Kolonna Orla, Gatchina

The Column of the Eagle is an architectural structure in the Gatchina Palace Park. One of the earliest objects in the park, erected to a design, presumably by the Italian architect A. Rinaldi in the early 1770s, during the period when Gatchina belonged to Count G. G. Orlov. The column is a marble column on a high tetrahedral pedestal decorated according to the canons of classicism. Its top is crowned with a sculpture of an eagle.

The column forms a single ensemble with the Eagle Pavilion, built in the years when Gatchina was owned by the heir to the throne, Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich. The monument has been restored several times. It is an object of cultural heritage of federal significance in the category of monuments of urban planning and architecture.

There are various explanations for the eagle symbolism of the building. The Column and the Pavilion are united by a legend, according to which Grigory Orlov or Paul I fired a lucky shot at an eagle that flew over and both buildings were erected to commemorate it. The column is called a monument to the Orlov family, the eagle on its top is interpreted as a heraldic figure. The column and the Pavilion of the Eagle may also be seen as part of a single semantic construction of Masonic symbols, formed during the Pavlovsk time and partly connected with the embodiment of the idea of a Masonic king.