The first idea to build a monument to commemorate the Battle of Poltava originated with an ordinary townsman of Poltava, Pavel Rudenko. In 1778 he erected a stone-made pillar crowned with a gilded apple. An engraved brass plate, created by engraver Patrikiy Balabin, depicted the battle as the apotheosis of Peter I's military genius. This monument existed until 1811, when it was badly damaged by some sots during a drunken brawl. On June 24th 1841 another monument was erected not far from the original location. This monument commemorated the site where Peter I had rested after the battle. It is believed that soon after the battle the Tsar visited Commandant Kelin, who had rented an apartment in the house of Cossack Magdenko, and rested there for a brief period of time. By 1804 this house had fallen into disrepair and was demolished. Before the first visit of Tsar Alexander I to Poltava the first brick pyramidal monument was erected on the site where the house had been located. Alexander’s successor, Tsar Nikolay I, ordered Peter’s repose to be immortalized with a monument that was cast in bronze in St. Petersburg by Hamburger, a master of artistic casting, based on drawings made by Professor Alexander Bryullov. This monument bore the National Emblem of the Russian Empire and a bronze plate with the inscription: "Erected on June 27th 1849 in the reign of Tsar Nikolay I." The monument is surrounded by a cast-iron railing, made of eight connected pillars in the form of cannons. Soon after 1921, when the Bolsheviks came to power, this plate was dismantled as were all other reminders of the Romanov dynasty. Other decorations, including a bronze helmet, sword, and shield, and a sleeping lion symbolizing the resting Tsar, remained untouched. During the German occupation of Poltava (1941 - 1943), all bronze decorations of the monument were taken to Germany. Only in the early 1950s was this monument reconstructed in its original form with the exception of the bronze plate.