On the Senate square in St. Petersburg there is a monument to Peter the Great ( Peter l ) which is called the "Bronze Horseman". This is a giant equestrian statue made of bronze. Peter the Great sits proudly astride a beautiful horse. A cloak is fluttering behind him, and you can see a laurel wreath of the winner on his head. His right hand is raised and points towards the Neva river, the left hand gripps the reins. Under the hooves of his horse there is a wriggling snake - a symbol of the defeated enemies of Russia.

A famous sculptor Etienne Falcone created this monument on the order of Catherine the Great. He worked at this sculpture for 12 years, and a student Marie Ann Colo helped him. She made the head of the sculpture.

It took a lot of time to find a suitable stone for the pedestal. A huge piece of grey granite was at last found on the shore of the Gulf of Finland. It was called a Thunder stone. Hundreds of people were involved to move this huge stone to St.Petersburg. Later on Alexander Pushkin wrote a poem about Peter the First and he called it "The Bronze Horseman."  So the sculpture got its name.