The victory of the Russian troops near the village of Klyastitsy (today located in the Rossony district of the Vitebsk region) on the 20th of July 1812 glorified the name of Lieutenant General P.H. Wittgenstein. After the defeat of the French troops at Klyastitsy, Napoleon Bonaparte finally abandoned the idea of seizing St. Petersburg, at that moment the capital of the Russian Empire.
Emperor Alexander I awarded the wise and decisive commander Peter Wittgenstein with the Order of St. George of the 2nd degree. In honor of the “savior of Petersburg”, as Peter Hristianovich began to be called, many of his engraved images were released. One of the commemorative medals with his profile is presented in the exposition of the Museum of Local lore.
A round medal with a bas-relief profile of P. Kh. Wittgenstein was cast from cast iron at the Olonets Alexandrovsky Plant (today the Onega Tractor Works, the Republic of Korelia, Petrozavodsk). In the upper part along the circumference is the inscription "GRAF P. H. VITGENSHTEYN". The diameter of the medal is 10.5 cm. The cast iron was used by the foundry workers not because of a shortage of bronze, but because its color turned out to be the most successful for such artistic miniatures. According to the masters, he gave the portrait medals a special solemnity and expressiveness. A commemorative medal, made in the first third of the 19th century, was transferred to the museum in 1971 by a collector from the city of Chelyabinsk.
