Project 1.4

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Peter the Great - Deptford, Greenwich

By Ellecia Marie

This disproportioned statue of Peter the Great with a throne and a Court Dwarf stands near the Millenium Quay housing development in Deptford by the river.  Engraved on it is "Peter the Great Russian Czar, Peter the Great, arrived in England in January 1698 and stayed in Sir John Evelyn's house, Sayes Court in Deptford for four months. This monument is erected near the royal shipyard where Peter the Great studied the English science of shipbuilding. The monument is a gift from the Russian people and commemorates the visit of Peter the Great to this country in search of knowledge and experience.”

While in London he went by the name of Peter Mikhailov. Even with the name change it seemed the chances of him blending in seemed pretty slim as he stood at 6’7 tall. During his stay in London along with him were; Four chamberlains, three interpreters, two clocksmiths, a cook, a priest, six trumpeters, 70 soldiers as tall as their monarch, four dwarves and a monkey. His height explains the tall statue of him and the fact he had along 4 dwarves with him explains why there is a statue of a dwarf.

Him and his entourage stayed at sayes court where a fellow servant brought attention to how the Russian Tsar behaved in his time in DeptfordThe following passage is from Ian Grey’s ‘Peter the Great in England’ (1956) “No part of the house escaped damage. All the floors were covered with grease and ink, and three new floors had to be provided. The tiled stoves, locks to the doors, and all the paint work had to be renewed. The curtains, quilts, and bed linen were ‘tore in pieces.’ All the chairs in the house, numbering over fifty, were broken, or had disappeared, probably used to stoke the fires. Three hundred window panes were broken and there were ‘twenty fine pictures very much tore and all frames broke.’ The garden which was Evelyn’s pride was ruined.”

To summarize The statue was placed in 2000, it was designed by Mihail Chemiakin (sculptor) and Viacheslav (Architect). A gift from the people of Russia, it commemorates Tsar  Peter the Great's time studying shipbuilding at the Royal Shipyard and the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, with the granite base from St Petersburg and the bronze itself from New York. As odd as the statues are and their placement, with a bit of looking into history it seems to make more sense (even though the history is just as well odd).

Observing the Everday

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