls of Moscow on June 20, 1606, where he was met by his henchmen from among the important persons of the city. On Red Square, the procession was met by an enthusiastic crowd, where the self-proclaimed tsar ordered first to pray, and then, to the sound of trumpets and tambourines, he went to the Kremlin Palace. The boyar and guardsman Bogdan Belsky, accompanied by the nobility, came out to the people and proclaimed the "tsar" miraculously saved, for which he immediately thanked the Lord.
Not more than a year passed, when it became clear to the people that he had been cruelly deceived, and crowds of angry Muscovites killed the false tsar, and they began to persecute and destroy all his henchmen. During the day, they killed all the associates of the false king, mainly consisting of the aristocrats of Poland and Lithuania, and on May 28, 1607, their bodies were taken and laid down at the Execution Ground. From the records of one Pole who survived in those days, the remains of the dead lay on Lobnoye Mesto for 3 days.
The next false king did not take long to wait - very soon Vasily Shuisky proclaimed himself king. To ascend the throne, he used all the methods that False Dmitry manipulated - the people were summoned to the Execution Ground, to whom excerpts from the archive of False Dmitry were read. It contained the correspondence of the first false tsar with a courtier from Poland, Yuri Mnishek, about the seizure of the Russian throne and cooperation with the Polish-Lithuanian invaders.
Within 2 years there was another attempt to overthrow the king and enthrone the next false king - False Dmitry II. The organizer of the rebellion was the henchman of False Dmitry II, Roman Gagarin - he and his associates tried to win the Patriarch of Moscow Hermogenes over to their side, but he refused. And the attempt to storm the Kremlin turned out to be a failure - the boyar class did not join the rebels, and their forces were not enough. With nothing, the rebels returned to the location of False Dmitry II - Tushino.
Another attempt to overthrow Shuisky from the throne was made in July 1610, but it also turned out to be a failure.
Execution Ground marked another significant event that went down in history - in November 1612, Moscow was liberated from the long siege of the Polish army, and 2 church processions ended at Execution Ground, glorifying this event.
Finally, in February 1613, it was at Lobnoye Mesto that, at the initiative of the Zemsky Assembly, the real ruler was proclaimed, with the consent of the entire city assembly - Mikhail Romanov, a few days later the Cossacks swore allegiance to the elected monarch here.
The uprising of the Moscow archers
The uprising of the Moscow archers, better known from history as the "Streltsy rebellion" took place in the Kremlin building, but the executed nobles of the Naryshkin court, the rebels, were demolished to the Execution Ground. Later, having confessed to the execution of the innocent, the instigators erected a memorial obelisk to the dead, with a list of their names and a statement of their crimes, but Princess Sophia ordered the monument to be demolished so as not to remind of those events.
During the reign of Peter I
During the reign of Peter I, Execution Ground was often used for public executions of conspirators and rebels. For these purposes, a scaffold and a pole were installed near the podium, on which the guilty verdicts were posted.
Times of Imperial Russia
During the period of history called "imperial", the main city of the state was moved to St. Petersburg, which affected the loss of Moscow and Red Square of their national importance. Accordingly, the Execution Ground has never been used as a territory for public punishments.
The tribune and the area near it were restored, surrounded by cast iron gates. Since that time, only church prayers and religious processions have been held here.
After the completion of the October Revolution, Moscow again became the capital of the state. Red Square was a place for parades and festive demonstrations, these days monuments were erected on the Lobnoye Mesto, and greeting speeches and slogans were delivered from the rostrum itself.
Of course, such a landmark place in history was not without incident - in 1942, an attempt was made to fire at the car of Anastas Mikoyan.
In the 60s of the last century, a peaceful demonstration of protest against the entry of our troops into the Czechoslovak Republic was held here. All participants were arrested.
2013 was also marked by a peaceful demonstration, which was also stopped by the police.
For the celebration of Victory Day in 1945, everything here was decorated with flower arrangements and a fountain complex was built. And from that day, every year on Victory Day, everything here is decorated in the spirit of festive events.
Now Lobnoye Mesto is considered a very attractive building for everyone arriving in Moscow, for its extraordinary design, and for everything that has happened in history, in which it took part.
Execution Ground, an old neighbor of St. Basil's Cathedral on Red Square, is not only a monument of ancient Russian architecture, but also the most popular point on the map of Moscow for making wishes. But the history of this attraction is accompanied by one erroneous legend, in the veracity of which many unconditionally believe: in the old days, heads were chopped off at the Execution Ground.
We all know how legends are born: one told the other - and it began ... That's how once this myth came to me - from a friend, and to her from her husband. I remember that she said in an unhappy voice: “Zhora told me not to throw a coin - they chopped off their heads, and they make wishes!” And after all, the position is sound: if this is a place of execution, then is it here to dream of something good and bright ... But why do people come here all year round and wait for their turn in order to throw that same coin? ( The essence of the "game": to get into the central patch by making a wish. It is believed that in this case it will be fulfilled).
What do people say?
I went to look for the answer to the monument-"wizard". Even on a late, cool autumn evening, the folk trail to its steps, as they say, was not overgrown. Many people pay attention to the Execution Ground - they look around, read the signs, take pictures.
Muscovite Konstantin looked around, but did not make a wish: “I did not throw a coin, because I do not understand the essence. There would be some symbolism in this - then yes. Well, I don’t understand how others do it, thinking that people were executed here. For me, executions are not such a symbolism to throw coins here.
But not everyone is of this opinion. For example, the spouses Aleksey and Yana knew a sad legend, but they threw coins with joy:
Alexei: “I quit because my wife told me.”
Yana: “And I know this, because I was here 16 years ago, and they told me to throw a coin here. Probably to come back."
Alexey: “History of the place? I think that there was a “head-axe” here.
Me: “So, knowing this, you still tossed a coin and made a wish?”
Alexey: “Yes, why not?”
But a group of foreign tourists aged did not support the tradition, even they know about the "executions". A man from the tour group descends the stairs with the words: "Ivan Grozny here ..." and shows the characteristic gesture "cut".
After that, I was no longer surprised by the answer of the Italian Alessandra, who came to make a wish before leaving right with her suitcase: “I threw a coin, because I wanted my wish to come true, but did not fall into the middle. A friend told me that people were killed here, but I don’t know exactly when.”
Nine-year-old Dima was surprised: “Heads were not cut here. Here in the old days, ordinary people brought complaints, and then they were taken away and thought about what to fulfill. Interesting version.
There were also people who understood everything correctly: “Decrees were announced here, maybe even sentences, and executions were carried out somewhere nearby, but not here.” And some of them are just adherents of the popular tradition: “Do you know how people like to throw coins into the river, into the fountain? Same here. They guess and believe."
How about really?
Historian, Moscow expert Mikhail Korobko:
“The place of execution was documented for the first time in 1549. Then the tsar called the warring boyars to reconciliation - in front of the crowd, of course. According to legend, the arrangement of the Execution Ground is associated with the deliverance of Moscow from the invasion of the Tatars in 1521 under Vasily III, the father of Ivan the Terrible. That is, here it is like with the foundation of Moscow: the first mention and the legend diverge.
The architect Batalov and the archaeologist Belyaev suggested that the Execution Ground arose as a part of the rite of procession on a donkey, which symbolized the entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem. It, located opposite the chapel in the name of the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem of the Intercession Cathedral, has become a symbol of Golgotha, just like the Intercession Cathedral - a symbol of Jerusalem.
On Palm Sunday, the patriarch distributed consecrated willows from the Execution Ground to the tsar, clergy and boyars, mounted a donkey and from there rode on it, led by the tsar (a procession on a donkey).
There have never been executions at the Execution Ground. This is a legend. In the center of the monument there is a step of three steps, which you can enter. Many perceive her as a chopping block. In fact, this is just the place for a king or a patriarch.”
A lot of architectural monuments are concentrated on the Red Square of Moscow, a special place among which is occupied by the Execution Ground - a small rounded elevation with a stone fence. In the distant past, this building was used by kings and other dignitaries during festive events to announce decrees or proclaim solemn speeches.
Initially, the building was a low platform made of brick, fenced with a wooden grate. After repeated reconstructions, the Execution Ground became an elevated structure surrounded by low stone railings with a pedestal in the very center of the structure. In the western part of the Execution Ground there is a door with an iron grate through which eleven steps lead to the upper platform.
The origin of the name "frontal" is still not 100% clear. One of the assumptions says that such a name is associated with the executions that were previously carried out here, which in ancient times was called “folding foreheads” or “chopping foreheads”.
Another explanation is that this is the usual translation of the Hebrew word "Golgotha", which itself is associated with stacked skulls at the place of executions in ancient Jerusalem (if you look at the plan of the Execution Ground, you can see that its contours resemble a skull) .
The most acceptable version is the following: Execution Ground is located where Vasilyevsky Spusk begins, which descends steeply to the Moscow River. Places with such height differences in Rus' were called "Foreheads".
The history of the appearance of the Execution Ground on Red Square
Following the interpretation of ancient documents, a number of researchers believe that the Execution Ground was built in 1521 in honor of the deliverance of the city from the invasion of the Tatars. For the first time it is mentioned in a certain manuscript dated 1549, when twenty-year-old Ivan the Terrible delivered a speech to the townspeople at the Execution Ground, calling for reconciliation between the boyars who were at war with each other. Since then, the place has often been called "Tsar's", as the royal pulpit or the royal tribunal.
The Execution Ground on Red Square is also mentioned in the “Piskarevsky chronicler” of 1599 and the “Peter drawing” of the reign of Boris Godunov of 1600. According to the descriptions of that time, the building was fenced with a wooden lattice, had a tent or canopy on poles and was located opposite Frolovsky (today - Spassky) gates of the Kremlin.
All subsequent time, until the transfer of the capital of the Russian state to St. Petersburg, the building was the main city platform, on which the most important decrees of the tsar were announced to the people; here, twice a year, the sovereign presented his people with an heir (until the latter reached adulthood); here the election of a patriarch was announced, the beginning of the war and the signing of a peace agreement; near the Execution Ground, the rebellious archers of Peter I were executed, and the disfigured body of False Dmitry I lay at its steps.
In 1753, the Execution Ground was restored by the architect D.V. Ukhtomsky, and in 1786, according to the project of the Russian architect Matvey Kazakov, the building was shifted to the east and partially rebuilt.
From ancient times and until the October Revolution, processions of the cross stopped near the Execution Ground, from its top the bishop overshadowed the townspeople with the sign of the cross. When the “Entrance to Jerusalem” was celebrated, the patriarch ascended to the Execution Ground and from it distributed the consecrated willow to the tsar, the boyars and the clergy, and at the end of the ceremony, he left the square on a donkey led by the tsar himself!
In 1919, a wooden monument “Stepan Razin with a gang” was erected at the Execution Ground, which, in order to save it from the harmful effects of the environment, it was decided to dismantle and transfer to the Proletarian Museum (now the Museum of the Revolution).
In 1936, the Workers' Sculpture was installed at the Execution Ground, which stood there for several years (it was no longer there in the photographs of 1941).
Near the Execution Ground in 1942, the deserter S. Dmitriev, mistaking the car of A. Mikoyan for the car of I. Stalin, fired at it with a rifle. Subsequently, he was sentenced to death.
In 1968, a sit-in was held near the Execution Ground against the entry of Soviet troops into the territory of Czechoslovakia, which had rebelled against the socialist system.
Today, Lobnoye Mesto is an integral part of the architectural complex of Red Square and is protected by the state.
An interesting fact is known: until recently, there was a tradition among tourists to throw coins inside the building in order to return here once again. Now the sign "Kilometer Zero of Russia" has become such a place.
Criminals were practically never executed at the Execution Ground, but they were usually executed "in the Swamp", beyond the Moscow River, and before that - on the Kuchkovo field (Lubyanka). Stepan Razin was executed on Bolotnaya Square, or on the Swamp, as they said at that time. It was there that there was a place specially designed for demonstration executions. Emelyan Pugachev was also killed there. And the Execution Ground itself served as a kind of tribune for the announcement of the most important royal decrees, state acts, the relics of revered saints were placed here for everyone to see.
Frontal - means standing on a vzlobe, that is, on a hill. And the purpose of the Execution Ground was different - here royal decrees were read out for Muscovites. Here traditionally began the procession of the patriarch on a donkey - the main show of Palm Sunday. There was also the most popular tavern "Under the guns". The guns that once stood at the base of the Execution Ground were implied. But none of them ever fired. The guns were rather an attraction for tourists. In particular, the Pole V. Nemoevsky boasted: “Near this place there is a large and long tool in which a tall man can sit down without bending, I myself experienced it.”
True, there are facts that in 1682 Nikita Pustosvyat (in the world - Nikita Konstantinovich Dobrynin) was beheaded at the Execution Ground. He suffered for his faith - he was an Old Believer. And even earlier, in 1610, they were going to take the life of Vasily Shuisky, who was deposed from the throne, at this place. But at the last moment they changed their minds - they replaced the death penalty with monastic vows.
But the French really staged demonstrative executions here. One of them was described by Leo Tolstoy in the novel “War and Peace”: “Pierre saw the crowd at the Execution Ground, stopped and got off the droshky. It was the execution of a French chef accused of espionage. The execution had just ended, and the executioner was untying a pitifully groaning fat man with red whiskers, blue stockings and a green jacket from the mare. Another criminal, thin and pale, was standing right there. Both, judging by their faces, were French. With a frightened, painful look, similar to that of a thin Frenchman, Pierre pushed his way through the crowd.
For a long time it was believed that Stepan Razin was executed at the Execution Ground. After the revolution, a wooden sculpture of Razin by S. Konenkov was even erected here. Vecherniye Izvestia wrote: “In the center of the Execution Ground stands the figure of Stepan Razin; nearby, slightly pushed forward, is reclining a Persian princess; on the side is a gang, Razin's closest friends are Efimych Helmsman, Mitrich Beard, Yesaul Vaska Us, Petrukha Gubanov and Tatar Akhmet Ivanovich. But soon the monument was transferred to the Proletarian Museum on Bolshaya Dmitrovka.
