Statue of Stephen the Great, Iași

The equestrian statue of Stephen the Great (Ștefan cel Mare), Prince of Moldavia from 1457 to 1504, stands in Piața Palat in Iași, in front of the Palace of Culture. It was originally placed in front of the Administrative Palace, a building later demolished to make way for the present Palace of Culture. The bronze statue is 4.5 m tall and rests on a pedestal of pink Carrara marble. The idea of the monument was put forward in 1856 by the caimacam Teodor Balș, but the project stalled after his death in 1857 and was revived in 1871, on the 370th anniversary of the prince's death. The commission went in 1879 to the French sculptor Emmanuel Frémiet, and the money was raised by a national public subscription. On 16 September 1882 the commemorative deed was placed in the pedestal, and the finished statue was shown that year at the sculpture Salon in France. The prince's likeness was based on sketches by Gheorghe Asachi, drawn from Grigore Ureche's chronicle and from a painting in the church at Bădeuți. The statue was unveiled on 5 June 1883 in the presence of King Carol I, who donated the two Krupp cannons, trophies of the War of Independence, that flank the statue. Speakers included the king, Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu and Nicolae Gane, and Vasile Alecsandri wrote an ode for the occasion. Mihai Eminescu attended the ceremony and wrote his poem "Doina" for it. The sides of the pedestal carry two bronze bas-reliefs: on the left the Battle of Codrii Cosminului (1497), on the right the Battle of Podul Înalt (1475). The depiction of the prince, bearded and wearing a Western-style crown, was criticised from the outset by Eminescu and by Bishop Melchisedec Ștefănescu, and later by Nicolae Iorga. The statue is a listed historic monument, LMI code IS-III-m-B-04314.