Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum

Main article: Tsarskoye Selo

2023: President Putin agrees to revive Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum as an educational institution

Putin The rector RANEPA of Komissarov made a proposal to revive the lyceum during a meeting in the Kremlin. The president supported the idea.

To the clarifying question of the president, the rector of the RANEPA said that it is planned to revive the lyceum "precisely as an educational institution": "In order to prepare young people from a young age for public service, educate them in the spirit of patriotism and give the best education."

After that, Putin asked if it was a question of creating an educational institution precisely on the squares of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, where the museum is now. "We are considering different options. There are areas that can be used: partially - historical, partially - new, "- explained the rector of the RANEPA, adding that funding will not be required to develop the project.

"But, of course, we need your support, because if you do such a lyceum, then it should be the lyceum of the President of the Russian Federation," Komissarov added. «Good. Let's, "Putin supported the idea.

1918: Lyceum closed. In the building Proletarian Polytechnic

On May 29, 1918, by a resolution of the Council of People's Commissars, the lyceum was closed. The vacant building was occupied by the Proletarian Polytechnic.

1843: Lyceum transfer to Petersburg

In 1843, the educational institution was transferred to St. Petersburg in the building of the Alexandrinsky orphanage at 21 Kamennoostrovsky Prospekt. At the direction of Emperor Nicholas I, after moving, the lyceum became known as the Imperial Alexander.

1817: Installation of Genius loci plate

Poet Friends! Lyceum is a temple Vesti, in which he does not extinguish fire Poezіi holy; it is burning invisible and fed by the Good Genіy... (genius loci) Note by Professor Koshansky, sent to pupils at the return of their poetic experiences.

The second director of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum E.A. Engelhardt was a symbol man. He invented the coat of arms and motto of the Lyceum, laid the foundation for a considerable number of lyceum traditions and rituals. It is beyond doubt that it was Yegor Antonovich who in mid-August 1817 inspired five pupils of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum: Delvig, Illichevsky, Küchelbecker, Matyushkin and Pushchin, to install a memorial slab dedicated to Genius of the place next to the Lyceum.

This monument, installed in imitation of the Roman altars genio loci (genius loci - the genius of the place, the spirit-patron of the area), as a symbol faithful and proportionate to the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, gave rise to many rumors, interpretations and disputes that did not subside even after the monument itself was updated, transferred, lost and created ^[1]

Once the lyceum monument genio loci even attracted the highest (and by no means favorable) attention. The incident consisted in the fact that the marble slab, which over time lost its original appearance, was restored by the efforts of lyceum students of the XII-th issue. The inscription on the plate was supplemented and began to look like this: "GENIO LOCI. I Cursus erexit. XII Cursus renovavit "<Гению места. I-м курсом создан, XII-м курсом восстановлен>(from a note in the" Russian Antiquity "of the lyceum student of the V-year (issue of 1829), writer, historian I.R. Von der Hoven). It is very likely that this text was also a homage to the Copper Horseman, or rather an inscription on his pedestal: "PETRO primo CATHARINA secunda." <Петру I-му Екатерина II-я>

Immediately from the headquarters of military educational institutions (to which the Lyceum was subordinate at that time) a formidable cry followed:... " on what occasion was a monument to Pushkin erected in the Lyceum Garden and with whose permission? " At this time, the headquarters was headed by Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich, so it is clear that the annoyed bewilderment came from him. How not to remember the entry from 1834 in Pushkin's diary about the conversation with V.K. Mikhail Pavlovich: "The Grand Duke was very kind and frank. «Vous êtes bien de votre famille, — сказал я ему: tous les Romanof sont révolutionnaires et niveleurs».

<Мы такие же хорошие дворяне, как император и вы, - Вы истинный член вашей семьи. Все Романовы революционеры и уравнители>... The conversation turned to upbringing, a beloved subject of his highness. I managed to tell him a lot. God grant that my words produce at least a drop of good! "

The apparently unknown informant, and the Grand Duke himself, who connected the image of the genius loci lyceum with the name of the poet, were not alone in such an interpretation. Pushkin, like no one who captured the history and topography of Tsarskoye Selo in his poems, is seen by many as the prototype of a lyceum good genius. To this day, many native speakers of the Russian language who have come to wander around the park now and then come to the memory of Pushkin: "Drops the forest, scarlet their dress...," "Having dropped the urn with water, the virgin broke it on the cliff"..., "The old man Derzhavin noticed us"..., "Friends, our union is beautiful...."

But can only one Alexander Sergeevich be seen in the hypostasis of the imaginary genius loci of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum? From time to time, E.A. Engelhardt and Grand Duchess Elizaveta Alekseevna were nominated for this role. By the way, the date of installation of the monument (in mid-August, when Alexander's name day is celebrated) may indicate not only the poet, but also Alexander I. By the way, this version was adhered to by A.I. Turgenev, who was not a stranger in Tsarskoye Selo (recall that it was the troubles of Alexander Ivanovich that Sasha Pushkin became a lyceum student).

But (returning to the story with a formidable shout from the headquarters) again quote I.R. Von der Hoven: "To which G.M.<Тут опечатка — бывшего тогда директора лицея Броневского звали Дмитрием Богдановичем> Bronevsky had the honor to personally explain to the<Тут опечатка — бывшего тогда директора лицея Броневского звали Дмитрием Богдановичем> then former head of all military educational institutions, His Imperial Highness Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich, that the monument located in the garden of the lyceum is not a monument to Pushkin, but that only the old one, existing from the 1st issue, put by them to the local imaginary" genius, "as the very inscription says:" Genio loci. " So this request ended. "

At the beginning of the article, we mentioned that the memorial plate dedicated to the Genius of the place is a symbol accurate and proportionate to the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum. Therefore, in 1844 it was impossible to move it to St. Petersburg after the transfer of the lyceum to the building on Kamennoostrovsky Prospekt. And, of course, completely in the logic of the myth was the disappearance of the monument from the "wrong" place. In 1873, I.R. Von der Hoven wrote: "Wanting to make sure that there is currently such a stone dear to us, I went to the lyceum, where in the garden... I found a quadrangular, water-filled depression in the ground... but neither the monument nor the plaque with the inscription "Genio loci" - no longer exists!. "

But Good Genius did not leave Tsarskoye Selo. It is not at all necessary to live somewhere near, it is enough to come to Pushkin, go to the Lyceum or wander around the park a little to feel what a special place it is. And as if the confirmation that where the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum is located, the "fire of the Poezіi saint" has not yet died out was the appearance of a new monument "Genio loci." On June 6, 1999, at the initiative and at the expense of residents of the city of Pushkin, the GENIO LOCI memorial sign was re-created (project author Yu.E. Guttovsky, architect A.A. Weismann).

And it is not so important that the new monument is not an exact copy of that first marble slab. And it is important that to this day, as indicated in the note of Professor Koshansky, here - in the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, the fire is still "not extinguished Poezіi by the saint; it burns invisibly, and the Good Genіy feeds it... (genius loci)».

1816: Pushkin's acquaintance with Chaadaev in Tsarskoye Selo

Lyceum Pushkin and the brilliant guards officer Chaadaev, who received baptism of fire near Borodin, met in the summer of 1816 in Tsarskoye Selo. Extensive knowledge and reading, depth of thinking, free possession of four languages, beautiful, immaculately dressed Chaadaev stood out sharply against the background of other hussars familiar to Pushkin.

1811: Founding of the Lyceum by decree of Alexander I

The Imperial Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, a privileged higher educational institution for children of nobles in the Russian Empire, was founded in Tsarskoye Selo (the modern city of Pushkin, Leningrad Region) in 1811 by decree of Emperor Alexander I. Children from ten to 14 years old were admitted to it. Admission was carried out every three years, the duration of training was initially six years.

The list of pupils of the Lyceum, which included 30 young men, including A.S. Pushkin, was highly approved by Emperor Alexander I.

The following disciplines were studied at the Lyceum:

• moral (the law of God, ethics, logic, jurisprudence, political economy);

• verbal (Russian, Latin, French, German literature and languages, rhetoric);

• historical (Russian and universal history, physical geography);

• physical and mathematical (mathematics, beginnings of physics and cosmography, mathematical geography, statistics);

• fine arts and gymnastic exercises (purity, drawing, dancing, fencing, riding, swimming).

Among the most famous pupils of the lyceum: poet Alexander Pushkin, chancellor Alexander Gorchakov, Decembrist Ivan Pushchin, writer Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, poet Lev May, polar explorer Fedor Matyushkin, revolutionary Mikhail Petrashevsky and others.

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