April 4, 1866

[Dave2002]

I have been investigating details relating to Mussorgsky's Pictures at an exhibition, and discovered an anomaly - possible conflicting "evidence."

Some web sites suggest that on April 4, 1866, there was an unsuccessful attempt on Tsar Alexander II's life, as a result of which there was a competition for a memorial (seems a bit doubtful to me, anyway). The suggestion is then that a design for a gate was won by Victor Hartmann, which subsequently became immortalised in Mussorgsky's music.

However, other sites suggest that there was an attempt on the Tsar's life on that day, but that in fact it was in St Petersburg, and there is no mention of any commemorative memorial.

Are any of these "facts" known to be true, or are we at the mercy of Internet jokers? Or indeed any non-Internet jokers?

[subcontrabass]

I have been investigating details relating to Mussorgsky's Pictures at an exhibition, and discovered an anomaly - possible conflicting "evidence."

Some web sites suggest that on April 4, 1866, there was an unsuccessful attempt on Tsar Alexander II's life, as a result of which there was a competition for a memorial (seems a bit doubtful to me, anyway). The suggestion is then that a design for a gate was won by Victor Hartmann, which subsequently became immortalised in Mussorgsky's music.

However, other sites suggest that there was an attempt on the Tsar's life on that day, but that in fact it was in St Petersburg, and there is no mention of any commemorative memorial.

Are any of these "facts" known to be true, or are we at the mercy of Internet jokers? Or indeed any non-Internet jokers?

There appear to have been two attempts on his life in that year: April 4th in Kiev and April 16th in St Petersburg. See http://www.historyorb.com/events/date/1866

[Dave2002]

There appear to have been two attempts on his life in that year: April 4th in Kiev and April 16th in St Petersburg. See http://www.historyorb.com/events/date/1866

Thanks for that. However this is inconclusive - most of the sources I've looked at mention St Petersburg on April 4, with Karakazov who was later executed as the principal protagonist. There are also mentions of commemorative memorials relating to these events. It's not clear that the memorials were only for great gates, or for Kiev. What is seemingly known is that Hartmann had a design for a great gate in Kiev which is the subject of a picture.

Alexander II was the target of quite a number of assassination attempts, and he finally died after one on 13 March, 1881. There might be additional confusion relating to Russian history during that period, as Russia was still using old style calendar dates, so historical events sometimes show as having two dates.