The creation of a monument to Catherine II was repeatedly proposed at the beginning of her thirty-year tenure on the throne, but the powerful empress was categorically against it. The designs of the monument to the empress developed by various craftsmen were considered only in 1860 during the reign of Alexander II. Mikeshin's project won the competition, and the bronze model created on it was awarded a medal at the exhibition held in London.

When Emperor Alexander II ordered a monument to be built on this model two years later, Mikeshin slightly redesigned the original version of the project, making it larger and adding figures that distinguished themselves in the era of Catherine by statesmen. From the majestic figure of the Empress, the royal mantle falls down in heavy folds, in her hand she holds the symbol of the royal power — the scepter, and the royal crown is placed at her feet. Sculptors Chizhov, Opekushin, architect Grimm and Schreter worked on the monument. It took four years to create.

From that moment on, the sculptural group was surrounded by all kinds of legends. In one of the comic legends, it is said that the gestures of the favorites surrounding the Empress are very unambiguous: they indicate to those present the size of their masculine virtues. At the same time, Derzhavin alone helplessly spreads his arms. Another legend is more plausible: it says that during the laying of the monument, many noble ladies threw jewels into the excavated pit, which were later buried. In the Soviet era, there were rumors that excavations would be carried out on the site of the monument, but it did not come to this.

Soon after the Bolsheviks came to power, it was planned to dismantle the monument, replace Catherine with a statue of the leader of the world proletariat, and instead of figures close to the empress, who were members of the Lenin Politburo. Among other things, the monument to the Empress was constantly the object of vandal attempts: orders and swords disappeared without a trace, fragments of bottle glass were found in the crown, and once the mantle was painted under the sailor's vest.