The obelisk of the Constable in Gatchina is located at the intersection of October 25 Avenue and Krasnogvardeisky Avenue. In the 18th century, these streets had other names. The obelisk is installed on the road from St. Petersburg to Gatchina at the turn of the Great Gatchina Palace, where the heir to the throne Pavel and his family lived.
The Constable obelisk, 32 meters high and weighing 600 tons, was erected in 1793. Tetrahedral obelisks of this height were erected by the ancient Egyptians. The most famous obelisks in Egypt were in the Luxor Temple and the Karnak Temple. In Paris, on the Place de la Concorde there is one of the Luxor obelisks, which was presented to France by the Egyptian King Muhammad Ali in 1830.
Small obelisks of this shape were erected in other countries. They were also in Russia. In 1770, the Chesma Obelisk was installed in Gatchina Palace Park after the victory of the Russian fleet in the Battle of Chesma. However, the Constable is significantly larger than other obelisks in Russia.
For the first time, Paul I saw such an obelisk in France, in the estate of the Prince of Conde near Paris. On the square in front of the Conde estate there was a monument to the Constable Anne Montmorency. The position of constable in France was the highest in the royal army of France until the middle of the 17th century.
Paul I commissioned the architect Vincenzo Brenna to erect a similar obelisk in Gatchina. In memory of his trip to France, he named the obelisk "Constable". 4 bollards connected by chains were installed around the Constable. In 1881, lightning struck the obelisk and destroyed it. The restoration of the Constable was completed only in 1886.
Nowadays, the obelisk Constable has become one of the symbols of Gatchina. It is located in the middle of the road between the Great Gatchina Palace and the Priory Palace. The Smolensk Gate, built in 1831, has been preserved next to the Constable. They are located 500 meters southwest of the Constable. In those years it was the southern outskirts of Gatchina.
