Petersburg Floods

This unusual sculpture that stands as you look to your left going across the Ioannovsky Bridge to go to the Peter and Paul Fortress, you will see the sculpture of this small and frightened looking Hare.

"Legend has it that one hare, caught by the rising waters during a flood, saved itself by jumping into Peter the Great's boot as he disembarked from a boat onto the island. This idiosyncratic memorial to the floods that plagued St. Petersburg through the 18th and 19th centuries was erected in 2003 during renovation of Ioannovsky Bridge. The heights of major floods in the history of St. Petersburg are marked on the post beneath the hare."

Source:

http://www.saint-petersburg.com/monuments/the-hare-escaping-flooding/