Monument to the Fallen of the Great Army (Napoleon's Command Post, Borodino)

From the command post, Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte led his troops on the day of the battle of Borodino. If you look from this place to the east, towards the positions of the Russian army, then the question involuntarily arises: what could the French emperor see from here? Over the past two centuries, the landscape of the battlefield has, of course, changed. Forests have grown, thickets and copses have appeared. In 1812, the area where one of the greatest battles of the 19th century was played out was more open. This can be clearly seen on the large model of the battlefield, which is exhibited in the main exhibition of the museum-reserve “Hail forever, Borodino!”. From this place, Napoleon watched not only the progress of the battle for the Semenov (or Bagration) flushes, but also the attacks on the Raevsky Battery in the center of the field. From here were visible and the head of the church in the village of Borodino. 100 years after the battle, the French government asks for permission from the Russian government to erect a monument to all French soldiers who died in the battle on the site of Napoleon’s command post. The monument to the “Fallen of the Great Army” was made in France according to the project of the famous architect and sculptor Beswilwold with funds raised by subscription among the population of the French Republic. The granite blocks of the monument were transported by sea to St. Petersburg, and then were going to be delivered to Borodino by rail. But, by chance, the ship carrying the monument sank during a storm in the North Sea. In August 1912, the opening of a temporary monument took place, hastily made of wood and lined with gypsum, tinted with gray granite. A year later, in 1913, the temporary monument was replaced with a newly made one from Vosges granite. He was taken from France to Borodino by rail.