Marble cloning

Guardians of the Summer Garden sculpture are trying to save the famous statues

The annual unveiling after winter of the famous statues of the famous St. Petersburg Summer Garden invariably becomes an occasion to become convinced that marble sculpture endures the atmosphere of a modern metropolis less and less well. On the eve of the next revival of figures from wooden boxes collected over 300 years, the keepers of the sculptures again reminded that the garden may be left without its main decoration. If again there are no funds to copy and restore the sculptures.

...The rusted hinges creaked, first the lid opened, then the side doors were removed - the wooden sarcophagi in which the statues of the Summer Garden had spent the winter were put aside. A figure appeared, wrapped in a white linen, and now the garden servant was brushing dust from the marble face with a soft brush. “The statues overwintered well,” says Galina Khvostova, curator of sculpture at the Summer Garden. “This method of wintering for them was invented at the beginning of the 19th century, and since then we have not changed it: experience has shown that there is nothing better than thick canvas and a wooden box for storing marble statues outdoors.”

This year, after restoration, the sculptural group “The Rape of the Sabine Woman” and “Ceres” will return to their places. The restored statues are immediately visible - they are clean and smooth, ivory-colored, because they are impregnated with wax. In total, 96 stone figures have lived in the Summer Garden for almost 300 years - this is the first open-air collection of marble sculpture in Russia. Having moved for permanent residence to the northern Russian capital from southern European countries, the sculptures withstood both the antics of vandals and the attacks of moral guardians who were outraged by the open display of “naked” bodies. Even the very first restorer of the garden, the Austrian sculptor Zwenhof, at the beginning of the 18th century, asked for security to prevent pogroms. Today, police squads cruise around the Summer Garden, but it is not always possible to deal with hooligans. Just recently, two tipsy students snatched the spear from Minerva’s hands, and the statue went for a long restoration.

But the greatest losses are suffered by the sculpture row of the Summer Garden due to the damp, cold climate, air pollution and tall trees. “The white marble statues, according to the authors, should have stood against a backdrop of dense greenery,” says Tatyana Kozlova, former director of the Summer Garden, and now head of the scientific and fund department, curator of the summer palace of Peter I. - And now, because of the continuous foliage, almost no sunlight reaches them, the ground, the lawns. Do you see the bald spots and bald spots on the ground? Nothing grows here!” During the flowering of tall linden trees, the statues are covered with a continuous sticky blanket of nectar, pollen and falling flowers. In addition, the Summer Garden is located between two powerful traffic flows. And people suffer more from exhaust fumes and dirt than from acid rain. That is why, 25 years ago, a large art council, which included specialists from the largest museums in Leningrad, finally decided: the precious sculpture should be copied, and the originals should be stored in closed rooms.

But copying is not going well yet. Using technology invented by Hermitage restorers, 25 busts were successfully replaced with copies made from a mixture of marble chips and cement. And they say that even experts do not immediately distinguish the original from the double. But with the statues everything turned out very sad. Three copies have been made so far - “Navigation”, “Architecture” and “Glory”. In their manufacture, they used some kind of super cement from Denmark, and as a result, the statues turn yellow and are covered with reddish lichen.

“Of course, ideally, marble copies should be made,” says Galina Khvostova. - Moreover, modern technologies make it possible to make copies of the highest accuracy. Many experts already agree with this. Although delivering marble to St. Petersburg will make such copies much more expensive, and even with old technology, three years ago a copy of one statue cost us one and a half million rubles.”

It is noteworthy that the authorities still intend to allocate significant funds for large-scale restoration of the garden. By the end of this year, the design documentation will be completed and a series of approvals will begin. As the chief architect of the Russian Museum, Irina Teterina, said, it is planned to restore nine fountains in the Summer Garden (once there were more than 30). Old trees will be treated, self-seeding will be removed, the trellis will be restored - they are already planning to establish a nursery in the near future to grow special bushes and low-growing trees. All communications need to be completely changed. Even according to the most conservative estimates, all this work will take at least three years and will cost at least a billion rubles. But whether funds will be allocated for further copying and restoration of the sculpture is still unknown.

Natalya SHKURENOK