Statue of Torgils Knutsson

Beautiful sculpture

Good place for fast visit

Old Finnish monument in Vyborg

A city with rich history.

The monument to the founder of Vyborg, Swedish Marshal Torgils Knutsson, by sculptor Ville Vallgren was erected on the Old Town Hall Square on October 4, 1908 and became the first monument in Vyborg. The history of the monument is rather complicated. The initiator and organizer of the project for the installation of the monument was the Vyborg architect and lover of antiquity Yakob Arenberg. Fundraising began in 1884. Major General Mikhail Lavrentievich Dukhonin, the military commandant of Vyborg, strongly opposed the idea of ​​erecting a monument to the Swedish conqueror. The Governor-General Count Fyodor Heyden also supported him. The theme of the installation of the monument was vigorously discussed in the pages of newspapers. The petition to erect the monument was rejected and became the basis for the publication in 1890 by Alexander III of the Imperial Announcement of the non-construction of monuments in public places without asking the Imperial permission to do so. The building permit, contrary to the opinion of the Russian military and civil authorities, was obtained only after the appeal of the city council of Vyborg to Emperor Nicholas II. For a long time, there was a controversy on the pages of newspapers about the legality of the installation of the monument until the majority agreed that this structure could not be considered a monument to the "enemy of Russia" - after all, Knutsson fought with the Novgorod Republic in the 13th century, while Russia was not yet there. Vyborg fully became Soviet in 1944, and in 1948 the monument was demolished, but escaping remelting, it was forgotten for many decades. Restored and returned to its historical place in 1993.