Monument
«Baron Munchausen»
Karl Friedrich Hieronymus von Munchausen (1720-1797) was a German baron and officer in the Russian army who became famous for his incredible stories. His name has become synonymous with someone who tells unbelievable stories. In 1781, 16 of his stories were published in the Vademecum for Jolly People, where his name was hidden behind the initials “von M-x-z-N”. This led to the creation of the image of the legendary baron. In 1785, Rudolf Erich Raspe published The Tales of Baron Munchausen in London, anonymously. He expanded and added to the stories from the magazine. The following year, the German author Gottfried August Bürger translated and revised Raspe’s work, creating a more complex and nuanced image of Munchausen. Burger divided the book into two parts: “Adventures in Russia” and “Sea Adventures”, adding new stories such as flying on a cannon or pulling himself out of a swamp. This version became canonical. The book was a huge success, and Munchausen’s image was finally established as a literary character. The Russian translation of the book appeared in 1791 in a free adaptation by Nikolai Osipov under the title “Don’t Love – Don’t Listen, But Don’t Bother Lying.” In 1813, Ivan Terebenev created a caricature of Munchausen that ridiculed the falsehood of the reports of Napoleon’s Grande Armée. In 1862, Gustave Doré created a caricature of Napoleon III using the image of Munchausen. Munchausen gained popularity in Russia thanks to Korney Chukovsky’s adaptation of the book for children, which simplified the transcription of the hero’s name. In 1956, Vera Waldman translated the complete version of the book into Russian. Later, it was edited by Arkady Makarov. Various authors have continued to develop the image of Baron Munchausen in their works. For example, Sigismund Krzyżanowski’s novel The Return of Munchausen features the character travelling to the Soviet Union, where his image was significantly enhanced in Soviet cinema. In the film adaptation of Grigory Gorin’s play The Most Truthful, the baron was given vivid romantic traits, but some facts from Karl Friedrich Hieronymus von Munchausen’s personal life were distorted. In the animated series The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, the character is depicted with classic features. A monument to Baron Munchausen was unveiled in Moscow in 2004, featuring the baron pulling himself and his horse out of a swamp. This sculpture, created by Marat Kusharov and Andrey Orlov, is located on Yartsevskaya Street, near the Molodezhnaya metro station. The pedestal features a quote from the famous quotation attributed to the baron: “Can a person pull himself out of a swamp?”! Moreover, I am convinced that everyone should engage in this activity from time to time!
Address: Moscow, Yartsevskaya St., 25A
