The Alexander Column was erected on August 30, 1834 in the center of the Palace Square by the architect Auguste Montferrand at the order of Emperor Nicholas I in memory of the victory of his elder brother (Emperor Alexander I) over Napoleon.

The column was supposed to compete with the Vendôme Column, installed in Paris in honor of Napoleon’s victories (demolished in 1871). The granite monument weighs over 600 tons. The column sits on its pedestal without any fixtures, held in position by its own weight alone. The column is topped with a gilded sculpture of an angel (designed by Boris Orlovsky), whose facial features resemble those of Emperor Alexander I. The angel holds a cross in their left hand, and raises their right hand to the sky. The height of the column together with the statue is 47.5 m. It is the tallest monolith in the world. In his poem “Exegi Monumentum”, poet A.S. Pushkin puts his work above this monument: “With insubmissive head far loftier it stands than Alexander’s columned stone…”