Minister of Education Sergei Semenovich Uvarov
“To heal the newest generation from a blind, thoughtless addiction to the superficial and foreign, spreading in young minds a warm respect for the national and a full conviction that only equipping the general, global education to our national life, to our popular spirit can bring true fruits to everyone and everyone” .
Ss Uvarov
Ss Uvarov
The future president of the Academy of Sciences was born on September 5 1786 in the city of St. Petersburg in the family of a lieutenant colonel of horse guards and a representative of an ancient noble family of Semyon Uvarov. Semyon Fedorovich was known as a merry and courageous man, famous for his squatting dance and playing bandura (Ukrainian musical instrument) because of which “Senka-bandurist” had a nickname. The all-powerful prince Grigory Potemkin brought the witty closer to him, making him an adjutant and marrying Darya Ivanovna Golovina, the bride, by the way, very enviable. Empress Catherine the Great herself became the godmother of their son Sergei.
At the age of two, the boy was left without a father, and Darya Ivanovna’s mother first took care of his upbringing, and then (after her death) Natalia Ivanovna Kurakina’s aunt, nee Golovina. Uvarov received his primary education in the house of a famous statesman, Prince Alexei Kurakin. Engaged with him a French abbot named Mangen. Fleeing from the revolution in his homeland, he retained nostalgic memories of the "golden" century of the French aristocracy. Sergey turned out to be incredibly gifted, he was given both study and creativity with ease. From his childhood years, he was fluent in French, knew German, had a great understanding of both languages, and later learned Latin, Greek and English. To the joy of the relatives, the young man composed wonderful verses in various languages and skillfully recited them. Adulsions of adults pretty soon taught Uvarov to public success - in the future he, by the way, will do everything so that this success will not leave him.
Sergey was the fifteenth year (1801), when he began to serve in the College of Foreign Affairs as a minor one. On 1806, he was sent to Vienna to the Russian embassy, and on 1809 he was appointed secretary of the embassy in the city of Paris. During these years, Uvarov wrote his first essays and met many famous people of that era, in particular, the poet Johann Goethe, Prussian statesman Heinrich Stein, writer Germain de Stal, politician Pozzo di Borgo, famous scientists Alexander and Wilhelm Humboldt ... Communicating with prominent representatives of the literary and academic world developed a refined aesthetic taste, breadth of intellectual interests and the desire for continuous self-education of a young man. Also in these years, his love of antiquities, which the young man began to collect, was first revealed. His political convictions, a supporter of enlightened absolutism, were also formed.
In the capital of France, the first major work of Sergey Semenovich under the title “Project of the Asian Academy” was published in 1810, which was later translated into Russian by Vasily Zhukovsky. In this work, the quick-witted Uvarov put forward the idea of forming in Russia a special scientific institution dedicated to the study of Eastern countries. The young diplomat rightly believed that the spread of the languages of the East would certainly lead to the "spread of reasonable notions about Asia in its relation to Russia." He wrote: “This is a huge field, not yet illuminated by the rays of reason, the field of inviolable glory is the key to a new national policy.”
In the same 1810 Sergey Semenovich returned to his homeland. A promising young man was elected an honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. In addition, he was a member of the Paris Academy of Literature and Inscriptions, the Copenhagen Royal Society of Sciences, the Göttingen Society of Sciences, the Madrid Royal Historical Society and the Royal Naples Society. One lady of the high society described him with a certain degree of acrimony: “A minion of aristocratic gatherings and handsome. Cheerful, clever, witty, with a hint of pride veil. " It should be noted that within the boundaries of someone's group ethics, Uvarov was close, so for all the parties he by and large remained a stranger. In addition, being a man of many-sided and broad interests, Sergey Semenovich was not limited to official activities only, taking an active part in the literary and social life of St. Petersburg. At this time, Uvarov "with the soul of the almost Gettengen" entered the circle of Alexei Olenin - an archaeologist, a writer, an artist, as well as the director of the Public Library. Alexei Nikolaevich gathered masters of the pen of different generations - Krylov, Shakhovskaya, Ozerov, Kapnist ... For Sergei Semenovich the hospitable Olenins' estate became an excellent school. In addition, Olenin was one of the founders of Russian archeology. Uvarov himself wrote: "Diligent champion of antiquities, he gradually dealt with all the subjects in this circle, ranging from the Tmutarakan stone to the Krechensky treasures and from Lavrentyevsky Nestor to the review of Moscow monuments."
In 1811, Sergei Semyonovich was married to Ekaterina Alekseevna Razumovsky - the daughter of Count Alexei Razumovsky, the former Minister of Public Education. According to biographers, he was chosen as a young girl, as “strikingly distinguished by a strict outlook on life, knowledge and intelligence from the Petersburg golden youth around.” After the wedding, a twenty-five-year-old young man who made useful contacts received the first major appointment, becoming the trustee of the metropolitan school district, which he headed for ten years. In this position at 1818, Uvarov, a brilliant organizer, transformed the Main Pedagogical Institute into St. Petersburg University, establishing teaching Eastern languages in it, reforming the curricula of district schools and gymnasiums. The main instrument of enlightenment Sergey Semenovich outlined history: “In upbringing national history teaching, there is a state matter ... It forms citizens who know how to honor their rights and duties, soldiers, dying people, judges for the Fatherland, those who know the price of justice, experienced nobles, solid and kind Kings ... All great truths Stories contained. She is the supreme judgment seat, and woe unto her subsequent instructions! ”
Portrait of Sergei Uvarov Orest Kiprensky (1815)
In 1815, Uvarov became one of the organizers of the naughty literary society of fighters for new literature called “Arzamas”. After the joking “Vision in Arzamas” by Dmitry Bludov, Sergey Semyonovich notified the familiar writers about the meeting. The evening took place, and on it Uvarov, with his incomparable artistry peculiar to him, offered to embody Bludov’s dreams, having founded the circle of “Arzamas unknown writers”. Vasily Zhukovsky, the most authoritative writer of the younger generation, inexhaustible for fun, was elected secretary of the society. Meetings, as a rule, were held in the house of Sergei Semenovich. Zhukovsky, by the way, became a good friend of Uvarov for many decades, and often they worked together to solve important educational problems. The Arzamas later included: Konstantin Batyushkov, Peter Vyazemsky, Denis Davydov, Vasily Pushkin and his young nephew Alexander. The society was dominated by the atmosphere of the literary game, during which the best feathers of the country, practicing wit, fought with the literary Old Believers. Each member of the circle was assigned a nickname taken from the works of Zhukovsky. Vasily Andreyevich was nicknamed “Svetlana”, Alexander Pushkin as “Cricket”, and “Old Woman” as Uvarov, stressing with respect that the young man was a veteran of the struggle for the reform of his native language. Indeed, by that time Sergey Semenovich already had a number of merits before Russian literature - in a two-year dispute with Vasily Kapnist, he proposed the “golden rule” about the unity of thought and form in the work, which became an axiom for Russian writers of the Pushkin century.
It should be noted that two years after the founding of Arzamas, Uvarov had lost interest in the protracted literary game. Dissatisfied with the constant attacks on the participants of the “Conversations of the lovers of the Russian word” (among which, by the way, were such “seasoned” writers as Krylov, Derzhavin, Griboedov and Katenin) and the unfolding literary war, during which education could be a loser, Uvarov left the company. For several years he under the guidance of the famous philologist Grefe studied in depth the ancient languages. In 1816, for his French-language work, The Experience of Eleusinian Sacraments, he was elected an honorary member of the Institute of France, in which there were less than ten foreign honorary members. At the beginning of 1818, the thirty-two-year-old Sergey Semenovich was appointed president of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. His role was played by his friendly and family ties, as well as the reputation of a thoughtful researcher. In this post, he, by the way, remained until the end of his days.
After taking office, Uvarov, "without finding traces of sound economic management," focused all his attention on the reorganization of the structure of the Academy. At 1818, the new president created the Asian Museum, which became the first Russian research center in the field of oriental studies. In the thirties, Ethnographic, Mineralogical, Botanical, Zoological and some other museums were organized. The Academy began to conduct more scientific expeditions. The Pulkovo Observatory, a recognized achievement in Russian science, was created at 1839. Sergei Semenovich also sought to intensify the scientific life of the body entrusted to him, for which he began to effectively use the mail. From now on, the works of the academicians were sent to various European countries and to all corners of Russia.
In the summer of 1821, Uvarov resigned as a school district trustee and transferred to the Ministry of Finance. There, he first headed the department of domestic trade and manufactories, and then took the place of director of the State Commercial and Loan Banks. In 1824, he was awarded the rank of secret adviser, and in 1826 - the title of senator.
With the arrival of Nicholas I, Uvarov’s position began to change. At the end of 1826, the centenary of NA was marked on a large scale. Sergei Semyonovich took advantage of this celebration with great profit for himself and for science. He repaired old and built new buildings. The emperor and his brothers were elected to the honorary academicians, which contributed to the growth of the authority of the main scientific institution of the country, as well as the growth of allocations. Consent to accept the title of academy members as crowned individuals ensured an appropriate attitude of the nobility to it, making the study of science just as honorable as public service and military affairs. In addition, the Academy held elections for new members, including mathematicians Chebyshev and Ostrogradsky, historians Pogodin and Ustrialov, vocabulary Shevyrev and Vostokov, physicist Lenz, astronomer Struve, and major foreign scientists: Fourier, Ampère, Lussac, de Sacy, Schlegel , Gauss, Goethe, Herschel and some others.
In the early years of the reign of Nicholas I, Uvarov took part in the activities of the committee on the organization of educational institutions. In 1828, along with Dashkov, he proposed a new censorship charter, softer than “cast iron” Shishkov. And in the spring of 1832, Sergey Semenovich was appointed comrade of the Minister of National Education, Prince Karl Lieven, a military ally of Suvorov. In March, 1833 - after the resignation of the prince - Uvarov was appointed manager of the Ministry of Public Education, and a year later he was approved by the Minister of Public Education. In a responsible post, Sergei Semenovich lasted the longest of all his successors and predecessors - sixteen years.
The motto of his work, Sergei Semenovich, made the famous formula “Orthodoxy. Autocracy. Nationality ", remaking, according to some historians, the old motto of the military" For Faith, Tsar and Fatherland. " To "Orthodoxy", which stands in the triad in the first place, Uvarov did not come right away. Of course, he was a baptized person, but Orthodoxy was not the basis of his worldview at all in his youth. Raised by a Catholic abbot, Sergei Semenovich went through all the temptations that Europe could reveal to an inquisitive nobleman from Russia. Passion for Freemasonry, Eurocentricism, a scornful attitude towards Russian antiquity - all this Uvarov knew and overcame. In the 1830s, he said: “A Russian, deeply and sincerely attached to the church of his fathers, looks at it as a guarantee of family and social happiness. Without love for the faith of the ancestors, both the people and the private person will perish. To weaken faith in them is to rip out the heart and deprive of blood ... ”.
The second step in Uvarov's triad was “Autocracy”. Exploring the shortcomings of the European monarchies and the republican system, studying the phenomenon of the Russian autocracy in Moscow and post-Peter the Great history, the Minister of Public Education became one of the most knowledgeable experts in this field. He said: “Autocracy is an indispensable condition of the country's political existence. The Russian colossus focuses on it as the cornerstone of its greatness. ”
Uvarov determined the nationality as the third national principle. After analyzing the turbulent history of Europe in the XVII-XVIII centuries, Sergey Semyonovich perfectly understood the need to prevent possible ethnic conflicts in the Russian Empire. His program was aimed at uniting the various nationalities of Russia on the basis of autocracy and Orthodoxy, but at the same time retaining serfdom. By the way, it was the most controversial position - serfdom in those years did not comply with the principles of the majority of educated people, and this fact shaded the perception of the minister’s triad. Nevertheless, the Uvarov trinity became the core of the state ideology - an ideology that has been effective for two decades and only shaken in the smoke of the Crimean War. Speaking about his plans, Uvarov himself said: “We live in the midst of political storms and unrest. Peoples are updated, change their life, go forward. No one can enact laws here. But Russia is still young and should not taste these bloody worries. It is necessary to extend her youth and raise her. Here is my political system. If I succeed in pushing the country away for fifty years from the promise of theory, then I will do my duty and go quietly. ”
In January, 1834 Sergey Semenovich was formed by the “Journal of the Ministry of National Education,” which was published until the end of 1917. According to the memoirs of the famous editor, historian and journalist Starchevsky, Uvarov himself worked out a journal plan, proposed rubrics, set fees for work and sent an invitation to “employees of university professors, teachers of gymnasiums and other educational institutions, as well as the entire writing brethren the same ministry. ” Of course, the circulation of the Journal was significantly inferior to Sovremennik or Otechestvennye Zapiski, but among departmental publications it was the most interesting. The magazine was understood by the Minister of Public Education as the headquarters of its ideological and educational reform and was distributed not only throughout Russia, but throughout Europe. In addition, Uvarov constantly published in it reports on the work of his ministry - he loved his activities to be indisputable, visible, and confirmed by facts. It should also be noted that since its inception, the Journal has promoted Russian-language science, and the Minister himself, who was, by the way, a French-speaking author, did everything so that the successors of his scientific works published only in their native language. Largely due to this, in the educated environment in the second half of the nineteenth century, Russian, having replaced French, became the main language in writing.
The first major act carried out by Uvarov-Minister was the Regulation on educational districts released in the middle of summer 1835. From now on, all issues of school management were handed over to the trustees. When the trustee formed the board, which included his assistant, the inspector of state schools, the rector of the university, the directors of the gymnasiums. The Board was an advisory body and discussed training issues only at the initiative of the trustee. A month after the release of the Regulations, Nicholas I ratified the “General Statute of the Imperial Universities”, which indicated the start of university reform. Transformations, according to Sergey Semenovich, were pursued by two goals: “Firstly, to raise the university teaching to a rational form and to erect a reasonable obstacle to the early entry into the service of still immature youth. Secondly, to attract children of the highest class to the universities, putting an end to the perverse home-grown education of their foreigners. To reduce the domination of passion for the formation of an alien, outwardly brilliant, but alien to true scholarship and thoroughness. To create a desire for popular, independent education in university youth. ” However, it is worth noting that the new Charter significantly limited university autonomy. Although the board was still in charge of economic and administrative affairs, the trustee became chairman. He also supervised discipline in the school. At the same time, universities left the right to have their own censorship and freely subscribe newspapers, magazines, books and study materials from abroad.
According to Uvarov, one of the key tasks of his Ministry was to solve the problem of "adapting the main principles of the general sciences to the technical needs of the agricultural, factory and handicraft industry." To address the issue, university teaching programs were revised, agronomy courses, machine building, descriptive geometry and practical mechanics, lectures on silviculture, bookkeeping and agriculture were introduced, and departments of agronomical sciences were opened. For all faculties, the law in force, church history and theology became mandatory subjects. The departments of Slavic and Russian history were opened at the philological faculties - “Russian professors were obliged to read Russian science created on Russian principles.”
The next series of events that supplemented the Charter of 1835 of the year concerned the social composition of students, their scientific and educational training. According to the “Test Rules” issued in 1837, young men over sixteen years old could enter the university. The Rules also determined the required basis of knowledge, without which studying at a university would be a “waste of time”. The university was forbidden to accept applicants with poor grades who graduated from high school. In addition, in order to improve the preparation of students, Uvarov introduced the practice of lecturing by the students themselves in his presence. Pupils' meetings with famous writers who were organized for them by Sergey Semenovich were of great educational and cognitive importance. For example, the writer Goncharov recalled how enthusiastic students were when Alexander Pushkin arrived at Moscow University at 1832.
In the spring of 1844, a new Regulation on production in advanced degrees was prepared by Uvarov, increasing the requirements for the applicant. Quite controversial were the events of Uvarov to attract noble youth to universities, while restricting the access of people to other classes to higher education. In December, 1844 Sergei Semenovich presented to the emperor a note containing a proposal to ban admission to the teaching positions of people of the tax-paying class, as well as an increase in tuition fees. Uvarov himself has repeatedly said that “the various needs of different classes and different states inevitably lead to a proper distinction between the subjects of study. Public education can only be called properly located, when it reveals to everyone ways to acquire such upbringing, which kind of life it corresponds to, and also the future vocation in society. ” According to the minister, coupled with a general gymnasium, “special” class schools for noblemen were needed — noble institutions and noble guesthouses, which were obliged to become “preparatory schools for entering the university”. The programs and curricula of these institutions contained subjects complementing the basic gymnasium course and necessary for the education of a nobleman: horse riding, fencing, dancing, swimming, music and rowing. 1842 had forty-two noble guesthouses and five noble institutions that trained students for diplomatic and state service.
Among other things, Uvarov believed that the public school is obliged to suppress home education, as well as all private educational institutions. He said: “The Ministry cannot miss the great harm of the teachings provided to the arbitrariness of people who do not possess the necessary moral qualities and knowledge, who are not able and unwilling to act in the spirit of government. This branch of national education should be included in the general system, extend its supervision to it, bring it into line with and be connected with public education, giving the advantage to education to the national one ”. At the initiative of Sergey Semenovich, a decree was issued in 1833 containing measures against the multiplication of private schools and boarding houses. Their opening in Moscow and St. Petersburg was suspended, and in other cities it was allowed only with the permission of the minister. Now only a Russian citizen could be a teacher and owner of private institutions. And in July, 1834 introduced the “Regulations on Domestic Teachers and Mentors”, according to which everyone who came to private homes to raise children was considered a public servant and was obliged to pass special exams, receiving the title of a home mentor or teacher.
Among other things, in the middle of the 1830s, the plans of all educational institutions in the Kiev, Belarusian, Dorpat and Warsaw educational districts, in which the ancient languages were replaced by Russian, were revised. In 1836, Sergey Semenovich was prepared, and Nikolay I approved the charter of the Academy of Sciences, which determined its activity for eighty (!) Years. And in 1841, the Russian Academy of Sciences was joined to the Academy of Sciences, which constituted the second branch of the study of literature and the Russian language (the first branch specialized in physical and mathematical sciences, and the third - in historical and philological sciences).
Censorship has also become one of the main areas of activity of the Ministry of Public Education. Uvarov believed that it was important to stop the "assassination" of journalists on key "subjects of public administration", to avoid falling into the press dangerous political concepts brought from Europe, to follow the arguments about "literary subjects." Sergei Semenovich achieved the closure of the magazines "Telescope" Nadezhdin and "Moscow Telegraph" Polevova. 1836 temporarily banned all new periodicals, the book trade and publishing business were limited, and the publication of cheap publications for the people was reduced. By the way, the enmity of the Minister of Public Education with the great Russian poet Alexander Pushkin originates from here. It is worth noting that Sergey Semenovich and Alexander Sergeevich had a common “alma mater” - the “Arzamas” society, and in December 1832 Uvarov, as the president of the Academy, helped the poet to get an academic title. A year earlier, Uvarov translated Pushkin's “Russian Slanderers of Russia” into a French work, noting with admiration “wonderful, truly folk poems”. Their relationship began to deteriorate on the decline of 1834. From that moment on, the minister began to disagree with the procedure for censoring Pushkin's work that was once proposed by Nikolai. In 1834, he with his power “slaughtered” the poem “Angelo”, and then began the struggle with the “History of the Pugachev Rebellion”. In 1835, the poet noted in his diary: “Uvarov is a big scoundrel. He shouts about my book as an ugly essay and pursues his censorship committee. ” After that, epigrams went into action, as well as evil allegorical poems like “To Lukulla's recovery,” which convinced Sergey Semyonovich that Alexander Sergeevich was his enemy. The mutual personal dislike of the two gentlemen who were not shy about attacking each other continued until the poet’s death in 1837.
In July, for the blameless and long-term (since 1846 of the year!) Service of Uvarov, never deprived of royal mercy and awards, 1801 was elevated to the count's dignity. His motto placed on the emblem was already known words: "Orthodoxy, autocracy, nationality!".
European events 1848 have become a milestone in the fate of Sergei Semenovich. He, who embodied Russia's reaction to the previous wave of revolutions, this time was out of business. The emperor reacted to the French events with a protective radicalism. Uvarov, on the other hand, considered too strict measures harmful and even dangerous for public opinion. He understood perfectly well that politics without compromise costs the state very dearly. The last year of work as minister became extremely difficult for Sergey Semenovich. Nicholas I was dissatisfied with the work of censorship and the content of literary magazines. Baron Modest Korf, a former Secretary of State and who marked Uvarov’s place, started an intrigue against him. He wrote a lengthy note that blamed the censorship, ostensibly specifically omitting impermissible publications in journals. Contemporaries Korff rightly perceived as a denunciation of Uvarov, but, nevertheless, trying to crush the germs of revolutionary sentiment in the country, Nicholas I in February 1848 organized a special Committee, which received the right to look after the censorship and the seal, bypassing the Ministry of Public Education and established in Russia "censorship terror." An influential politician, Prince Menshikov, was appointed chairman of this committee. The committee also included Korf, former Interior Minister Stroganov and Buturlin. Prince Menshikov wrote in his diary: "From Count Orlov I received a message saying that being a chairman of a committee about the sins of censorship in passing unauthorized articles in journals, that is, a kind of investigation over Count Uvarov, is an extremely unpleasant task." Soon Menshikov - a restless soul - visited Sergey Semenovich with conciliatory speeches, assuring him that he was “not an inquisitor”. Afterwards, by hook or by crook, Menshikov and Aleksey Orlov tried to get rid of the leadership of the Committee, and a month later the new composition of the “inquisitorial assembly” was headed by Buturlin. The Committee existed until 1856, but its activities were particularly relevant in the last months of Uvarov’s work, according to Korf, “the sovereign who had lost the trust”.
The end of 1848, a literary historian Alexander Nikitenko, assessed in his memoirs as a “crusade against knowledge”: “Science fades and hides. Ignorance is being built into the system ... At the university, discouragement and fear. ” Sergey Semenovich, having lost his authority, turned into an executor of decisions that contradicted the system he had created. Many key issues, for example, the reduction of students at universities, did not even agree with him. All these events are extremely painful impact on the state of Uvarova. In July, 1849 he was widowed, and in mid-September, he himself was struck by a blow. Having recovered, Sergey Semenovich resigned, and in October his request was granted. Uvarov resigned from his post as minister, remaining in the rank of president of the Academy of Sciences and a member of the State Council. At parting in December 1850, Nicholas I awarded Sergey Semenovich the highest order - St. Andrew. From now on, the count had all the regalia of his state.
In recent years, the former minister lived, resting from the noisy St. Petersburg, in his beloved village Porechye of the Mozhaisk district, located not far from Moscow. His estate was a botanical garden (from overseas travel, the count brought strange plants, adapting them to the Russian climate), a huge park, a historical and archaeological museum, an art gallery, a library of a hundred thousand volumes, a study decorated with busts by Michelangelo, Machiavelli, Raphael, Dante works by Italian sculptors. Famous writers, professors and academics who had debates and conversations on various topics constantly condescended to visit him. Uvarov continued to perform the duties of the president of the Academy of Sciences, but these studies were not troublesome - life at the Academy was in line with the reforms carried out in the first years of his administration. Mailing of scientific papers and letters to academies and universities in Europe continued, becoming practice, both in Russia and in foreign educational institutions. In addition to reading books and communicating with pleasant interlocutors, Sergei Semenovich gave an assessment of the political situation.
The great statesman died in Moscow at the age of sixty-nine years old 16 September 1855. Historian Mikhail Pogodin recalled: “Officials from the educational department, students, professors, and Moscow citizens of different classes came to worship him.” The famous historian Solovyov noted: "Uvarov was a man with, of course, brilliant talents ... capable of taking the place of both the Minister of Public Education and the President of the Academy of Sciences." Even Herzen, who had no respect for Sergei Semenovich, noted that he “surprised everyone with his multilingualism and the diversity of all sorts of things he knew — the true sideller behind the bar of enlightenment.” With regard to personal qualities, then, according to contemporaries, "the moral side of the nature of his mental development is not consistent." It was noted that “during a conversation with him — a conversation often brilliantly clever — he was struck by extreme vanity and pride; it seemed he was about to say that God, when creating the world, consulted with him. "
Sergey Semenovich was buried in the ancestral village of Kholm, located near Porechye. His only son Alexei Uvarov later became a major collector of antiquities, an archaeologist and a historian, one of the founders of the Moscow Historical Museum - a unique collection of historical relics. In addition, he is honored to hold in Russia the first archaeological congresses that have a beneficial effect on the development of science.
According to the materials of the article V.A. Vlasov "Guardian of the Russian identity" and the site http://anguium.narod.ru
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