Alexey Kirillovich Razumovsky. "Unlucky descendants"
Count Alexey Kirillovich Razumovsky (1748-1822)
Unknown artist
Kirill Grigorievich Razumovsky with the Hetman's mace. Artist Louis Tocquet, 1758
Kirill Grigorievich Razumovsky owed his rise, wealth and career to his elder brother Alexei, who in 1742 became the favorite (according to rumors, even the secret husband) of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna.
A.G. Razumovsky. Unknown artist. State Historical Museum. 1770s.
L. Toke. Portrait of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna.
From his marriage to Ekaterina Ivanovna Naryshkina, Kirill Razumovsky had five daughters and six sons. But only the eldest son Alexey pleased his father with two grandchildren. Alexey and his brothers studied at an “institute” specially created for them, where they were taught by adjuncts of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. At the age of 16 he continued his studies in Germany, England, and Italy.
Ekaterina Ivanovna Razumovskaya, ur. Naryshkina (1729-1771), maid of honor, was married to Kirill Grigorievich Razumovsky (1728-1803) from 1746.
Four years later he returned to Russia a Voltairian and a liberal. He served as a chamber cadet at the court of Peter III, then Catherine II. Being a recognized dandy, he spent a lot of money on outfits. Once, having received a bill for 20 thousand rubles for camisoles and wigs, the father tried to reprimand his first-born. But he proudly declared: “You are the son of a simple Cossack, and I am the son of a Russian field marshal.” From a young age, Alexei looked down on all mortals, proud of his “royal” origin (his mother was the grandsister of Empress Elizabeth).
A.K.Razumovsky N.H. early 19th century
"A man of exorbitant pride..."
Wanting to bring Alyosha to reason, in 1744 Kirill Grigorievich married him “to the first Russian bride at that time in terms of wealth and nobility” Varvara Petrovna Sheremeteva. The 24-year-old beautiful wife brought her husband 44 thousand souls of peasants and rich Penza estates.
Sheremeteva Varvara Petrovna (countess, 1760) married. Razumovskaya State Russian Museum.
Pietro Antonio Rotary
I. Argunov
Portrait of V. P. Sheremetyeva (the youngest daughter of P. B. Sheremetyev) before 1768, oil on canvas, Kuskovo Estate Museum, Moscow
In 1775, Alexei Razumovsky was granted full chamberlain status, but he was too lazy to serve. Therefore, in 1778, he retired and settled with his family on the Gorenki estate near Moscow. Unlike his father, who, when giving feasts and balls, cordially welcomed guests, Alexey did not like either neighbors or relatives, did not want to communicate with acquaintances, preferring to lead a hermit’s life in a palace decorated with royal luxury. He was interested in botany and mineralogy, patronized scientists at Moscow University, organized expeditions around the world to replenish the mineralogical collection and search for planting material - the count bred exotic plants. Contemporaries claimed that “treasures of nature from all over the world” were collected in Gorenki, and its richest greenhouses were the best in Europe.
Count Alexei Kirillovich Razumovsky (1748-1822)Huttenbrunn Ludwig
“Among the rarest ones you should notice the spiral palm, dragon's blood, Jamaican cedar, bamboo, and American oil tree. Most of the plants are located in seven separate buildings, containing sixteen greenhouses, of which eleven different temperatures and five greenhouses. Here you cross from Africa to Asia, from the tropics in one step you find yourself at the poles!” - admired the historian and traveler P.P. Svinin.
Gorenki Estate. View from the yard. Unknown artist
“He loved plants more than his own children,” this is how contemporaries spoke of Razumovsky. Alexey Kirillovich had four children - two sons and two daughters. Grandfather Kirill Grigorievich, incredibly pleased with the birth of his grandchildren Peter and Kirill, immediately took care of their future: from infancy they were enrolled in the Izmailovsky regiment under his command. Perhaps the Cossack family would not have been transferred, as Kirill Grigorievich boasted, if in 1785 Alexey had not decided to separate from his wife.
More details: http://www.pochta-polevaya.ru/aboutarmy/history/2048/30486.html
If Varvara Petrovna had been a high-society lioness or a zealous housewife, if she had shared her husband’s passion for the natural sciences, perhaps they would have gotten along. And she, unfortunately, was a simple-minded and timid woman, helpless and indecisive, superstitious and God-fearing. The husband - an atheist, mystic and freemason, "a man of exorbitant pride" - had a difficult character, a stern and hot-tempered disposition, took his children away from his wife "in order to avoid bad moral influence."
Portrait of Varvara Petrovna Razumovskaya (1750-1824), second daughter of General-Chief Count P.B. Sheremetev.
The count entrusted seven-year-old Varya and two-year-old Katyusha to the care of his sister, Countess Praskovya Gudovich. He assigned foreign tutors to nine-year-old Peter and four-year-old Kirill. And he got himself a “mistress of vile origin” - the daughter of a bereitor, Maria Mikhailovna Sobolevskaya (after Denisyev’s husband), who later bore him ten children who received the surname Perovsky.
Praskovya Kirillovna Razumovskaya (1755-1808), maid of honor, married to Field Marshal I.V. Gudovich (1741-1820).
As for Varvara Petrovna, at first she was looked after by her brother Nikolai Petrovich. And after his death in 1809, she was left alone.
“Removed against her will from her tenderly beloved children, this poor woman, despite her sixteen thousand souls, surrounded herself with favorites, pupils, Kalmyks and Kalmyks, freedmen of both sexes, poor noblewomen and various kinds of hangers-on and hangers-on. The countess completely abandoned society and, apart from her children (as adults, only her daughters visited her - T.B.) and her closest relatives, she accepted almost no one...
Daughter - Varvara Alekseevna Repnina, born Countess Razumovskaya (1778-1864), since 1802 the wife of Prince Nikolai Grigorievich Repnin-Volkonsky (1778-1845). Jean-Henri Benner
Daughter - Ekaterina Alekseevna Uvarova, ur. Razumovskaya (1783-1849), was married to Count S.S. Uvarov. Jean-Henri Benner
Varvara Petrovna’s huge house, kept in extreme disarray, dirty, stuffy, heated like a bathhouse and never ventilated, was filled with magnificent Sheremetev silver and all sorts of jewelry that the countess inherited from her father and father-in-law,” contemporaries recalled.
Ya. I. Argunov. Portrait of Varvara Petrovna Razumovskaya. 1824 Museum-Estate “Kuskovo”. Moscow
Fugitive Peter
In 1786, Empress Catherine promoted Alexei Razumovsky to Privy Councilor and appointed him a senator. The count moved to St. Petersburg with his sons, but he was not at all interested in their lives. For which he paid.
Alexey Kirillovich Razumovsky, unknown artist
Peter was the first to surprise. The boy, raised as a Frenchman, fluent in several foreign languages, eager to study physics and mathematics, history and philosophy, suddenly ran away from home at the age of 12. They found him in the family of a peddler, where he “earned his meager food with labor.” By order of Father Peter, he was roughly punished and placed in classes. But after a short time he ran away again. This time he was found in the creepy shack of a poor worker. There were several more escapes, but they all ended with the same thing - the capture of the fugitive and his return to his luxurious father's palace. Not once did my father take the trouble to find out the reason for these escapes.
Razumovsky Estate
In 1789, at the age of fourteen, Peter disappeared for two years. From time to time, Alexei Kirillovich was informed that Peter was seen at fairs in different cities: he wandered with a gypsy camp, engaged in horse stealing, then got involved with a gang of thieves. But the count did not make a single attempt to return the prodigal son; he decisively crossed him out of his life. Only grandfather Kirill Grigorievich, who believed that the story of the good fellow was not a reproach, was in pain about the unlucky Peter.
Count Kirill Grigorievich Razumovsky
Using his connections, the grandfather found Peter, and after a big conversation, he began serving in the Izmailovsky regiment. He spent a year doing military duty in St. Petersburg, and then he snapped: he went on a spree, began throwing money around, playing cards. He apparently inherited his passion for the game from his grandfather, whom his contemporaries characterized as “a night gambler and a daytime billiardist.”
For some time, Peter’s gambling debts were paid by his uncle, Nikolai Petrovich Sheremetev. But Peter sat down at the card table again and again. Having once again lost a large sum, he fled abroad.
Portrait of N. P. Sheremetev by N. I. Argunov. 1801-1803.
In Vienna, under a false name, the young man got a job as a groom... for his own uncle, Andrei Kirillovich Razumovsky, the Russian envoy to Austria. But he didn’t stay long. He began to wander around Europe. From time to time he took up work - he looked after horses, grew wheat and vegetables, and in Paris he got a job as a watchman in a “gay” (read, brothel) house.
Andrey Kirillovich Razumovsky, unknown artist
Vienna palace of the Russian envoy to Austria, Count Andrei Kirillovich Razumovsky. 19th century.
But later, in the monograph “The Razumovsky Family,” their relative Vasilchikov will report that from 1793 to 1795 Peter listened to lectures in Göttingen...
Fashionable vice
Count Alexei Kirillovich Razumovsky resigned in 1795 and returned to his home in Gorenki. According to one version, the resignation was dictated by disagreement with the law proposed by the empress; according to another, he was offended because he was not appointed minister of commerce. But most likely, the count’s departure from the capital was associated with the scandalous behavior of his youngest son.
Alexey Kirillovich Razumovsky
Gorenki Estate. Unknown artist, con. XIX century
For a long time, Kirill did not give his father any trouble. An intelligent and capable boy, he studied diligently and pleased those around him with his exemplary behavior. It never occurred to my father that the French tutor had captivated the boy with mysticism, which was fashionable at that time. While turning tables and calling spirits at night, Kirill became so convinced of the existence of ghosts that he began to... see them.
But that was only half the story. Real trouble came in 1794, when 14-year-old chamberlain Kirill Razumovsky appeared at the court of Empress Catherine II.
“Then debauchery was in great fashion among young and wealthy people, and a young man who could not provide obvious evidence of his depravity was received poorly or not at all accepted in the society of his comrades...” wrote M.I. Pylyaev.
Cyril, under the care of a French tutor, led a “dissolute and depraved” life. He surrounded himself with parasites and flatterers, in whose company he organized drunken orgies. When rumors about Kirill’s homosexual inclinations and connections reached his father, he threw a terrible scandal at his son, which ended in the expulsion of the handsome tutor.
The teenager's reaction was terrible: hysteria gave way to tears, then to unprecedented rage, and then he was literally dumbfounded. Doctors invited by his father discovered the first signs of insanity in him. In 1796 (according to another version - in 1804), Count Razumovsky sent his dissolute son abroad under the supervision of a valet - for treatment or to continue his education, history is silent.
From scammers to preachers
In 1795, Peter, who was tired of wandering around Europe, returned to Russia. The aged grandfather field marshal, still hoping that Petrusha would come to his senses, turned to the empress with a request to appoint his grandson to his staff as a major general. She issued a corresponding rescript. But Peter never appeared in Moscow, where Kirill Grigorievich lived.
House of Count A.K. Razumovsky on Pea Field in Moscow, I.A. Ivanov
He settled in Bessarabia, where he became the leader of a gang of clever swindlers. Traveling around southern fairs, they sold fake residence permits and fake banknotes, pulled off various scams, and so successfully that for five years they acted with complete impunity.
V.E.Makovsky "Fair"
In 1799, the count-swindler, gambler and womanizer, who did not believe in God or the devil, unexpectedly turned to religion: he contacted the northern Old Believers who lived in a remote monastery. And he became the most ardent advocate of self-immolation, preaching the idea of ritual suicide. Whether he was ready to burn alive himself remains unknown. The authorities, concerned about the activities of the sect, sent a military team to the schismatic monastery, which tied up everyone.
Skete "Vasnetsov Apollinariy Mikhailovich
Despite the merits of his grandfather, Peter Razumovsky was exiled for repentance to the Solovetsky Monastery, which served as a prison for heretics, schismatics, freethinkers and various kinds of state criminals. Here he experienced both cold and hunger. Only in 1806 - “after bringing complete repentance” - Pyotr Kirillovich was released.
Solovetsky Monastery
And so that he would not suffer from foolishness in the future, Emperor Alexander ordered him to be sent to the Duke of Richelieu in Odessa, as an official on special assignments. Having received the inheritance left to him by his grandfather (he died in 1803), Razumovsky left for the south.
Portrait of Armand Emmanuel, Duke of Richelieu, Sir Thomas Lawrence
Odessa in 1850
Crazy Illuminati
In the same year, 1806, Kirill Razumovsky returned to Russia from his travels in Scotland, England and Germany.
It should be said that, having sent his sick son abroad, Alexey Kirillovich was no longer interested in him. I just regularly allocated the contents to him. Meanwhile, young Razumovsky ended up with the Freemasons from the Order of the Illuminati. According to contemporaries, they “knew how to attract young people by the seduction of debauchery, and old people by arousing passions and means for their secret satisfaction.”
Masonic initiation, late 18th century
Proclaiming the noble goals of improving the world on a fair basis, the Illuminati were ready to use any means in their struggle, including poisons. The educated Razumovsky began to study poisons, their production, and the like. Whether Kirill took part in any Illuminati actions remains a mystery.
Probably, at some point, the Illuminati’s plans changed, and they decided to take over the Razumovskys’ wealth, for which they began to stuff Kirill with various drugs. He suddenly began to drink like a cobbler and drank himself into delirium tremens, during which he became desperately violent.
When in the summer of 1806 Kirill decided to return to his homeland, his father ordered him to go to live on the Penza estate of Ershovo, which belonged to Varvara Sheremeteva.
After crossing the border, Kirill went on a drinking binge. On the way to Penza, he took some pills every hour, washing them down with vodka, which made him completely mad - he dispersed people from inns, wounded three people with a dagger (including the faithful valet), and also tried to shoot the driver with a pistol.
Rumors about Razumovsky's atrocities reached Emperor Alexander I, and he ordered the brawler to be taken into custody. In September, Kirill was arrested and taken to the Shlisselburg fortress. In his first aid kit they found “more poisons than needed to poison an entire regiment.”
Shlisselburg Fortress
Only two years later did doctors recognize Razumovsky as sick. As a dangerous insane person, he was placed in the Suzdal Spaso-Evfimiev Monastery, where he spent 16 years. In the monastery, Razumovsky behaved calmly, strummed the guitar and sang in different languages. Only sometimes, when Kirill had visions, would he suddenly fly into a rage. His relatives did not appear.
Spaso-Evfimiev Monastery, Suzdal. The painting was painted in 1945 by Hungarian prisoner of war Istvan Roman in a monastery.
Spaso-Evfimiev Monastery, Suzdal. The painting was painted in 1945 by Hungarian prisoner of war Istvan Roman in the monastery
Spaso-Evfimiev Monastery, Suzdal. The painting was painted in 1945 by Hungarian prisoner of war Istvan Roman in a monastery.
Minister of Education
In 1810, Emperor Alexander I appointed Count Alexei Kirillovich Razumovsky as Minister of Public Education. Under him, the famous Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, 24 district schools, several gymnasiums and 72 parish schools were opened.
Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum
Time has changed the count. The former atheist, cruel-hearted and indifferent father now ardently insisted on the introduction of the teaching of the Law of God in educational institutions and the abolition of corporal punishment. Having a bitter experience with his own children behind him, he wrote to the emperor about the painful issue:
“In our fatherland, the education imparted by foreigners has spread its roots far. The nobility, the support of the state, often grows under the supervision of people who are occupied with their own selfishness, who despise everything that is not foreign, who have neither pure moral rules nor knowledge... Following the nobility, other classes are preparing the slow destruction of society by raising their children in the hands of foreigners.”
Emperor Alexander I
The ministers considered the count's proposal to strengthen supervision over foreign tutors and governesses to be erroneous, they say, the count himself got burned with milk, and now he is blowing water. But the emperor sided with Razumovsky.
After the War of 1812, Razumovsky lost interest in service. And then, falling under the influence of the Jesuits, he proposed to transform the program of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, removing chemistry, philosophy, archeology, astronomy and other sciences from it. After which, under a plausible pretext, Razumovsky was dismissed.
Alexey Kirillovich Razumovsky
He died in the spring of 1822 in Little Russia, in the city of Pochep. Before his death, he apparently forgave his son Peter, leaving him as an inheritance a huge palace on the Pea Field in Moscow. His wife Varvara Petrovna Sheremeteva survived him by two years.
For some time, Razumovsky helped the Duke in laying out Dyukovsky Park, but there was no more work for him in Odessa.
Then, having bought a huge plot of land on Moldavanka, in the area of the Vodyanaya Balka (ravine), Razumovsky began to improve it. On both sides of the beam he built palaces similar to Italian villas, and turned the slopes into a beautiful park with interspersed alleys, gazebos and pavilions. Deep dungeons were built under the palaces, and from them there were several underground passages. Along one of them it was possible to pass from one palace to another; the rest led into the labyrinths of abandoned Odessa quarries.
Having decorated his palaces with paintings and sculptures, collecting a huge library, the count lived on the estate, surrounded by numerous servants and mistresses who robbed him mercilessly. He communicated only with the Duke of Richelieu. And when he left for France in 1814, Razumovsky stopped going outside his estate, preferring to communicate with birds. (In one of the palaces, he ordered two glass walls to be made, behind which huge aviaries for exotic birds were built.)
At times, Pyotr Alekseevich went to live in the palace dungeons. Here was his favorite room, decorated with “Asian” luxury, where servants and mistresses were prohibited from entering on pain of death. In a certain place, the count left notes for the servants, who delivered everything they needed here. He lived like this for 21 years. Even to receive the inheritance left by his father and mother, he did not consider it necessary to go to Moscow. Two magnificent palaces, crammed with valuables, were sold to lenders for a pittance.
On July 18, 1835, Pyotr Kirillovich Razumovsky died, releasing his beloved birds before his death.
Odessa residents who came to gaze at the mysterious recluse saw a coffin covered with “impenetrable muslin.” Rumors spread that the count had died in his favorite dungeon, but while the servants dared to go down there, the count’s face was damaged by rats.
The eldest son of Hetman Kirill Grigorievich and his wife Ekaterina Ivanovna, b. in St. Petersburg on September 12, 1748 and, enlisted in military service from the day of birth, spent his childhood years in the house of parents who tried to give their children a higher education and did not spare money for this. Later, on the advice of Academician Taubert, Razumovsky, together with his brothers, as well as the sons of G.N. Teplov, A.V. Olsufiev and racketeer Iv. Iv. Kozlova was placed for better education in a specially rented, palace-like, large house on Vasilievsky Island in the 10th line, together with his tutor, the Frenchman Bourbier. They had three teachers: the famous mathematician and academician S. Ya. Rumovsky, the historian A. L. Schletser and a Jesuit student from Vienna. In addition, various teachers came to give separate lessons (in French, since the students did not yet know German). Taubert was chief inspector, visited this home boarding school weekly and monitored the progress of the students, for whose education a special plan had been drawn up; it, at Schletser’s suggestion, included geography and the science necessary for students - knowledge of the fatherland, which meant Russian statistics. For each main subject of statistics, Schletser compiled special pocket books, the contents of which were adapted to the type of service for which the students were preparing, who each received one such booklet in gold edge with the inscription “à l”usage de l”académie de la X-me ligne ". Andrei Kirillovich, who was promoted to captain on the day of Peter III’s accession to the throne (14 years old), received the book “sur le militaire”, and his brother Andrei, who was a midshipman, received “sur la marine”, etc. The children each wrote essays about their subject, and these essays were presented to their parents. Bourbier, in addition to French, taught history, but soon begged the same Schletser to do this, who then began to produce similar books on history. He also taught Latin. This so-called Academy of the 10th Line occupied both the court and the St. Petersburg nobility.
The hetman father wanted to complete the education of his sons at one of the famous foreign universities. At that time, the University of Strasbourg was famous for its professors, where Razumovsky’s sons were sent along with their tutor Matignan in 1765. They were entrusted to the care of Professor Johann Schoepflin, who was distinguished by his high morality; under his supervision were the Russian students Polenov and Lepekhin, who were already studying in Strasbourg. Shepflin made great efforts to look after Razumovsky's children and often examined them. - However, Cyrus himself. Grigor. P., having visited Strasbourg in 1767, was dissatisfied not so much with the university as with the city: the presence of military youth, the riot of officers and carousing did not suit his heart, and he decided to find a more modest residence for his sons abroad, and meanwhile took his eldest son Alexei with him to Italy, hiring the poet Nikolai and the Frenchman Cronje as tutors. Having met Ivan in Italy. Iv. Shuvalov, he left his son in his care along with his mentors for no more than a year and a half (until October 1768), intending to send his sons to England later. Alexey Kir., having lived in Italy, traveled through Genoa and Marseille, saw “meridional” France and, uniting with his brothers in Strasbourg, in the spring of 1768 he went to London. After living in this city for some time, he, together with his brothers and tutors, took a trip to England, and then returned through Holland to St. Petersburg, where they arrived in the fall of 1769. - Count Alexei was appointed chamber cadet and began to serve at court, despite the fact that that he did not like court life. This service did not interest him, and his father, in order to give his son something to do, gave him full management of his vast Little Russian estates, which Catherine II did not allow him to visit after the destruction of the hetmanate. At this time (February 23, 1774) young Alex. Cyrus. entered into marriage with Countess Varvara Petrovna Sheremeteva, daughter of Count Pyotr Borisovich, who received a rich dowry; In terms of her wealth, she was considered the first bride in Russia. The wedding was celebrated in Moscow, where the newlyweds settled, going to Little Russian estates for the summer. Young Alex. Gr. did not have any ability for economic activities, and therefore his father, having finally received permission from the Empress, came to Baturin in 1774 and began to manage the estates himself. In July 1775, Count Alexei was granted full chamberlain status and began to live in both St. Petersburg and Moscow, depending on where the Empress’s court was located, but in 1778. asked to be dismissed from service “in order to fulfill his duty and help his father, burdened with his family name, in improving his home”; Having received the desired resignation in 1778, he settled in Moscow and began to decorate the village of Gorenki allocated to him by his father. In 1784, he ordered his wife, a spineless but very pious person with great superstitions, to leave his house, leaving him with the children whom he loved passionately. After the expulsion of his wife, the count withdrew from the world, to which he had always been little disposed, and began to rarely see not only his acquaintances, but even his closest relatives. It is not known how long he was in retirement, but already on June 27, 1786, on the day of Catherine II’s accession to the throne, he was promoted to privy councilor and appointed senator. Later, in 1793, he, among three candidates, was nominated by the Senate for the vacant position of President of the Komerc Collegium, but the Empress did not choose Razumovsky, who had long sought such a position. Catherine II was prejudiced against him and was dissatisfied with him, perhaps because Razumovsky then belonged to the Freemasons. In 1795 he is listed as "a senator dismissed for two years." There is a legend that he did not approve of one law submitted by the Empress to the Senate for discussion, and delayed the debate. The Empress, having learned about this, demanded him to come to her and made him promise to agree, and he told her that he was reluctantly obeying the will of the Empress. A few months later, Razumovsky retired and lived in Moscow throughout the reign of Paul I, in his luxurious chambers and magnificent greenhouses, leaving for Little Russia for the summer.
At this time, he persuaded his father to sell a large house on Znamenka (this house was bought by Count Nikolai Petrov. Sheremetev), which was intended for him, and he himself also indulged in a passion for buildings, like his father and uncle. He began to erect the Imperium in Gorokhov Yard, a place granted to his uncle, Count Alexei Grigorievich. Elizabeth, the richest chambers made of oak beams and spent more than a million rubles on it. The halls shone with mirrors and bronze; many rooms were upholstered with tapestries and decorated with paintings by the best artists. The house had a rich library. The house occupied an entire block and was adjacent to a garden, which had a circumference of up to 3½ miles and several ponds with fish. The Yauza meandered through the garden, and near the house stood the Church of the Ascension. Count A.K. Razumovsky’s favorite stay was the village of Gorenki near Moscow, where he built a wonderful botanical garden, calling Professor Stephanie and then Fischer from abroad for this. This garden was considered one of the wonders of Moscow and had up to 2000 genera of plants; famous botanists traveled to various countries of Russia to replenish the botanical collections of the garden, which had a huge library, the richest in Russia in the natural sciences. There were up to 500 large orange trees in the greenhouses, and the garden was located on two square miles. Hitherto unknown plants were grown in greenhouses, which were named “Razoumovia” in honor of the count. Among these plants, in the midst of royal luxury, the count locked himself alone; he enjoyed them without any benefit to others. He was extremely arrogant and proud, and this gave rise to a rumor that he considered himself the son of Elizaveta Petrovna. In addition, he was stern around his family; his sons often drove him out of patience with their tyranny and debts. Things were going badly around the house; expenses for buildings and luxurious undertakings absorbed a lot of money, and there was not enough of it. He waged incessant litigation with his neighbors; He treated everyone with suspicion, was always dissatisfied and mopey. Osip Alekseevich Pozdeev, a retired sailor, once one of Novikov’s remarkable associates, the great master of the Orpheus lodge, who enjoyed strong authority in a well-known circle of Freemasons, liked to contact him from time to time. Proud Razumovsky patiently listened to his long and boring races and Pozdeev gave him advice regarding his official activities, guided his spiritual life, constantly recommended his followers to him, was in correspondence with him, etc., and Razumovsky, V. in his youth, who belonged to the members of the Capitulum Petropolitanum lodge, of which Luder was the great master, now again joined Freemasonry when, upon the accession of Alexander I to the throne, it awakened with new strength.
Emperor Alexander I, having arrived in Moscow for the coronation, graciously received A.K. Razumovsky and persuaded him to enter the service, but the count did not agree and until 1807 he lived in Moscow, studying botany and Freemasonry. His daughter Varvara was granted maid of honor. In 1807, Razumovsky yielded to the wishes of the Sovereign, was appointed trustee of Moscow University and its district on November 2, 1807 (after M. N. Muravyov) and promoted to actual privy councilor. Soon after this, the count went to St. Petersburg, where Prince N.M. Kozlovsky (who at that time enjoyed his boundless trust) called him, to better organize his household affairs and to “impress himself and drop this nonsense,” i.e., that there are many Masons in Moscow -Illuminati and the main one among them is Count A.K. Razumovsky, especially since the court received a high opinion of you." The Count arrived, introduced himself to the Emperor and was awarded the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky - "from certification that the Count's zealous cares to carry out the organization educational part both at the university and in its entire district." Accustomed to solitude, who did not like to embarrass himself in anything, and, moreover, arrogant, Razumovsky was accessible to few people, and soon the librarian who was with him, the Kharkov librarian, gained great influence on the affairs of the educational district the Greek Kachoni, who over time transformed into the famous professor Mikhail Trofimovich Kachenovsky.Razumovsky first of all secured the name of the Imperial Moscow Society of Natural Scientists, of which he had long been president, and then a plan for a systematic description of the Moscow province was already drawn up. This work was begun; astronomers Goldbach, Pansner and others began trigonometric measurements, but this work remained unfinished. By order of the count, in 1808 the Moskovskiye Vedomosti began publishing meteorological observations made by physics professor P. I. Strakhov three times a day. Razumovsky petitioned for the establishment of the permanent rector of the university, albeit for several years, and finally on September 16, 1809. The highest permission was given to elect a rector every three years. The Count was especially concerned about transferring Moscow University to a larger premises, to the Catherine or Golovinsky Palace in Lefortovo, but this did not take place. - Under him, Moscow University received an unprecedented honor: on December 14, 1809, Emperor Alexander I inspected the university in detail together with his sister Ekaterina Pavlovna. His Majesty was very pleased, he spoke kindly about the professors whom he honored with his conversation, about the order of management, “and even more,” wrote P. V. Zavadovsky to Razumovsky, about “your personal qualities that contribute to the better education of this most useful part.” - At this time gr. Zavadovsky (who was the Minister of Education and was in the most friendly and even family relations with Razumovsky) was thinking about resigning. The sovereign, at the direction of his sister Ekaterina Pavlovna, intended to replace him with Karamzin, but the all-powerful Speransky at that time rejected this intention, proposing to make Karamzin the curator of the university, which Karamzin himself refused. Alexander I then drew attention to Count Razumovsky, who made such a favorable impression on him in Moscow, and on the eve of the new year 1810, Razumovsky was appointed Minister of Public Education in place of Zavadovsky, although the decree on this was signed only on April 10, 1810. Razumovsky moved to St. Petersburg with his daughter and settled on the Fontanka, in newly purchased chambers between the Semenovsky and Obukhovsky bridges, standing among a vast courtyard overgrown with trees. The Ministry of Public Education expected him with some trepidation, fearing various breakdowns and displacement of the main officials of the ministry, knowing that he had previously often condemned and criticized the orders of his predecessor and did not favor the director of the office, scientist Iv. Iv. Martynov. But these fears turned out to be in vain: Razumovsky’s activities in the ministry were a continuation of what had begun under Zavadovsky. In addition, he paid special attention to public schools and in the first two years 72 parish schools, 24 district schools, one orphan school and a city school were opened in Moscow. Under him, gymnasiums were opened: in Kyiv, Simbirsk, Bialystok, the Greek Alexander School in Nizhyn and the Midwifery Institute in Bialystok. Razumovsky paid attention to the very method of teaching and demanded from the trustees that they vigilantly monitor the educational affairs in the districts entrusted to them. He suggested that they appoint people familiar with the rational method of teaching as teachers, ensure that teachers do not make it difficult for students to memorize lessons, do not burden the youth with copying courses compiled by teachers, but teach from books indicated by the authorities, invite strangers to the exam, do not allowing the teachers themselves to examine, etc. Razumovsky recalled that back in 1811, school regulations prohibited all corporal punishment, and yet such was carried out, and even with bitterness, without the knowledge of higher authorities and the consent of parents. Therefore, the count confirmed not to dare to violate the Highest command on punishments, under fear of removal from office or closure of the boarding house, if one was maintained by a private individual. At his proposal, in 1811, the title of honorary school superintendents, elected from local landowners, was established, and the admission of private institutions for the joint education of children of both sexes was strictly prohibited. In the same way, it was decided as a fundamental and unchangeable rule, in all educational institutions of the military and civil departments, without excluding those consisting of those under the control of foreign clergy, to teach youth the Law of God and during annual public tests to always begin the exam with this subject, as containing the main and the essential purpose of education. In August 1810, the plan of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, opened on October 19, 1811, was approved by the Highest; R. took an active part in the life of this educational institution, which he considered his brainchild. Engaged in the work of public education with love, Razumovsky seemed to have renounced his former cosmopolitan views and, becoming a purely Russian person, presented to His Majesty about measures to stop the harmful influence exerted by the education of youth by foreigners: such education brings closer to the extermination of the national spirit. To stop this, Razumovsky proposed: teaching science in Russian in all boarding schools; accept science teachers into boarding schools with the condition that they teach in Russian; strictly follow the rules for boarding houses in everything; when allowing the opening of a boarding school, pay attention to the good morality of the person wishing to open the boarding house, etc. The Emperor approved this idea, and Razumovsky turned his attention to domestic foreign teachers, the number of which was increasing. He proposed, based on the decree of May 5, 1757, to require foreign teachers to present written certificates of their abilities and knowledge, issued by the authorities of Russian schools. The Committee of Ministers did not find it possible to agree to this measure, but Razumovsky wrote a refutation to such a conclusion of the Committee, and Emperor Alexander approved the opinion of the minister and his proposed measure was adopted. Razumovsky also drew attention to the fact that in the province of Vilna, as well as in all the former Polish and Baltic provinces, they were reluctant to study the Russian language, and therefore proposed, among other things: 1) to transfer from parish schools to district schools, and from these latter to the gymnasium only those students who know Russian thoroughly; 2) high school students who do not know Russian at the end of the course will not be accepted into service; university students who do not know enough Russian, although they are accepted into the service, are not at the rank of 14th grade; 3) five years after the approval of this provision, accept natives of the above-mentioned provinces into military and civil service, as well as into the clergy, only from those who know the Russian language. The State Council recognized the benefits of these measures, but, having respected that in the circumstances of that time it was necessary to treat the border provinces with all possible caution, decided on June 3, 1812 to postpone these measures until a more convenient time.
Under Razumovsky, the first department of Slavic philology was opened in 1811 at Moscow University in order to familiarize students with all Slavic books in general, showing the relationship of the Russian language to the Slavic and its origin from Slavic.
As for general state issues, Razumovsky touched them little, being one of Speransky’s most open opponents; he looked at his fall as the salvation of Russia.
At the beginning of 1812, Prince died. N. M. Kozlovsky, who enjoyed his complete confidence; he became entangled in the taxation, and lured his client into the taxation, who was forced to pay a huge penalty. In the middle of the year, Razumovsky fell ill; two years of activity and official pursuits tired him; he missed Gorenki, and life in St. Petersburg was not to his taste. He began to talk about resignation, but the above-mentioned Pozdeev dissuaded him from it. It was a really inconvenient time. The Emperor was preparing for war with Napoleon, and Razumovsky’s request for leave to Moscow was not to his heart; from that time on, there was a noticeable cooling towards him on the part of Alexander I. By a rescript dated May 26, 1812 from Vilna, Razumovsky was dismissed on the requested leave, but could not live in Moscow for long: the approach of Napoleon’s armies prompted him to return to St. Petersburg and take a lot of trouble at first about the relocation of Moscow University to Yaroslavl, and then its restoration again in Moscow; in the Moscow fire, the Moscow University museum, at that time one of the first in Europe, and its library were destroyed; all this had to be replenished again. The entire western part of Russia was devastated, and everything had to be started anew. Razumovsky himself did not suffer from the French invasion: his profitable estates were located far from the theater of military operations; The house in Gorenki was slightly damaged, but the greenhouses and greenhouses were saved. - He again drew attention to public schools, the condition of which was unsatisfactory; from 1812 to 1816, 65 new district, parish and povet schools, 12 district schools, a gymnasium in Kharkov, an educational institution at the Moscow provincial gymnasium were opened, and finally, in 1814, the full opening of Kazan University took place. Razumovsky had the idea of opening a university in Volyn, forming it from the Volyn gymnasium. Count Platter, a visitor to schools in the Volyn province, was delighted with this. Antagonism reigned between the north and south of our western outskirts, and the inhabitants of Volyn spoke, not without caustic hatred, of the Vilna University and its trustee. However, this project did not come true. His official duties apparently tired Razumovsky: he fell into misanthropy, locked himself in his office and lived a secluded life, rarely allowing anyone into his presence. The Main Board of Schools, which played an important role under Zavadovsky and was still active in the first years of Razumovsky’s administration, began to meet less and less and was mainly concerned with the economic part. In addition, the reaction was reflected in the beliefs of the Emperor and in the entire administrative system. The censorship statute of 1804 began to be applied with extreme severity; Razumovsky supported various unfounded demands to restrict the press and gave corresponding circulars to censorship committees. He did not even agree to the transfer of censorship, which was under the authority of the Minister of Public Education, to the disposal of the Minister of Police and argued that it should be under the sole authority of the Minister of Public Education. Under the influence of Count Joseph de Maistre, he began to believe in all sorts of Jacobin and Illuminati ghosts and indulged in more and more gloomy moods. His household affairs were in a deplorable state; in 1814, he asked the Emperor to buy a house from him in Moscow, which more than once attracted the attention of Alexander I. The Emperor, preparing to go to a congress in Vienna, did not pay attention to this request from Razumovsky and did not have time to receive him with a report. Razumovsky then asked to be granted dismissal from all affairs, in respect of his old age and poor health, which did not allow him to continue serving with vigilant zeal. With a rescript on August 31, 1814, the Emperor allowed himself to dismiss him from service upon his return to the capital, since he needed to choose a successor, which could not be done soon. At the same time, he was ordered to submit all reports on the Ministry entrusted to him to the Committee of Ministers. Razumovsky fell into a gloomy mood, which was increased by unpleasant information from the educational districts: everything was going badly everywhere, and everyone was unhappy with him. In Kharkov they complained about the unrest, about the absence of a trustee, and filed denunciations against prof. Shada. Denunciations came from Dorpat against Parrott: they pointed out that he was the chairman of the Jacobin club in Paris and that he was generally a man of ultra-democratic convictions; in Kazan, teaching was in the most deplorable state, and there was constant hostility between professors, university buildings were in ruins, etc. Moreover, the Jesuits became more and more courageous and seduced into Catholicism almost every day; this apostasy finally attracted attention; accusations were made against the favorite of St. Petersburg drawing rooms, Count de Maistre, and strict measures began to be demanded against the Jesuits. - On December 20, 1815, Razumovsky quite unexpectedly received the highest decree, which ordered him to take control of the contents of the Jesuit school and take care of both the content and order of it and immediately communicate with the relatives of the students so that they would take them to themselves , since the school will no longer exist. - Razumovsky, who supported the Jesuits, could not, without grief, without a feeling of offended pride, endure the punitive measure against the Jesuits, taken in addition to him and without his knowledge. He could not stand this, in his opinion, insult and resigned. He received it in a cold rescript dated August 10, 1816, in which he was also assigned a pension of ten thousand rubles a year. He left the Ministry of Public Education, whose affairs he had hardly been involved in for the last two years. Let us note that in recent years he has entered more than once with ideas about encouraging philanthropists to make monetary donations for public education. This was caused by the scarcity of funds in his Ministry, the budget of which did not exceed three million rubles (about 2,780,000 rubles) and, moreover, had been gradually decreasing since 1812. In addition, according to his proposal, in 1816 it was decided that “a Jew, as long as he remains committed to his religion, cannot be allowed to receive university degrees in jurisprudence.” - Several scientific and literary societies also opened under him, such as: the Moscow Society of Russian History and Antiquities, which received a charter in 1810; Society of Lovers of Russian Literature at Kazan University (established in 1814); The Society of Sciences at Kharkov University with two departments: verbal and natural sciences, and the Scientific Society at the University of Dorpat. Razumovsky himself was vice-president of the Bible Society and was an honorary trustee of one of the departments of Russian Conversation, which was hostile to Karamzin, although he personally was on friendly terms with Karamzin in St. Petersburg. Razumovsky, however, did not take an active part in either society.
Having received his resignation, Razumovsky had been planning to move to Moscow for a long time, but only in 1818 did he say goodbye to St. Petersburg forever. He first lived in Moscow, sent flowers from Gorenki to Empress Maria Feodorovna, who was then in Moscow, and received the entire courtyard in his luxurious mansion. But he soon said goodbye to Moscow, too, when Prince was appointed Ukrainian Governor-General. Repnin, married to his daughter, and moved to his estate Pochep, on the banks of Sudogost, Mglinsky district of Chernigov province. For the summer he moved to Yagotin, where he was occupied by a magnificent garden with rare trees. He was in a gloomy mood: his financial affairs were in disarray. His temper became almost unbearable; everyone was afraid of him, and the whole house trembled at the outbursts of his anger. He became harsh with the peasants, constantly changing managers, finding them not quite demanding. His whims placed a heavy burden on the peasants, and his affairs did not improve. Oya turned in December 1821 to the Emperor with a request to buy from him in the Chernigov province. 2500 souls of peasants or order to loan him the corresponding amount and thereby provide assistance at the end of his life to a faithful servant expecting peace of mind from the merciful Royal view. There had not yet been a decision on his request, but in March 1822 Razumovsky fell dangerously ill. His daughter, Princess Repnina, was called from Poltava along the relay; She arrived despite the complete frost, but the patient was unable to speak and only showed gratitude to his daughter by signs. He died on April 5, 1822, on Holy Week. He was buried in Pochep, but when Pochep, which was inherited by the Repnins, was sold by them, then with the Highest permission, Razumovsky’s body in 1838, according to a special ceremony sent from the Ministry of Public Education, the Highest approved, was transported to Novgorod-Seversk and buried in Cathedral Church of the Spasopreobrazhensky Monastery.
Count Alex. Cyrus. From his marriage to Countess Varvara Petrovna Sheremeteva, Razumovsky had two sons: Peter and Kirill, and two daughters: Varvara (b. in 1778), who married Prince Nikolai Grigorievich Repnin (Volkonsky) in 1802, and Ekaterina (b. in 1783), who in 1811 married Sergei Semenovich Uvarov, later the Minister of Public Education and Count. Having separated from his wife, the count had five pupils and five pupils, who received the surname Perovskikh from the village of Perov, which belonged to Razumovsky, near Moscow. The eldest of them was Nikolai - later the governor in Crimea; the second Alexey is a writer known as Pogorelsky; the third Leo - eventually a count, minister of the interior and member of the State Council; the fourth - Vasily - the future count and Orenburg Governor-General, commander of the Orenburg Corps, famous for his campaign in Khiva and the capture of Ak-Mosque, and the fifth Boris - later a member of the State Council. Of the pupils of Count Razumovsky, the eldest, Praskovya, married Pyotr Aleksandrovich Kurbatov, the second, Maria, married the commandant of the St. Petersburg Fortress, General Maxim Konstantinovich Kryzhanovsky; the third, Elizabeth, was behind the senator d.t.s. Mikhail Nikolaevich Zhemchuzhnikov; the fourth, Anna - for Count Konstantin Petrovich Tolstoy (mother of the poet Alexei Tolstoy) and the fifth, Sophia - for Prince Vladimir Vladimirovich Lvov.
"The Razumovsky Family", op. A. A. Vasilchikova, vol. II; "Russian Archive" 1865, 1875, book. III; 1877, vol. III; "Domestic Notes" 1867, August, book. 2, article by Semevsky; "Russian Antiquity", vol. XIV, p. 590, vol. XI, p. 244, memories of Serbinovich; Lists of civil ranks for 1795; "Archive of the State Council", vol. II, p. 4; M-me de Stael, Dix années d "exil. 1804; Moscow, or Historical Guide to the Famous Capital, 1834; Vigel, Memoirs, vol. III; Pypin, Russian Freemasonry before Novikov - "Bulletin of Europe", No. VI; M. N. Longinov, Novikov and Martinists, 1867; S. Shevyrev, History of the Imperial Moscow University, 383-387; Biographical Dictionary of Professors of Moscow University, vol. I, II; Archive of Prince Vorontsov; Collection of orders for the Ministry of Public Education; Keppen, Materials for the history of education in Russia; Seleznev, Historical sketch of the Emperor, former Tsarskoye Selo, Alexander Lyceum, St. Petersburg, 1861; Archive of Prince N.V. Repnin; Notes of Shishkov, vol. II; De-Maîstre, Correspondance diplomatique, vol. II; Bogdanovich, History of Emperor Alexander I; Sukhomlinov, Materials for the history of education in Russia during the reign of Emperor Alexander; August Schloezer's Oeffentliches und privat-Leben von ihm selbst geschriebenen, Göttingen. 1802; Ministry of Public Education. 1802-1902. Historical essay compiled by S. V. Rozhdestvensky.
P. M. Maikov.
(Polovtsov)
Razumovsky, Count Alexey Kirillovich
(1748-1822) - statesman. R. received a thorough education: a special “institute” was set up for him and his brothers, in which Schletser first introduced the teaching of statistics under the name “Knowledge of one’s fatherland”: he later attended lectures at the University of Strasbourg. At first he carried out only court service, but in 1786 he was appointed senator. In 1795, as a result of disagreement to approve the law proposed by the empress, R. retired and re-entered service only in 1807, as a trustee of Moscow University. In this rank, he passed a decree electing a rector for three years (instead of one year) and patronized the Society of Natural Scientists, on whose behalf he formed an expedition to study the Moscow lips. In 1810, R. was appointed minister of the people. enlightenment. In the first two years of his administration, 72 parish schools, 24 district schools, several gymnasiums and other educational institutions were opened; improved teaching; supervision over foreign teachers has been strengthened; Several scientific societies have been opened; The first department of Slavic literature was established at Moscow University; with R.’s personal assistance, the charter of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum was developed and its opening took place. After 1812, he significantly cooled down to the service and for the last two years did not engage in business at all. Before being appointed minister, he was a member of the Masonic lodge and a follower of A. Pozdeev, with whom he was in the census for a long time (it was published by A. Vasilchikov in his book “The Razumovsky Family”), from 1810 R. fell under the influence of the Jesuits and mainly the famous Count Joseph de Maistre. The latter “literally ordered them, dictated what the Russians should be taught and what not to be taught”; on his instructions, the Greek language, archeology, natural history, astronomy, chemistry and the history of philosophical systems were thrown out of the original program of the Lyceum, as not illuminating the mind with useful truths, but darkening with errors and bewilderments." Under the influence of the same de Maistre, R. introduced new censorship rules restrictions and began a fight with the Vilna trustee Adam Czartoryski over the Russification of the Western Region, a supporter of which was de Maistre. Failure in the fight against Czartoryski and the government’s distrust of the Jesuits forced R. to ask for resignation, which was given to him in 1816. The first two years after that, R. lived in Moscow and on his estate near Moscow, the village of Gorenki, where he established a botanical garden, which was considered one of the wonders of Moscow until the 1830s. Since 1818, he lived in Little Russia, in the town of Pochepe Mglinsky county, where he died. According to Wigel, all the sons of Hetman Kirill R. “were stuffed with French literature, clothed in foreign forms, considered themselves Russian Montmorency, were amiable at court and intolerable aristocrats outside of it.” To this book. A. Vasilchikov adds that the eldest of them, Alexey, was “exorbitantly proud... and stern in the circle of his family.” In addition to two legitimate sons, R. had five “pupils” - the Perovskys (see). See Wiegel's Memoirs; "Notes" by Grech; Shevyrev, “History of Moscow University” (M., 1855); A. Vasilchikov, “The Razumovsky Family” (vol. II, St. Petersburg, 1880) and “Note about the last years of the life of Count A.K. Razumovsky in Little Russia, his death and funeral” (Kiev Antiquity, 1894, No. 3) .
He received a thorough education: a special “institute” was set up for him and his brothers, in which Schletser first introduced the teaching of statistics, called “Knowledge of your Fatherland”; he later attended lectures at the University of Strasbourg. At first he carried out only court service; in 1775 he was awarded the rank of actual chamberlain (corresponding to the rank of class IV according to the Table of Ranks).
After 1812, he significantly cooled down to the service and for the last two years did not engage in business at all.
Being, before his appointment as minister, a member of the Masonic lodge and a follower of Osip Pozdeev, with whom he was in correspondence for a long time (it was published by A. Vasilchikov in his book “The Razumovsky Family”), from 1814 Razumovsky fell under the influence of the Jesuits and, mainly, the famous Count Joseph de Maistre. The latter “literally ordered them, dictated what the Russians should be taught and what not to be taught”; on his instructions, the Greek language, archeology, natural history, astronomy, chemistry and the history of philosophical systems were thrown out of the original program of the lyceum, as “not illuminating the mind with useful truths, but darkening with errors and perplexities.” He introduced theology as the main discipline in all educational institutions. Under the influence of the same de Maistre, Razumovsky introduced new censorship restrictions and began a fight with the Vilna trustee Adam Czartoryski for the Russification of the Western Region, of which de Maistre was a supporter. Failure in the fight against Czartoryski and the government's distrust of the Jesuits forced Razumovsky to ask for resignation from the posts of minister and member of the State Council, which was given to him on August 10, 1816. All sons of Hetman Kirill Razumovsky “they were stuffed with French literature, clothed in foreign forms, considered themselves Russian Montmorency, were amiable at court and intolerable aristocrats outside it.” To this book. A. Vasilchikov adds that the eldest of them, Alexey, was “ exorbitant pride... and harsh in the circle of his family».
Count, Russian statesman, actual chamberlain (1775), senator (1786), active privy councilor (1807), minister of public education (1810-1816).
Count Alexey Kirillovich Razumovsky was born on September 12 (23), 1748 in. He was the eldest of the earl's sons.
From the day of his birth, A.K. Razumovsky was enrolled in military service; at the age of 13, he was promoted from second captain to captain. However, he never served in active military service.
A.K. Razumovsky received an excellent education at home: a special “institute” was set up for him and his brothers, in which Academician A.L. Shletser first introduced the teaching of statistics under the name “Knowledge of one’s Fatherland.” Then the count improved his education in Europe, listening to lectures at the University of Strasbourg.
Upon returning from abroad, A.K. Razumovsky was in court service. In 1769 he received the court rank of chamberlain, and from July 1775 he was an active chamberlain.
In 1778, A.K. Razumovsky retired and settled in. In June 1786, the count was promoted to privy councilor and appointed senator, but in 1795 he resigned again due to disagreement with the approval of the law proposed by the empress.
In his Gorenki estate near Moscow (now within the city), A.K. Razumovsky created a botanical garden, which was considered at that time one of the wonders. He also collected the largest library on the natural sciences. As a member of the Masonic lodge, the count joined the mystical movement of Freemasonry and was a member of I. A. Pozdeev’s circle.
In November 1807, A.K. Razumovsky returned to public service at the invitation of the emperor. He was promoted to actual privy councilor and appointed trustee of Moscow University, which concurrently also entrusted him with trusteeship of the Moscow educational district. In this position, the count passed a decree electing a rector for a term of 3 years (instead of 1 year) and patronized the Society of Natural Scientists, on whose behalf he formed an expedition to study the Moscow province.
Since 1810, A.K. Razumovsky was a member of the State Council. From April 1810, the count served as Minister of Public Education. In the first two years of his administration, 72 parish schools, 24 district schools, and a midwifery institute were opened. Teaching in educational institutions was improved, and corporal punishment was prohibited. With the participation of the count, several scientific societies were established, in particular the Moscow and Kazan societies of lovers of Russian literature. The first department of Slavic literature was created at Moscow University. With the personal participation of A.K. Razumovsky, the charter of the Imperial Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum was prepared in 1811 and its opening took place. In the court environment, the count was one of the main opponents.
After 1812, A.K. Razumovsky significantly cooled down to the service and for the last two years did little work. At this time he was under the strong influence of the Jesuits, mainly Count Joseph de Maistre. The government's distrust of the Jesuits was one of the reasons for the count's resignation from the post of Minister of Public Education in 1816. During his years of service, A.K. Razumovsky was awarded high Russian orders, in particular, Saint (1808) and Saint Vladimir, 1st degree (1811).
In 1816-1818 A.K. Razumovsky lived in
Second Minister of Public Education of Russia
Alexey Kirillovich Razumovsky
(1748 -- 1822)
ALEXEY PLUS VARVARA
From his marriage to Ekaterina Ivanovna Naryshkina, Kirill Razumovsky had six sons and five daughters. But only the eldest of his sons, Alyoshka, pleased him with two grandchildren, successors of the Razumovsky family.
Alexey and his brothers studied at an “institute” specially created for them, where they were taught by adjuncts of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. At the age of 16 he continued his studies in Germany, England, and Italy. Four years later he returned to Russia a Voltairian and a liberal. He served as a chamber cadet at the court of Peter III, then Catherine II. Being a recognized dandy, he spent a lot of money on outfits. From a young age, Alexey looked down on all mortals, proud of his “royal” origin (his mother was the grandsister of Empress Elizabeth).
Barbarian and Petrovna Sheremeteva
Wanting to bring his son to reason, in 1744 Kirill Grigorievich married him “to the first Russian bride of that time in terms of wealth and nobility” Varvara Petrovna Sheremeteva. The 24-year-old beautiful wife brought her husband 44 thousand souls of peasants and rich Penza estates.
In 1775, Alexei Razumovsky was granted full chamberlain status, but he was too lazy to serve. Therefore, in 1778, he retired and settled with his family on the Gorenki estate near Moscow. Unlike his father, who, when giving feasts and balls, cordially welcomed guests, Alexey did not like either neighbors or relatives and did not want to communicate with acquaintances, preferring to lead an almost reclusive life in a palace decorated with royal luxury. He was interested in botany and mineralogy, patronized scientists at Moscow University, organized expeditions around the world to replenish the mineralogical collection and search for planting material - the count bred exotic plants. Contemporaries claimed that “treasures of nature from all over the world” were collected in Gorenki, and its richest greenhouses were the best in Europe. “Among the rarest ones you should notice the spiral palm, dragon's blood, Jamaican cedar, bamboo, and American oil tree. Most of the plants are located in seven separate buildings, containing sixteen greenhouses, of which eleven different temperatures and five greenhouses. Here you cross from Africa to Asia, from the tropics in one step you find yourself at the poles!” – recalled the historian and traveler P.P. Svinin.
“He loved plants more than his own children” - this is how contemporaries spoke of Razumovsky. Alexey Kirillovich had four children - two sons and two daughters. Grandfather Kirill Grigorievich, delighted with the birth of his grandchildren Peter and Kirill, took care of their future: from infancy they were enrolled in the Izmailovsky regiment under his command.
In 1785, almost immediately after the birth of his youngest daughter, Alexei Razumovsky separated from his wife.
If Varvara Petrovna had been a high-society lioness or a zealous housewife, if she had shared her husband’s passion for the natural sciences, perhaps they would have gotten along. And she, as luck would have it, was a simple-minded and timid woman, helpless and indecisive, superstitious and God-fearing. The husband, an atheist, mystic and freemason, who had a difficult character, a stern and hot-tempered disposition, took his children away from his wife “in order to avoid bad moral influence.”
The count entrusted his daughters, seven-year-old Varenka and two-year-old Katyusha, to the care of his sister, Countess Praskovya Gudovich. He assigned foreign tutors to nine-year-old Peter and four-year-old Kirill. And he got himself a “mistress of vile origin” - the daughter of a bereitor, Maria Mikhailovna Sobolevskaya (by her husband, Denisyev), who later bore him ten children who received the surname Perovsky.
FUGITIVE PETER
In 1786, Empress Catherine promoted Alexei Razumovsky to Privy Councilor and appointed him a senator. The count moved to St. Petersburg with his sons, but he was not at all interested in their lives. For which he paid.
Peter was the first to surprise him. The boy, raised as a Frenchman, fluent in several foreign languages, eager to study physics and mathematics, history and philosophy, suddenly ran away from home at the age of 12. They found him in the family of a peddler, where he “earned his meager food with labor.” Peter was roughly punished, washed and placed in classes. But after a short time he escaped again. This time he was found in the shack of a poor worker. There were several more escapes, but they all ended with the same thing - the capture of the fugitive and his return to his luxurious father's palace.
In 1789, at the age of fourteen, Peter disappeared for two years. Alexei Kirillovich was informed that his son had been seen at fairs in different cities. At one time he wandered with a gypsy camp, engaged in horse stealing, then became involved with a gang of thieves.
Alexey Kirillovich decisively cut his son out of his life. But grandfather Kirill Grigorievich’s soul ached about his unlucky grandson. In addition, he believed that the story of the young man was not a reproach.
Using his connections, the grandfather found his grandson, and after a big conversation, he began serving in the Izmailovsky Regiment. For a year Peter pulled the military burden in St. Petersburg, and then he snapped: he went on a spree, began throwing money around, playing cards. The passion for the game was inherited from his grandfather, who was called “a night gambler and a daytime billiard player.”
There was no one to stop Peter. His father did not communicate with him, and Kirill Grigorievich, who lived in Moscow, knew nothing about his grandson’s spree. Having owed a large sum, Peter did not turn to his grandfather for help. He chose to flee abroad.
In Vienna, under someone else's name, he got a job as a groom... for his own uncle - Alexander Kirillovich Razumovsky, the Russian envoy to Austria. But he did not stay long with his relative. He began to wander around Europe. From time to time he got to work - he looked after horses, grew wheat and vegetables, and in Paris he got a job as a watchman in a “gay” (read - brothel) house.
FASHIONABLE VICE
Count Alexei Kirillovich Razumovsky, who was involved in state affairs, resigned in 1795 and returned to his home in Gorenki. According to one version, his resignation was dictated by disagreement with the law proposed by the empress; according to another, he was offended because he was not appointed minister of commerce. But, most likely, the count’s departure from St. Petersburg was associated with the scandalous behavior of his youngest son, Kirill.
For a long time, Kirill did not give his father any trouble. An intelligent and capable boy diligently studied science, did not play pranks, etc. It could not have occurred to his father that the French tutor had captivated the boy with mysticism, which was fashionable at that time. While turning tables and summoning spirits at night, Kirill became so convinced of the existence of ghosts that he began to... see them. But that was only half the story. Real trouble came in 1794, when 14-year-old chamberlain Kirill Razumovsky appeared at the court of Empress Catherine II.
“Then debauchery was in great fashion among young and wealthy people, and a young man who could not provide obvious evidence of his depravity was received poorly or not at all accepted in the society of his comrades...” wrote historian M.I. Pylyaev.
Cyril, under the care of a French tutor, led a dissolute and depraved life. He surrounded himself with parasites and flatterers, in whose company he organized drunken orgies. When rumors about Kirill’s homosexual inclinations reached his father, he threw a terrible scandal that ended with the expulsion of the handsome tutor.
The teenager's reaction was terrible - hysteria gave way to tears, then to unprecedented rage, and then he closed himself off. Doctors invited by his father discovered the first signs of insanity in him. In 1796, Count Razumovsky sent his dissolute son abroad: for treatment or to continue his education - history is silent.
FROM FRAUDERS TO PREACHERS
In 1795, Peter, who was tired of wandering around Europe, returned to Russia. The aged grandfather, still hoping that Petrusha would come to his senses, turned to the Empress with a request to appoint his grandson to his staff as a major general. She issued the necessary rescript. But Peter never appeared in Moscow, where Kirill Grigorievich lived.
He settled in Bessarabia, where he became the leader of a gang of clever swindlers. Traveling around southern fairs, they sold fake residence permits and fake banknotes, pulled off various scams, and so successfully that for five years they acted with complete impunity. In 1799, the swindler count, who did not believe in God or the devil, unexpectedly turned to religion: he contacted the Old Believers who lived in the north. And he became the most ardent advocate of self-immolation, preaching the idea of purification through fire. Whether he was ready to burn alive himself remains unknown. The authorities, concerned about the activities of the self-immolators, sent a military team to the schismatic monastery, which tied up everyone.
Despite the merits of his grandfather, Peter Razumovsky was exiled to repentance in the Solovetsky Monastery, which served as a prison for heretics, schismatics, freethinkers and various kinds of state criminals. Here Peter experienced both cold and hunger. Only in 1806 - “after bringing complete repentance” - Pyotr Alekseevich was released. And so that in the future he would not suffer from foolishness, the emperor sent him to the Duke of Richelieu in Odessa as an official on special assignments. Having received the inheritance left to him by his grandfather (he died in 1803), Razumovsky left for the south.
MAD ILLUMINATI
In the same 1806, Kirill Razumovsky returned to Russia from abroad.
Having sent his son abroad, Alexey Kirillovich was no longer interested in him. Meanwhile, in Germany, young Razumovsky fell into the tenacious clutches of the Masons from the Order of the Illuminati, who denied the existence of God and dreamed of overthrowing European monarchies through revolutionary means.
According to contemporaries, the Illuminati “knew how to attract young people by the seduction of debauchery, and old people by arousing passions and means for their secret satisfaction.” Declaring the noble goals of improving the world on a fair basis, the Illuminati were ready to use any means in their struggle, including poisons. Young Razumovsky began to be trained as a poisoner. Whether Kirill took part in any Illuminati actions remains a mystery. Probably, at some point, the Illuminati’s plans changed, and they decided to get their hands on the Razumovskys’ wealth, for which they began to stuff Kirill with various drugs. But he started drinking heavily. It all ended in delirium tremens, during which the count went on a desperate rampage.
When in the summer of 1806 Kirill decided to return to his homeland, his father ordered him to go to live on the Penza estate of Ershovo, which belonged to Varvara Sheremeteva. After crossing the border, Kirill started drinking again. On the way to Penza, he hourly took some pills, washing them down with vodka, which made him completely mad - he dispersed people from inns, wounded three people with a dagger (including his valet), and also tried to shoot the coachman with a pistol.
Rumors about Razumovsky's outrages reached Emperor Alexander I, and he ordered the dangerous brawler to be taken into custody. In September, Kirill Razumovsky was arrested and taken to the Shlisselburg fortress. In his first aid kit they found poisons “more than needed to poison an entire regiment.” Doctors recognized Razumovsky as sick. As a dangerous insane person, he was placed in the Suzdal Spaso-Evfimiev Monastery, where he spent 16 long years. According to eyewitnesses, in the monastery the handsome young Razumovsky behaved calmly and even strummed the guitar. Only sometimes did he suddenly fly into a rage, promising to “ask” everyone.
MINISTER OF EDUCATION
In 1810, Emperor Alexander I appointed Count Alexei Kirillovich Razumovsky as Minister of Public Education. Under him, the famous Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, 24 district schools, several gymnasiums and 72 parish schools were opened.
Time has changed the count. The former atheist Mason, a cruel and indifferent father, insisted on the introduction of the Law of God in educational institutions and the abolition of corporal punishment. Having bitter experience behind him, he found the courage in his report to the emperor to say about the painful issue:
“In our fatherland, the upbringing imparted by foreigners has spread its roots far. The nobility, the support of the state, often grows under the supervision of people who are occupied with their own self-interest, who despise everything that is not foreign, who have neither pure moral rules nor knowledge... Following the nobility, other classes are preparing the slow destruction of society by raising their children in the hands of foreigners "
The ministers considered this proposal to be erroneous, saying that the count himself was burned by milk, and now he is blowing water. But the emperor supported Razumovsky, and supervision of foreign tutors and governesses was strengthened.
He died in the spring of 1822 in Little Russia, in the city of Pochep. Pyotr Alekseevich sold his father's huge palace on the Pea Field for a pittance to lenders. After the death of Razumovsky, the guardians were allowed to take Kirill from the Spaso-Evfimiev Monastery, who by this time had fallen into childhood. They settled him in Kharkov, where seven years later he died in 1829.
The fate of Varvara Razumovskaya was also sad. “Removed against her will from her tenderly beloved children, this poor woman, despite her sixteen thousand souls, surrounded herself with favorites, pupils, Kalmyks and Kalmyks, freedmen of both sexes, poor noblewomen and various kinds of hangers-on and hangers-on. The Countess completely abandoned society and, apart from her children... and her closest relatives, received almost no one...
Varvara Petrovna Razumovskaya died in 1824.
DISGRACED CHAMBER
But let's return to Pyotr Razumovsky. Duke Richelieu warmly greeted the disgraced chamberlain. He probably knew Razumovsky's turbulent past. So that it would not prevent Pyotr Kirillovich from starting a new life, it was announced that he had returned to Russia “after a long trip abroad with the aim of entering the public service.”
For some time, Razumovsky helped the Duke in laying out Dyukovsky Park, ordering trees from abroad, from Tulchin and from the famous Sophia Garden in Uman, but there was no more work for him.
Then, having bought a huge plot of land on Moldavanka, in the area of the Vodyanaya Balka (ravine), Razumovsky began to improve it. On both sides of the beam he built palaces similar to Italian villas, and turned the slopes of the beam into a beautiful park with interspersed alleys, gazebos and pavilions. Deep dungeons were built under the palaces, and from them there were several underground passages. Along one of them it was possible to pass from one palace to another; the rest led into the labyrinths of abandoned Odessa quarries.
Having decorated his palaces with paintings and sculptures, collecting a huge library, the count lived on the estate, surrounded by numerous servants and mistresses who robbed him mercilessly. He communicated only with the Duke of Richelieu. And when he left for France in 1814, Razumovsky completely stopped going outside his estate. Over time, he reduced his communication with servants and ladies of his heart. In one of the palaces, he ordered two glass walls to be made, behind which huge aviaries for exotic birds were built. At times, not wanting to see anyone, Pyotr Kirillovich went to live in the dungeons. Here was his favorite room, decorated with “Asian” luxury, where servants and mistresses were prohibited from entering on pain of death. In a certain place, the count left notes for the servants, who delivered everything they needed here. He lived like this for 21 years. On July 18, 1835, Count Pyotr Kirillovich Razumovsky died, releasing his beloved birds before his death.
Odessa residents who came to say goodbye to the deceased noted that the coffin was covered with “impenetrable muslin.” The St. Petersburg and Moscow nobility gossiped about this death for some time. Some claimed that robbers snuck into the count's dungeons, robbed and killed the count, disfiguring his face. Others were sure that the good-for-nothing Razumovsky had once again pulled the wool over his eyes: passing off someone’s body as his own, he himself fled to Turkey with all his wealth, leaving the creditors high and dry. The older ladies, remembering the count's parents and his grandparents, could not believe that the heir to the richest fortunes of the empire died like the last useless tramp...
