We are still the same: the whole world is foreign to us; Our Fatherland is Tsarskoye Selo. Pushkin and the Tsarskoe village Pushkin Alexander Sergeevich

Wherever fate throws us,
And happiness wherever it leads,
We are still the same: the whole world is foreign to us;
Our Fatherland is Tsarskoye Selo.

In the suburbs, 25 kilometers south of St. Petersburg, is the city of Pushkin (until 1918 - Tsarskoe Selo), named after the great Russian poet, whose talent was early years developed here, and life was inextricably linked with these places.

History of Tsarskoe Selo

Initially, on the site of Tsarskoye Selo, in the 17th – early 18th centuries, there was a Swedish estate (estate) “Sarskaya Manor”. After the expulsion of the Swedes and with its development, the estate (manor) turns into a village, and the name “Sarskoye” in Russian is transformed into “Tsarskoye”. In the 18th century, the construction of churches and palaces, the laying out of parks and the arrangement of decorative ponds took place here. Under Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, daughter of Peter I, Tsarskoye Selo developed and became the imperial residence, the center of the political and court life of the country.

Pushkin at the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum

At the age of twelve, in 1811, Pushkin was brought to Tsarskoye Selo to study at a privileged higher educational institution opened at the direction of Emperor Alexander I for the education of noble children - the Imperial Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum. It was during his years of study at the Lyceum that Pushkin’s poetic talent was discovered and appreciated; during this period, Pushkin created a large number of poetic works.

In 1817, Pushkin was released from the lyceum with the rank of collegiate secretary. Memories of the years spent at the Lyceum, of Lyceum friends, remained forever in the poet’s soul.

Pushkin in the Kitaeva House

In 1831, after the marriage of A.S. Pushkin with N.N. Goncharova, the young family moves to St. Petersburg, and then, for the summer, to Tsarskoe Selo. Here, in the study in the Kitaeva House, where Pushkin and his young wife stayed, “The Tale of Tsar Saltan”, Onegin’s Letter to Tatyana, the poem “The More Often the Lyceum Celebrates” and other works were written.

Tsarskoe Selo on the map

The State Museum-Reserve "Tsarskoe Selo" is located at: Russia, St. Petersburg, Pushkin, st. Sadovaya, 7.

Related materials:

Pushkin and Tsarskoe Selo. The speech of Innokenty Annensky, delivered by him at the Pushkin holiday at the Imperial Chinese Theater in Tsarskoe Selo.

Part 2. Our Fatherland is Tsarskoye Selo.

...Wherever fate throws us
And happiness wherever it leads,
We are still the same: the whole world is foreign to us;
Our Fatherland is Tsarskoye Selo.

The ceremonial summer imperial residence in Tsarskoe Selo from the 18th century. and for two centuries it was the official country house of Russian monarchs, and often the Tsarskoye Selo palaces became a favorite place of residence for members of the imperial family.

Emperor Alexander I

The reign of Alexander I began in 1801, when he was 24 years old. The ascension to the throne of Alexander I is associated with tragic events in the palace. His father, Paul I, was strangled as a result of a conspiracy of which Alexander was well aware. Throughout his subsequent life, the emperor would be tormented by remorse and see all life’s troubles as punishment for complicity in the murder of Paul I.

He often visited Tsarskoe Sele and loved him very much. Here he developed projects for many government reforms - the establishment of ministries, the State Council, and military reform.

August 29, 1808 The Decree “On the connection of the city of Sofia with Tsarskoye Selo” was approved by Emperor Alexander I. District government offices are transferred to Tsarskoe Selo. The staff of the city police is being confirmed. Work is underway to develop a project layout for the city of Tsarskoe Selo in a new location by architect V.I. Geste.

In 1816, the sculpture “Girl with a Jug” and a granite terrace (in place of the roller coaster) were installed in the park.

Mei A.I. Album “Views of Tsarskoe Selo”. Fountain “Girl with a Jug” in Catherine Park. 1870s

Architect Menelas builds the Lama Pavilion (for lamas brought from South America), the White Tower, Chapelle, greenhouses, and a farm in Alexander Park.Chapelle - chapel, erected in gothic style with dilapidated, cracked walls. The White Tower and the children's earthen fortress were intended for the training and games of the imperial sons. Here they studied military science, artillery and fortification. On the terraces they practiced gymnastics, fencing, dancing, and drawing.

Georgy Lvov. White Tower in Alexander Park. 1870s. Watercolor. GMZ "Tsarskoye Selo"

The palace expanded even further in 1817 under Emperor Alexander I. At his request, the architect V.P. Stasov created the Main Office and several rooms adjacent to it. Architect Stasov remodeled part of the palace's interiors in the Empire style. The decoration of all premises was entirely dedicated to the glorification of Russia's victory in the War of 1812.

Hermitage Palace

From 1811 to 1843 in the wing of the Catherine Palace the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum was located, in which in 1811-1817. studied by A.S. Pushkin. Russian culture owes a lot to the first lyceum students. The author of the lyceum “project,” the reformer Speransky, conceived not just an educational institution for training high-class officials - he dreamed of a new system for educating a harmonious person. A special atmosphere developed in the lyceum - it was about this that Pushkin responded with the famous line “The Fatherland is for us Tsarskoe Selo.”

In Tsarskoye Selo today they celebrate the 200th anniversary of the first Pushkin graduation at the Imperial Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum!

Tone A. Lyceum and the Great (Catherine) Palace. Lithograph 1822.

In the 1820s. the king began to be plagued by fatigue and depression. The death of a father, the death of 16-year-old daughter Sofia Naryshkina, a flood in St. Petersburg, a fire in Palace Church of the Resurrection of Christ- all this had a negative impact on the emperor’s psyche. He begins to see in these disasters a punishment for his sins - participation in a conspiracy against his father and his murder.

In 1825, to maintain the deteriorating health of his wife Elizaveta Alekseevna, the royal couple decided to travel to the south of Russia, to Taganrog, where the tsar died along the way. According to another version, the tsar became a monk and retired from power and the world, ending his days in the Perm province under the name of the Siberian elder Fyodor Kuzmich, famous for his prayerful asceticism. A farewell to the emperor's body took place in the church of the Catherine Palace.

Martynov A.E. "Landscape with the Big Lake", 1814, watercolor.

Emperor Nicholas I.

In 1820, Emperor Alexander summoned Nicholas and announced: from now on he becomes the heir to the throne. The emperor was childless, Konstantin Pavlovich renounced his rights to the throne, since he was divorced and also had no children. Nicholas did not prepare for the role of monarch and did not want it for himself, but accepted this fate with the humility of a soldier, which General Lamzdorf had drilled into him in his childhood.

The activities of Emperor Nicholas I in Tsarskoye Selo were based on the continuation of the urban planning initiatives of his brother, Emperor Alexander I. The completion of the formation of Babolovsky Park and the creation of a new Separate Park continued until the mid-19th century. The total area of ​​the palace and park ensemble in Nikolaev's time reached approximately a thousand hectares.

The last major event to implement the plan of Alexander I and architect V.I. Geste was the completion of the Cathedral Square ensemble and the construction of the city's St. Catherine's Cathedral. This is the first building in the forms of Old Russian architecture in Tsarskoe Selo, which was built in 1835-1840. erected by architect K.L. Tone.

This is what the Cathedral looked like until June 5, 1939, on that day it was blown up. According to an eyewitness on the white night of June 5, 1939, “... suddenly there was a deafening explosion. The cathedral... rose above the ground, as if a mighty Russian hero had risen from his habitual place, dragging a cloud of dust behind him, and just as suddenly collapsed, as if he had been mowed down , as if he had slid to the ground."

The most important achievement of national significance during the reign of Nicholas I was the beginning of the construction of railways, the first experience in the construction of which was acquired during the construction of the Tsarskoye Selo railway. First in Russia railway allowed in 1837 to cover the distance between St. Petersburg and Tsarskoye Selo in just one hour. With the advent of railway communication from St. Petersburg to Tsarskoe Selo, associated with further population growth and the development of Tsarskoe Selo, which has turned into a popular holiday destination.

At first, a third part was added to the two parts of the city of Alexander’s time, then “New Places” between the boulevard and the railway station, planned by the architect A.L., were allocated for philistine development. Hildebrandt. The layout of Sofia, partially lost by this time, was also streamlined, and several cavalry and rifle regiments were permanently stationed.

Nicholas I and Tsarevich Alexander Nikolaevich among the officers of the Life Guards Horse Regiment.

The first telegraph, which operated in the Alexander Palace since 1843, was subsequently transformed into the most powerful Tsarskoye Selo radiotelegraph station in the country. Here, for the first time, street electric lighting, an exemplary water supply, and sewerage systems appeared, covering the entire territory of the city. Also, for the first time in Russia, a municipal wastewater treatment plant was built here in 1904, which used a separate system of biological wastewater treatment and a waste incineration station.

Nicholas I died on March 2, 1855. The death of the Russian monarch gave rise to rumors in Europe about his suicide. In the West, it was considered quite logical that the proud emperor, unable to bear the shame of defeat in the Crimean War, committed suicide.

However, the official version looks more plausible - the emperor, already suffering from a severe cold, attended a review of marching battalions without an overcoat in 23-degree frost, where he developed fatal pneumonia. This, of course, can also be considered a form of suicide, especially considering that all this happened against the backdrop of reports of military failures in Crimea.

Emperor Alexander II.

“Finally I’m home, my God! What a joy it is to see places and people dear to our hearts, former witnesses of our joys!” - said the eleven-year-old Grand Duke Alexander Nikolaevich, the future Emperor Alexander II, at the entrance to the Tsarskoye Selo park, returning from a trip abroad. He retained this feeling for Tsarskoye Selo throughout his life.

By the time of Alexander II’s accession to the throne (1855), Tsarskoye Selo served as the official summer residence of the Russian monarch. By that time, it had already formed into a grandiose architectural and park ensemble, the dominant features of which were the Catherine (architect F.B. Rastrelli; 1752-1756) and Alexandrovsky (architect G. Quarenghi; 1792-1796) palaces. Under Alexander II, new palace interiors were decorated in Tsarskoe Selo, furnishings were purchased, collections of paintings, graphics, and weapons were replenished, and the imperial library grew. And all this bore the imprint of both the trends and moods of the era, as well as the personal taste and preferences of the emperor himself.

Catherine Palace L.Premazzi.1889

The chronicle of the emperor's life indicates that many events of both a personal and state nature (and in the life of the monarch it is difficult to separate one from the other) occurred or were connected with Tsarskoye Selo. Undoubtedly, Tsarskoe Selo was for Alexander II not only an imperial residence associated with the official side of life, but also a beloved home, the walls of which helped to survive difficult moments and more fully experience the joyful events in his destiny.

Alexander Palace in Tsarskoe Selo, A. Gornostaev, 1847

In Tsarskoe Selo, Alexander II experienced many tragic events family life. Here he experienced the bitterness of the loss of his dearest and closest people: on June 29, 1844, his younger sister, Grand Duchess Alexandra Nikolaevna, died in the Alexander Palace; On October 20, 1860, his mother, Dowager Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, died there; In the spring of 1865, the emperor received news from Nice about the fatal illness of the heir, Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich, and went to see his dying son.

Riding in a stroller. Alexander II with children

On April 12, 1865, Alexander II, Empress Maria Alexandrovna, Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich and the heir's fiancée, Danish princess Dagmara, were present at the death of Grand Duke Nikolai Alexandrovich at Villa Bermont in Nice. From Nice, the emperor returns to Tsarskoe Selo and spends mournful days here until his son’s burial in the Cathedral of the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg.

In the Tsarskoe Selo residence in the April days of 1868, celebrations were held to mark the 50th anniversary of the patronage of Alexander II over the Life Guards Hussar Regiment. Alexander II inherited his love for the army and everything military from his father, Emperor Nicholas I. Alexander Nikolaevich did not miss a single regimental holiday, he was present at exercises, reviews and parades.

He was the chief of many guards regiments, but the patronage of the life hussars was of particular importance to him. Alexander Nikolaevich was appointed chief of this regiment by Emperor Alexander I on April 27, 1818, when he was 10 days old. The emperor's 50th anniversary coincided with the 50th anniversary of his patronage over the life hussars. Alexander II celebrated his anniversary in a close family circle, and half a century of his patronage over the Life Guards Hussar Regiment was celebrated with two-day celebrations in Tsarskoe Selo, the main location of the Life Hussars.

Foot and mounted officers of the Life Guards Hussar Regiment on the plaza of the Alexander Palace. Hood. K. Pirate. 1868

On May 6, 1868, a joyful event for Alexander II took place in Tsarskoye Selo - the appearance of his first grandson: on this day, the heir, Tsarevich Alexander Alexandrovich and Tsarevna Maria Fedorovna, had a son, Nicholas, the future Emperor Nicholas II.

Hermitage Pavilion

Until his last days, Alexander II spent part of the year in Tsarskoye Selo. He monitored the condition of his beloved residence, with which he had so many memories. Even in 1877, at the height of the Russian-Turkish war, which required huge financial expenditures from Russia, when appointing a new manager of the Tsarskoe Selo palace administration and the city of Tsarskoe Selo, Adjutant General K.G. Rebinder, Alexander II told him: “I know that Now the means are not the same as before, and I don’t pretend that the whole of Tsarskoe Selo will be maintained as before, but I ask you that my favorite places will at least be well maintained.”

Meyer I. View of the cross bridge and the Great Tsarskoe Selo Palace. Watercolor 1844

Alexander II entrusted Tsarskoe Selo with the secret of his second marriage. Here, on July 6, 1880, the wedding of Alexander II and Princess Ekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgorukova (1849-1920) took place in front of a marching altar installed in one of the premises of the Catherine Palace. The marriage of the emperor with E.M. Dolgorukova, concluded a little over a month after the death of Empress Maria Alexandrovna, when the time of official mourning had not yet expired, caused disapproval among many, but especially strained relations between the emperor and the family of the heir, the crown prince. Alexander II considered marriage to E.M. Dolgorukova a “debt of conscience and honor,” which was supposed to correct the mistake he had made. The aging emperor became increasingly concerned about the present situation and further fate E.M. Dolgorukova, who was 31 years younger than him, and their three small children - George (1872-1913), Olga (1873-1925) and Ekaterina (1878-1959). After her marriage to the Emperor, Dolgorukova received the title of His Serene Highness Princess Yuryevskaya, and her children were given this title earlier, in 1874. However, happiness with his young wife was short-lived for Alexander II.

On March 1, 1881, Alexander II was mortally wounded by a bomb thrown by terrorist I.I. Grinevitsky on the embankment of the Catherine Canal in St. Petersburg, and soon died.

Emperor Alexander III

After the death of Alexander II, his son, Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich, ascended the Russian throne, becoming Emperor Alexander III. The change of emperors marked a change of eras both in the history of Russia and in the history of the Tsarskoye Selo imperial residence. During the reign of Alexander III, the court lived little in Tsarskoe Selo: the emperor preferred Gatchina to other country residences.

View of the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoe Selo. Artist V.S. Sadovnikov.

In the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Work was mainly carried out to maintain the palace and park ensemble and improve the city. In 1899, 18 thousand 200 people lived permanently in Tsarskoe Selo along with troops, and 6685 people lived temporarily. During the summer, up to 8,900 people came from St. Petersburg to their dachas and from various provinces to work.

Emperor Nicholas II.

At the beginning of the 20th century. Almost all important events related to Russian state life took place in the Alexander Palace: receptions of ambassadors and foreign figures, celebrations of anniversaries - the 200th anniversary of Tsarskoye Selo and the 300th anniversary of the House of Romanov.

In 1905, the Alexander Palace became the main residence of Emperor Nicholas II. This is another important page of the city of Pushkin. The complex of park structures was complemented by buildings in the forms of ancient Russian architecture: the Sovereign's Military Chamber and Fedorovsky Cathedral with clergy houses. Monument to A.S. Pushkin, by order of the sovereign, erected on a competitive basis in the Lyceum Garden, to this day serves as one of the symbols of the city.

Emperor Nicholas II conducts a review of the Life Guards Cuirassier Regiment. Tsarskoe Selo 1911

In the chronicles of the city, a special place is occupied by the celebration of the 200th anniversary of Tsarskoe Selo. The celebrations began on June 24, 1910, with a service in the city’s Catherine Cathedral and a procession of the cross. Then a military parade, an anniversary reception and a folk festival took place in Catherine Park. In 1911, the Tsarskoe Selo anniversary exhibition, dedicated to the bicentenary of Tsarskoye Selo and the 300th anniversary of the House of Romanov, became a major cultural event in the life of the city.

Nicholas II and the rest of the Romanovs work in the garden at Tsarskoe Selo, 1917.

The imperial period of the city's history was interrupted by the February Revolution of 1917. Soon after it, an artistic and historical commission was organized in Tsarskoe Selo to take into account cultural values. The commission began its work at a time when the august prisoners were still languishing in captivity in the Alexander Palace.

Soldiers' village... Children's village... Tsarskoe selo... Pushkin.

Nicholas II and the rest of the Romanovs work in the garden at Tsarskoe Selo, 1917.

From March to August 1917, Nikolai Romanov, his wife and children lived under arrest in the Alexander Palace of Tsarskoye Selo. After which they were transported first to Tobolsk, and later to Yekaterinburg, where they were killed on the night of July 16-17, 1918. From that time on, the work of the commission extended to the property of the Alexander Palace. In a short time everything had to be checked, described, put through scientific expertise for the preparation of a museum exhibition. Many items of a museum nature were moved from the government apartments of palace employees. In August and September 1917, the most valuable exhibits of the museum, as well as historical military relics from the regimental Tsarskoye Selo churches, were selected for evacuation to Moscow, and Tsarskoye Selo was renamed Soldatskoye Selo.

In the fall of 1918, the museum commission transferred its powers to the management of the republic's property. In 1918, the Tsarskoye Selo property of the Imperial House and other owners was nationalized. After the revolution, the city was given over to children: many orphanages and sanatoriums were opened, and children filled the ancient parks. In this regard, in 1918 the city was renamed Detskoe Selo.

The district center was moved to the city of Uritsk - the former Gatchina. Children's Village has turned into a quiet provincial town with a large number of children's institutions, sanatoriums and hospitals, created on the basis of former charitable, medical, educational institutions and in wealthy mansions abandoned by their owners.

In 1937, on the centenary of the death of A.S. Pushkin, Detskoe Selo was renamed the city of Pushkin.

The name Detskoe Selo, however, remained in the name of the village of the same name for a long time (until 2015). railway station, misleading visitors.

And in reality I see before me
Proud traces of days gone by.
Still filled with a great wife,
Her favorite gardens
They are inhabited by palaces, gates,
Pillars, towers, idols of the gods
And marble glory, and copper praises
Catherine's Eagles.

“Memories in Tsarskoe Selo” A.S. Pushkin, 1814

Now our education is undergoing changes, the implementation of the “Bologna system” continues, the first results of which should have been achieved by 2010. But both students and schoolchildren continue to surprise parents with knowledge that is not at all fundamental. In connection with the results that our attempts to wedge into the European educational process bring, we involuntarily think about the role of education in a person’s life, about the role of the school in which a child spends a significant part of his life and is fed with a variety of information and influences.

There are not many educational institutions whose good name is familiar to the general public; and it’s not at all easy to remember such an institution, the memory of which is alive many years after its cessation of existence. However, on October 19, we remember the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, which went down in the history of our Fatherland - raising the “sun of Russian poetry.”

This year marks the 200th anniversary of the founding of the Lyceum. According to the new style, this is October 31, however, thanks to the poem by Alexander Pushkin (this is where the greatness and power of the word lie!), it is not possible to transfer the date to our so-called “new style” introduced by the Bolsheviks.

The Lyceum was founded by Emperor Alexander I, about whom Pushkin said in his memorable poem “October 19”:

“Hurray, our king! So! Let's drink to the king.

He's a man! they are ruled by the moment.

He is a slave to rumors, doubts and passions;

Let us forgive him his wrongful persecution:

He took Paris, he founded the Lyceum."

The decree on the founding of the Lyceum was signed in August 1810, and the first enrollment took place in 1811. Thus, a higher privileged closed educational institution was created for children from noble families. It was assumed that this is where the emperor’s younger brothers, Grand Dukes Nicholas and Mikhail, would study. This circumstance became decisive in choosing the location of the educational institution: it was placed in a four-story wing of the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo, specially rebuilt by the architect V. Stasov. The palace was connected to the Lyceum building by a special covered passage.

Soon, the future director V. Malinovsky received petitions from thirty-eight families who expressed a desire for their children to study at the new Lyceum.

The course of study at the Lyceum lasted 6 years. Over the years, lyceum students were asked to study the following sciences: moral (God's law, ethics, logic, jurisprudence, political economy); verbal (Russian, Latin, French, German literature and languages, rhetoric); historical (Russian and general history, physical geography); physical and mathematical (mathematics, principles of physics and cosmography, mathematical geography, statistics). The curriculum also included fine arts and gymnastic exercises (penmanship, drawing, dancing, fencing, horse riding, swimming). Graduates received the rights of university graduates and civil ranks of grades 14-9. For those wishing to enter military service, additional military training, and they were given the rights of graduates of the Corps of Pages.

Ivan Pushchin describes the daily routine of a lyceum student this way: “We got up at the bell at 6 o’clock, got dressed, and went to prayer in the hall. We read the morning and evening prayers out loud in turn. From 7 to 9 o'clock - class. At 9 - tea; walk - up to 10. From 10 to 12 - grade. From 12 to one o'clock - a walk. It's lunch at one o'clock. From 2 to 3 - either penmanship or drawing. From 3 to 5 - grade. At 5 o'clock - tea; before 6 - walk; then repetition of lessons or auxiliary class. On Wednesdays and Saturdays - dancing or fencing. Every Saturday there is a bathhouse. At half past 9 o'clock the bell rings for dinner. After dinner until 10 o'clock - recreation. At 10 - evening prayer - sleep."

The creation of an educational institution of this kind was virtually an unprecedented event. After all, for the first time, teachers were given the goal of not just “stuffing” young students with knowledge, but of raising individuals, an elite who would serve for the good of the Fatherland. One of the sections of the Lyceum Charter “Fine writing, or literature” read: “... when guiding pupils in literature, the professor must carefully avoid empty school decorations and, occupying pupils with subjects appropriate to their age, first force them to think, and then look for expressions of these thoughts in words and never tolerate them using words without clear ideas.”

And a thought close to this was sublimely and passionately expounded by one of the teachers of the Lyceum, Professor A.P. Kunitsyn in his “Instruction to Pupils,” read on October 19, 1811 at gala event, dedicated to the opening of the lyceum in Tsarskoye Selo: “Aren’t you striving to be the last of your kind? Do you want to mingle with the crowd of ordinary people, groveling in the unknown and every day swallowed up by the waves of oblivion? No! May this thought not corrupt your imagination! Love of glory and Fatherland should be your leaders! But with these high virtues, preserve this innocence that shines on your faces, this simple-heartedness that defeats cunning and deceit, this frankness, which presupposes an immaculate conscience, this meekness, which depicts the calmness of the soul, not overwhelmed by strong passions, this modesty, which serves a transparent veil to excellent talents.”

It must be said that the creators of the Lyceum largely succeeded in fulfilling the task: truly bright, original and courageously thinking people came out of this educational institution. Sometimes they thought so young and free-thinking that their ideas ran counter to the policies of the state. Thus, while still lyceum students, I. Pushchin, V. Kuchelbecker and V. Volkhovsky visited the secret political circle of the future Decembrists A. Muravyov and I. Burtsev “The Sacred Artel” in Tsarskoye Selo. The first two subsequently became Decembrists and were convicted. After the December uprising in 1825, stricter control over students and teachers was established at the Lyceum.

And although in the minds of Russian people the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum is associated primarily with the name of Pushkin and his classmates, the Lyceum gave Russia a huge number of worthy, outstanding graduates. Let's remember at least a few.

Over the 33 years of existence of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, 286 people graduated from it. Many of them joined the ranks of officials Russian Empire(A. M. Gorchakov, A. K. Gire, N. K. Gire, A. V. Golovnin, D. N. Zamyatnin, N. A. Korsakov, M. A. Korf, S. G. Lomonosov, F . H. Steven, D. A. Tolstoy), others devoted themselves to scientific activities (K. S. Veselovsky, J. K. Grot, N. Ya. Danilevsky). The historical glory of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum was brought primarily by the graduates of 1817 - poets A. S. Pushkin, A. A. Delvig, Decembrists V. K. Kuchelbecker, I. I. Pushchin.

There is a well-known painting by I. Repin from 1911 (painted, as we can see from the date, on the centenary of the first enrollment at the Lyceum) “A. S. Pushkin at the act at the Lyceum on January 8, 1815,” in which the young poet reads his poem “Memories in Tsarskoe Selo,” and Gabriel Derzhavin (1743-1816) listens to him, standing up, about which Pushkin later, in the novel in poems of “Eugene Onegin” (1823-1831), he will write: “Old man Derzhavin noticed us and, going to his grave, blessed ...” He writes in his in his memoirs, Pushkin’s lyceum comrade Ivan Pushchin: “Derzhavin crowned our young poet with his sovereign blessing... When the patriarch of our singers, in delight, with tears in his eyes, rushed to kiss and blessed his curly head, we all, under some unknown influence, reverently were silent."

Special words should be said about His Serene Highness Prince Alexander Mikhailovich Gorchakov (1798-1883), who became a famous diplomat throughout Europe, Chancellor of the Russian Empire, and Minister of Foreign Affairs. He was a year older than Pushkin, studied at the Lyceum at the same time as Alexander Sergeevich, and from his Lyceum years remained a close friend of the great poet. Pushkin dedicated biased lines to him:

You, Gorchakov, have been lucky from the first days,

Praise be to you - fortune shines cold

Didn't change your free soul:

You are still the same for honor and friends.

Metropolitan Anastasy (Gribanovsky; 1873-1965; First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad in 1936-1964) in his treatise “Pushkin in his relation to religion and the Orthodox Church,” written for the 100th anniversary of the poet’s death, referring to the words of the prince Urusova, notes that it was on the advice of Gorchakov and with his assistance that Pushkin, without regret, burned the poem “The Monk”, which he composed in imitation of Barkov, which could have left a stain on his memory. For outstanding activity in the field of Russian statehood, A. M. Gorchakov was awarded the Order of St. Apostle Andrew the First-Called, the highest award of the Russian Empire.

A little-known fact remains that M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin studied at the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum for 5 years. That an outstanding writer remained in the shadows is quite remarkable. G. P. Blok (cousin of the poet A. A. Blok) recalled in a letter on February 19, 1922 to the writer B. A. Sadovsky: “You ask how Shchedrin was treated at the Lyceum. No way. It was a stranger. They rushed around with Pushkin. All legends, all traditions came from him. I saw his son Alexander at our anniversary in 1912. A small, hunched old man, bald, with glasses, a gray beard, wearing a turquoise hussar dolman and a dark father’s profile... In one of the rooms of the first (graduation) class, a stone was kept on a special table. They said that the class bell was broken from the step of the staircase on which Pushkin broke at graduation. From this the room was called “Kamenka”, and breaking the bell became a tradition. This was the last act of a very long and complex “farewell” ceremony. It is all crowded, with the entire lyceum, and only in the evening, after prayer, does the departing class remain alone. The lights are put out, a stone is brought. The senior in the course (according to the time spent at the lyceum) takes the course bell, which for 6 years they used to wake us up, call us to lessons and lunch, and breaks it against a stone. The fragments are disassembled, set in gold and worn like key chains. My fragment disappeared in the Safe Treasury along with my grandfather’s gold breguet and my great-great-grandfather’s amethyst signet with a coat of arms.”

A. S. Pushkin composed several festive greeting poems on the occasion of the annual celebrations of the Lyceum Day. The last of them was written by the poet three and a half months before his own death, on October 19, 1836, and this work apparently shows some foreboding of the poet’s approaching death. At the celebration, the poet was unable to finish reading the poem out loud - tears interrupted his voice. Someone else finished reading for him.

...And the first one is complete, friends, complete!

And all the way to the bottom in honor of our union!

Bless, jubilant muse,

Bless: long live the Lyceum!

To the mentors who guarded our youth,

To all honor, both dead and alive,

Raising a grateful cup to my lips,

Without remembering evil, we will reward goodness.

“We studied little in classes, but a lot in reading and conversation with constant friction of minds,” recalled one of the first graduates of the Lyceum, Modest Korf.

In November 1839 E.A. Engelhardt wrote to M.D. Delarue that the greatest thing one can wish for the “lyceum students” is to preserve the “sense of the Heart,” for in the “Heart lies all the dignity of Man: it is the sanctuary, the keeper of all our virtues, of which the cold, calculating the head knows only by name and theory.”

At the end of 1843, the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum was reorganized into the Alexandrovsky Lyceum and in January 1844 it was transferred to St. Petersburg.

And on May 29, 1918, by resolution of the Council of People's Commissars, the educational institution was closed. The vacated building was occupied by the Proletarian Polytechnic. Symbolic and indicative of that era.

Let us not forget that in honor of the 100th anniversary of Pushkin, on the initiative of the poet I. Annensky (1855-1909), in those years the director of the Tsarskoye Selo Nikolaevsky Men's Gymnasium, a monument to the poet Alexander Pushkin by the sculptor R. R. Bach was erected in Tsarskoe Selo.

A. Akhmatova (1889-1966) said about Pushkin, “The dark-skinned youth wandered along the alleys, / The lake shores were sad, / And we cherish the century / The barely audible rustle of steps.”

Fortunately, these lines have been true for not just a century, but two.

In one quatrain, Anna Andreevna linked together the elegiac structure of the Tsarskoye Selo romantic park (with its palace, gazebos, fountains, sculptures), with what the “rustle of steps” in the autumn alleys of the young genius, which eventually became audible to the whole world, resulted in for Russia .

And although this great name alone does not exhaust the essence of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, nor its significance in Russian history and in the history domestic system education, for many of us it was Pushkin who made a vivid connection to place and time, who elegiacally said before saying goodbye to the world:

My friends, our union is wonderful!

He, like the soul, is indivisible and eternal -

Unwavering, free and carefree

He grew together under the shadow of friendly muses.

Wherever fate throws us

And happiness wherever it leads,

We are still the same: the whole world is foreign to us;

Our Fatherland is Tsarskoye Selo.

Anna Minakova

October 19 is coming soon. Let's move to a place where many things remind us of Pushkin's youth: the walls of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, an ancient park, ponds and bridges, benches and alleys.

And that little closet - one and a half steps wide and five steps long - document No. 14. Alexander Pushkin. Let's walk along an endless corridor: high arches, dim light and doors, doors... Their upper half is glazed, covered with a green curtain. Above each door there is a black sign: the room number and the surname of the tenant - Matyushkin, Delvig, Yakovlev, Kuchelbecker, Danzas, Pushchin, Pushkin...

Some doors are open. Narrow - half a window wide - pencil cases. All are the same: a desk, a white iron bed with a white woolen blanket, a chest of drawers, a table for washing, a basin, a jug, one chair, a desk, a candlestick, an inkwell, a quill pen, paper. Not the slightest difference, not a single sign of personality. However, no. Nikolai Korsakov has a guitar on his bed, and on Matyushkin’s desk there is his drawing: a winged sailing brig is the dream of a future navigator. Pushkin has several tattered books in a stack. The poet compared the bedroom to a “monastery cell”: the sun is a rare guest, since the palace wing is opposite.

Everything is quiet in the gloomy cell:
Door latch...
The chair is shabby, unupholstered,
And a shaky bed
A vessel filled with water...

From this window in 1812, he will watch the departing army, going to die for the Fatherland, and be terribly envious of those who bravely stride or ride on horseback.

I hear stomping, I hear neighing.
Flashing a patterned saddle cloth,
The hussar rushed under the window...

Every year on this late autumn day, when “the forest drops its crimson attire,” friends from the lyceum gathered together for a circular bowl “to celebrate the day of the lyceum.” Alas, Pushkin was not always there. He dedicated five poems to this day - and all of them are full of thoughts about the past and experiences. And the most poignant lines were written in 1825...

Which of us needs the Lyceum Day in our old age?
Will you have to celebrate alone?

The last one was Gorchakov, who outlived Pushkin by forty-six years. He will reach the highest level on the state ladder, becoming a diplomat, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and State Chancellor.

Pushchin will come to Senate Square on December 14, 1825. He will face arrest, prison, and 30 years of Siberian hard labor exile.

On the day of the uprising, in the evening, Gorchakov will come to Pushchin at the very moment when he finishes burning dangerous papers. Gorchakov will offer him a foreign passport:

Run! In Kronstadt you will be put on a ship...

Pushchin will smile and touch the iron ring on his finger:

I must share the fate of my comrades. And if you want to help me, take care of this briefcase. Here are letters and poems of Pushkin. I couldn't burn it.

They all spent six years at the Lyceum without a break, not leaving even on holidays or due to illness. For holidays there is an assembly hall, for illnesses there is an infirmary. And many sought to see the doctor: not to be treated, but to feast on pies with broth and cakes with cream, which were due to the patient.

But the healthy ones have a harsh regime. We got up at seven o'clock. During the night, the high vaults of the third floor had time to cool down. Fresh rolls were served with morning tea. That's all. Before tea - gymnastics, prayer, and after - lessons, lessons until lunch...

But how good the walks were! In the summer - in the emerald-fresh swaying of bushes, grasses, trees; in the fall - under frequent light rain or in the clear, cold silence of bronze-scarlet alleys; in winter - in the ermine snows that covered the palace, the Lyceum, the road...

This school was amazing - Russia doesn’t know another one like it. The founder of the school, the famous educator M. M. Speransky, wrote about it: “This school was founded, and its charter was written by me, but without pride I will say that it combines incomparably more types than all our universities.”

The first director of the Lyceum, V. F. Malinovsky, sought to educate “new people” who would later become transformers of Russia, and therefore the moral sciences, which build personality, unique character, a sense of honor, the desire to live for the Fatherland, were considered the main ones in the Lyceum.

Lyceum students were taught not just knowledge of languages, but “to compose correctly in German and French, but mainly in Russian.” They were taught to think and create.

The lesson could be like this...

Professor Alexander Ivanovich Galich took out a book he had brought with him and forced one of them, say Matyushkin, to read it aloud. Most often it was some kind of Latin classic, and the reading, of course, was in Latin. Suddenly he stopped the reader and suggested:

Well, let's rub the old man's laurels!

The analysis began. Opinions poured in from all sides. It seemed that Horace was not an ancient Roman, but a modern St. Petersburg poet.

Galich also encouraged them to compete with living poets.

Come on, gentlemen! (The gentlemen are 15 years old, but this address is a sign of respect, a sign of equality.) Which of you will describe a rose in poetry?

Many years later, Ivan Pushchin recalled that while everyone else was puffing over their stanzas, Pushkin had a poem ready in 15 minutes:

Where is our rose?
My friends?
The rose has withered
Child of the dawn.
Don't say:
This is how youth withers.
Don't say:
This is the joy of life.
Tell the flower:
I'm sorry, I'm sorry
And on the lily
Show us!

Everyone was amazed. We are also amazed. Not only by the depth, grace, and exquisite musicality of the poems of the young man Pushkin, but by the very setting of the task: the whole class writes poetry. It never occurred to anyone to refuse. It was the norm - that's what's amazing. No wonder there were so many poets at the Lyceum: Illichevsky, Delvig, Kuchelbecker, Pushkin...

There are 29 people in total in the class.

Many, and not only in class during lessons, wrote, translated, and published handwritten magazines - “Inexperienced Pen” and “Lyceum Sage”. Everyone worked on publishing the magazines. Very far from writing, Konstantin Danzas, the owner of a wonderful handwriting, copied all articles and poems in calligraphy. Headman Misha Yakovlev had an amazing gift for parodic impersonation and knew how to draw caricatures. Sasha Gorchakov and Seryozha Lomonosov illustrated serious stories. In the drawing class, these drawings were created on special tables with music stands.

Everything at the Lyceum was taught excellently, deeply, and seriously. But Alexander Petrovich Kunitsyn was the most beloved and appreciated student. Pushkin “always remembered him with admiration,” the poet’s friend P. A. Pletnev later wrote.

Kunitsyn tribute to heart and wine!
He created us, he raised our flame,
They set the cornerstone,
They lit a clean lamp.

Kunitsyn was the first to proclaim to them that “the preservation of freedom is the common goal of all people... Each person is internally free and depends on the laws of reason... Serfdom is an illegal action...”

Pushchin and Gorchakov swore an oath to each other as children to live and die for the Fatherland.

The Lyceum had barely opened when the thunderstorm of 1812 struck. In the newspaper room, Delvig noted Napoleon's progress on the map. Lyceum students were being prepared for evacuation.

How they envied their elders and peers who joined the ranks of warriors! Nikolenka Raevsky, the son of the legendary general, at the age of 14 entered Paris with the rank of cornet, and in 1815 he returned to Tsarskoe Selo as part of the Life Guards Hussar Regiment with the Order of St. George's Cross on his chest. This was fate!

They quickly grew out of the lyceum uniforms. They were eager to adult life. And then this day came - at the beginning of June 1817.

They were lined up. First on the left is Ivan the Great - Zhanno Pushchin, followed by Kuchelbecker - Kuchlya, Vilya. As if they didn’t call him yesterday! Behind him is a huge Myasoedov. Delvig is tall, ruddy, and not at all like that fragile, bespectacled Tosya, to whom this almost girlish name is attached. On the right flank, Volkhovsky and Pushkin brought up the rear.

The lyceum guys dragged the lyceum bell on a long pole, which all these years had called them to dinner, classes, and walks. The stoker Fyodor raised a huge cleaver - a copper groan hit his ears and was replaced by a pitiful, free-flowing tinkling sound. Some stood with their eyes closed. But Pushchin and Pushkin saw how the bell shattered into a thousand pieces.

The lyceum is over. Director Yegor Antonovich Engelhardt conceived this action with the bell as a new ritual, which lyceum students of all grades would then repeat. He ordered the cast iron fragments to be collected.

Gentlemen, in memory of the Lyceum, I will order rings to be forged from them. Links in a single chain of brotherhood that has united you forever.

Farewell, brothers! Hand in hand!
Let's hug one last time!
Fate for eternal separation,
Perhaps this is where we are related!
Keep, oh friends, keep
That friendship with the same soul...

In the center of the cast iron rings distributed to the lyceum students by Engelhardt are two hands joined in a handshake. But it was not so much a sign of farewell as a symbol of fidelity.

Six were awarded medals. Two gold coins - Big and Small - should have been divided between Alexander Gorchakov and Vladimir Volkhovsky. Their successes, diligence, and zeal for science were equally excellent.

Gorchakov is noble, rich, and has great connections. And handsome too. Typical lucky guy. Volkhovsky is an orphan. Proud, poor, fragile, mentally inflexible. No wonder his name at the Lyceum was Suvorochka. The entire course appealed to the director and the council of professors: to award the Volkhovsky Big Gold Medal. The teachers took this request into account.

Kuchelbecker received one of the four silver medals. He held it in his palm, looking at it with pride and sadness. I'm behind my studies. On his medal, slightly larger than gold, the motto was also engraved along the upper arc: “For the common benefit.” Owl - wisdom, lyre - poetry, wreaths, laurel and oak - glory and strength. These symbols appeared on front side above the scroll with the name of the recipient.

The artist O. Vernet painted portraits of the best students. The young men - in black tailcoats, in tight, dazzling collars - look joyfully and proudly. Their hair is combed up and slightly powdered. Life seems to them like a sparkling morning park, where the paths shimmer with splashes of quartz, and precious marble gods shine white in the flower beds.

Gorchakov and Pushkin love to excel. They love to be the best. Pushkin - in gymnastics, in poetry, in languages. Gorchakov - in everything. Gorchakov's notebooks are impeccable. First student's notes. Calligraphy teacher Kalinich argued that handwriting depicts the student’s personality. Gorchakov’s handwriting is clear, clean, and a little smug. He is a calligrapher.

Can't compare with Delvig's sharp initial letters and blots. This is someone whose handwriting strangely did not resemble the slow and round Tosya. It was uneven, harsh, confusing.

Pushkin’s handwriting resembled the swift trail of a bird gaining strength to fly across ridges and plains.

The Lyceum created them. They immortalized him. And we repeat after them:

Wherever fate throws us,
And happiness wherever it leads, -
We are still the same: the whole world is foreign to us,
Our Fatherland is Tsarskoe Selo.

• Library Library
• Classroom Classroom
• Assembly hall Assembly hall
• Lyceum students' rooms Lyceum students' rooms

"Fatherland to us Tsarskoe Selo"

“The Lyceum was established with bright hopes”

The author of the school project was Mikhail Speransky, the famous reformer of the “days of Alexander”, who persistently instilled in society the ideas of the bygone era of Enlightenment. The lawmaker was especially inspired by the example of the ancient Lyceum, once founded in Athens by Aristotle; it was not for nothing that the new educational institution received the same name. And in Tsarskoye Selo it was placed because it was supposed to train great princes there - however, this idea remained “on paper”, but the lyceum was located on the territory of Tsarskoe Selo for more than 30 years.

Teachers for the school were selected with special care: all of them were like-minded people of Speransky, and some (like lawyer Kunitsyn) were his colleagues in the legal field. In his opening speech, Kunitsyn, addressing future students, directly called on them to become the Russian elite: “Would you like to mingle with the crowd of ordinary people... every day swallowed up by the waves of oblivion? No!...Love of glory and the Fatherland should be your guides.”. It is interesting that the person of the sovereign, who was present with his family at the opening of the lyceum, was not mentioned even once in Kunitsyn’s speech. This indicates the absence of loyal sentiments among teachers, which were considered not particularly important for enlightened people. Moreover, French Lyceum students were taught by their own brother Jean-Paul Marat- that is, even the presence in school of people close to revolutionary circles was considered acceptable.

Among other sciences, the course of study included subjects united by the surprising name for a modern school, “moral sciences.” These included political economy, ethics, logic, fundamentals of law and other disciplines. The fact is that the main task of lyceum education, the formation of the personalities of students, was considered to be morality.

Classes were structured in such a way as to eliminate fatigue and dulling of the attention of lyceum students. Any lessons requiring mental tension were replaced by rest, physical exercise or creative activity, which was highly encouraged by teachers.

Cranberry duel and other mischief

Since the pupils lyceum Allotted free time, they used it on a grand scale both for creative activities (from drawing and poetry to publishing their own magazines), and for endless fun and pranks, and some of them serve as incomparable subjects for historical anecdotes of that era.

The most innocent part of these constant pranks can be considered the assignment of comic nicknames to each of the lyceum students, one or even several per brother. Pushkin was called Egoza for his lively character, Monkey and Tiger for his non-Slavic appearance and hot temper, and French for his excellent command of languages. The tall, clumsy Danzas was called Bear for his indifference to everything that was happening around him, suddenly replaced by outbursts of rage. For Matyushkin’s fanatical desire to serve in the navy, they came up with the strange nickname “I want to sail.” The annoying, cunning Komovsky was called Chanterelle or Resin. But the absolute favorite in terms of the number of nicknames invented for him was the long, awkward Kuchelbecker, who at first spoke poor Russian. They called him all sorts of names: Küchle, and Bechelkücher, and Glista, and Teuton, and Gesel. The young man suffered unspeakably and was terribly offended by his comrades, but this only provoked them more.

Did you know that...
Scientists at the University of Newcastle (England) found that posters with images of eyes hung in the cafeteria forced students to clean up after themselves twice as often as on days when there were no posters.

Kuchelbecker generally became the object of ridicule and practical jokes more often than others. One of the stories about this is called the cranberry duel. The poet Zhukovsky, who taught at the Lyceum, once did not show up for dinner, where he was invited. He was asked why he missed the party, and he replied that he suffered from an upset stomach, and besides, Kuchelbecker came to him, and therefore he stayed at home. Having learned about this, Pushkin immediately sculpted an epigram:

I overate at dinner
Yes, Yakov locked the door by mistake -
So it was for me, my friends,
Both Kuchelbecker and sickening...

Kuchelbecker, completely devoid of a sense of humor, demanded the author to the barrier. However, the duel turned into another farce, as the comrades loaded both pistols with cranberries.

The older the lyceum students became, the more risky their antics became. One day, in a dark corridor, Pushkin hugged the elderly maid of honor Volkonskaya, mistaking her for the pretty maid Natasha. The lady indignantly went to complain to the sovereign, and the next morning he scolded the director of the lyceum. Alexander noticed that the lyceum students were already stealing apples from his orchard, beating the guards in the same orchard, but pestering the ladies-in-waiting was too impudent. However, the legend says that the emperor soon relented and jokingly remarked that the old maid should be pleased with the young man’s mistake.

“...what diversity there is in our everyday destinies!”

It would seem that the lyceum students who received an excellent education expected complete success in the public sphere. But the fates of the 29 young men from the first graduating class turned out completely differently. Some died so early that they simply did not have time to achieve success in any activity. In 1820, Silverius Broglio died and Nikolai Korsakov died in Florence from consumption. In 1831, the lyceum brotherhood lost two more comrades: Anton Delvig died of typhus and Semyon Yesakov shot himself from unknown troubles in his service.

The free spirit of the lyceum took root in two graduates so much that it brought them to Senate Square along with the Decembrists. Ivan Pushchin was sentenced to indefinite hard labor for participating in the rebellion and only returned from Siberia 30 years later. Wilhelm Kuchelbecker also served 15 years of hard labor, but never saw either Moscow or St. Petersburg again - he died in Tobolsk from consumption.

Most lyceum students did not strive to make a career - they simply engaged in their chosen profession or even became landowners, abandoning military or civilian service. Fyodor Matyushkin, as he dreamed, became a sailor and rose to the rank of admiral. Alexander Kornilov managed to serve as the governor of Kyiv, Vyatka and Tambov, and earned the rank of Privy Councilor. Ivan Malinovsky served in the guard, but after the Decembrist rebellion in 1825 he retired and lived until the end of his days on his own Kamenka estate in the Kharkov province. Pushkin, as is well known, was engaged in literature, and in ranks did not rise above the titular adviser.

Only two lyceum students achieved major success in their careers. Modest Korf served under Speransky, who highly valued him for his ability to systematize any information, and in addition, for many years he occupied the chair of director of the Imperial Public Library. Another graduate of the lyceum, Alexander Gorchakov, gained real political fame. He served as a diplomat, after the death of Karl Nesselrode succeeded him as head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and in 1867 he was appointed Chancellor of the Russian Empire - he became the last dignitary to serve in this position.

Lyceum anniversary

But no matter who the lyceum students were, the opening day of the lyceum - October 19 - always remained a holiday dear to their hearts. Those who could gathered on this day in St. Petersburg for a gala dinner. Those who, for various reasons, could not join the fun, celebrated alone, remembering the Lyceum days and their comrades. Pushkin attended meetings of classmates for the first three years after graduation, and spent the next six years in exile, and therefore celebrated anniversaries with poetry. This is what the poet wrote in the poem “October 19, 1825”:

My friends, our union is wonderful!
He, like the soul, is indivisible and eternal -
Unshakable, free and carefree,
He grew together under the shadow of friendly muses.

Wherever fate throws us
And happiness wherever it leads,
We are still the same: the whole world is foreign to us;
Our Fatherland is Tsarskoye Selo.

It is enough to read these lines to understand how much the years spent within the walls of the Lyceum meant to each of Pushkin’s fellow students. The minutes of a meeting of lyceum students from 1836 have been preserved, describing the completely youthful fun of 11 adult men who arrived at the meeting. According to the record, members of the Lyceum company on October 19, 1836 “had a tasty and noisy dinner,” “read ancient protocols, songs, etc., papers stored in the Lyceum archive,” “commemorated the Lyceum’s antiquity,” “sang national songs.” Only when Pushkin began to read poems for the quarter-century anniversary of the Lyceum, he was unable to finish reading them to the end: tears prevented him. He, like all his comrades, considered the lyceum years a wonderful time and yearned for them until the end of his life.

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