September 22, 1764 Catherine II decided to replace the wooden pointing on stone pillars. Milestones - then-wooden - appeared in the mid-17th century during the reign of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. Stone milestones and road signs in the form of obelisks of granite or marble was placed at the distance of a mile (1,0668 km) from each other. The first column appeared in 1774 in St. Petersburg on the Fontanka near the Triumphal gate. The first road, which were installed stone milestones, shared the way from Moscow to the town of Kolomna. So milepost people began to call Kolomna a mile. Milestones were made in the construction workshops St. Isaac's Cathedral in Saint Petersburg. The authorship of the structures was attributed to the architect A. Rinaldi, but, according to the latest data, their architect J. B. Vallin de La Mothe. The first and the last post was installed solar watch. Surviving milestones have been restored in the years 1970-1990. Source: Shuya C. K. Jean Baptiste Michel Vallin de La Mothe // Architects of St. Petersburg, XVIII. SPb. , 1997.