1880s
celebration the abolition of serfdom in Russia.
Memorial Column
KolomenskoeThis stone monument decorated with herbal ornament was installed by the peasants of Shaydorovo village (now Koshkin Street near ‘Kantemirovskaya’ metro station, Moscow). Both Shaydorovo and Kolomenskoe villages stood on the road to Tsaritsyn (now Volgograd).
Installed in a street or on a crossroads, the monument could be clearly seen from different points. It was created in gratitude to Emperor Alexander II who 3 March (19 February O.S.) 1861 signed an Emancipation Manifesto ‘graciously giving the serf people the rights of free village residents’.
In the 1980s, the monument was transferred to Kolomenskoe.
Did you know that...
Most probably the monument was installed in 1881 in memory of Alexander II, who was killed that very year by members of the ‘Narodnaya Volya’ (‘People’s Will’) populist organization. It happened in March 1881, almost exactly 20 years after the abolition of serfdom.