VLADIVOSTOK: A HISTORIC WALKING TOUR 

NEVELSKOY MONUMENT

     Unveiled in 1897, the statue of Admiral Gennady Nevelskoy (1813-76) was the first monument ever erected in Vladivostok.  The cornerstone was laid in 1891 by the Tsarevitch Nicholas during his visit to the city.  The townspeople had been donating funds for such a memorial since 1889, when the idea of commemorating the admiral’s work was first expressed. Nevelskoy, the famed Russian explorer of the Far East, had proved that Sakhalin was an island (not a peninsula, as had been previously thought), and that the mouth of the Amur was completely navigable (not lost in quick sand, as had been believed).  He also founded the city of Nikolayevsk-on-the-Amur in 1850.

     Simple in form and modest in embellishment, the Nevelskoy Monument symbolizes the pioneering spirit and collective exploits of the sailors, soldiers, and Cossacks who were the first explorers of what is today the Russian Far East.  Designed by the naval engineer A. Antipov, the monument consists of twelve gray granite slabs topped with a globe that is crowned with the Imperial double eagle.  The Nevelskoy bust stands in one of four niches facing the Bay of the Golden Horn and is perfectly executed by renowned Russian sculptor R. Bach (1859-1933).

The admiral’s inconspicuous presence highlights the expressiveness of the whole.  In the other three niches there are bronze plaques bearing the names of Nevelskoy’s collaborators who participated in the 1849-53 expeditions to the area.      

     The story of the Nevelskoy Monument is typical of post-Revolutionary Russia: in 1923 the Soviet five-pointed star was mounted on top of the monument, replacing the double eagle, and the remains of several revolutionaries were reburied in front of it.  The small planted square surrounding the area was named the Public Garden of the Victims of the Revolution.   In 1958, N. Kukel-Krayevsky, the grandson of Nevelskoy, addressed the local government with a petition to restore the monument to its original appearance, and this task--including the return of the double eagle--was finished in time for Vladivostok’s centennial in 1960.

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