Russian Eton: education system at the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum. The most famous students of the Tsarskoe Selo Lyceum Which poets studied at the Tsar's Lyceum
And alma mater is for boys from high-born families. The first lyceum in Russia prepared for “important parts of the public service.” It was opened by imperial decree and was equivalent to a university. In the building of the palace wing of the Catherine Palace there was a special spirit - the “lyceum republic”. Let's remember the history and traditions of the noble higher school together with Natalya Letnikova.
Karl Schultz. View of the Lyceum and the Court Church from Sadovaya Street. Lithography. 1850s
Alexander Pushkin. Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum. Drawing in the draft of Chapter VII of Eugene Onegin. 1831
"For the common good"- the motto united mentors and students. They taught “not by darkening the children’s minds with lengthy explanations, but by stimulating their own action.” Minds were boiling - both in classes and in “cells”. The prohibition of corporal punishment is a special clause of the statute. It favorably distinguished a high-status educational institution from private boarding schools and military schools.
What did you comprehend?. According to the program of Mikhail Speransky himself - a reformer and lawmaker. Russian and foreign literature, historical and mathematical sciences, moral disciplines, fine arts and gymnastics were studied. The six-year program prepared humanities students for further service - be it military or civilian.
Unit - “for happiness”. For excellent successes a score of “1” was given, and progressively up to four – for “mediocre” successes. But “the expression of the absence of any knowledge” threatened with zero. For each subject, the lyceum student received three marks, the first two changed, but the first remained unchanged throughout the entire training: for ability or for talent.
№ 14 . Rooms, or cells, as Alexander Pushkin called bedrooms for students. Simple furnishings: a chest of drawers, a desk, an iron bed, a mirror and a table for washing. Students lived in these narrow rooms all year. The holidays lasted for a month. No. 14 - Pushkin’s “cell”. “No. 14” - this is how the poet signed letters to his fellow lyceum students even after his graduation.
All-Russian Museum of A.S. Pushkin, Memorial Lyceum Museum
All-Russian Museum of A.S. Pushkin, Memorial Lyceum Museum
All-Russian Museum of A.S. Pushkin, Memorial Lyceum Museum
Literary games. Poetry and prose, politics and criticism. Literature exercises for young lyceum students, despite the dissatisfaction of teachers, became periodicals. “For pleasure and benefit”, “Inexperienced pen”, “Young swimmers” and, finally, “Lyceum sage”. A magazine that lyceum students published for three whole years. The progenitor of school wall newspapers.
The exam is like the first poetic success. Transfer tests at the Lyceum were public. When Pushkin took the exam, the first poet of the 18th century, Gabriel Derzhavin, was among the guests. The ode “Memories in Tsarskoe Selo” sounded “with extraordinary animation.” Derzhavin was touched and wanted to hug the ardent lyceum student. For the first time, Pushkin put his full signature under the printed text of “Memoirs”.
Poets in the poetic environment. Not only classrooms, but also shady alleys of luxurious parks. At the Lyceum, everyone who was not too lazy wrote poetry, suffering from metromania. Delvig, Kuchelbecker, Pushchin, Illichevsky, Korsakov and, of course, Pushkin were not lazy. “Suddenly I’ll start speaking in rhymes...” - the young poet wrote more than 120 poems at the Lyceum.
Pranks and fun. From the moment of the grand opening, the spirit of the lyceum took over - the dinner party ended... with a snowball fight. Steal an apple from the imperial garden or escape to St. Petersburg. What are the lyceum years without innocent pranks and nicknames: Frenchman - Pushkin, Frant - Gorchakov, Zhanno - Pushchin, Kyukhlya - Kuchelbecker, Tosya - Delvig. What kind of friendship is there without quarrels and duels - with pistols loaded with cranberries?
Irina Vitman. Pushkin-lyceum student in Tsarskoe Selo. 1954
"Cast iron workers". This is how the lyceum students of the first, Pushkin graduating class began to call themselves. After graduating from the alma mater, director Yegor Engelgardt gave the students cast iron rings as a farewell gift - a symbol of friendship as strong as metal. Rings in the form of intertwined hands were made from fragments of the broken bell of the Lyceum church. According to tradition, after graduation, the bells that had been ringing for classes throughout the entire training period were broken.
They remained true to the oath. At the farewell ball, friends from the lyceum decided to meet every year on the day the lyceum was founded. In 1825, Pushkin wrote a poetic message from exile in Mikhailovskoye. “My friends, our union is wonderful!”, mentally being with those who feasted on the banks of the Neva that day, remembering those who were far away or passed away. The last to take the oath was the Chancellor of the Russian Empire, Alexander Gorchakov, who survived his comrades. “And the last lyceum student will celebrate October 19th”...
MBOU "Secondary School No. 25"
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Imperial Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum
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Imperial Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum
Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, a higher privileged closed educational institution in pre-revolutionary Russia for children of nobles; was intended to train mainly senior government officials. Founded in 1810 in Tsarskoe Selo. Opened on October 19, 1811 near the capital in Tsarskoe Selo with the aim of training noble children for government service. The initiative to create a privileged university belonged to the Minister of Public Education A.K. Razumovsky and Comrade (Deputy) Minister of Justice M.M. Speransky. It was under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Public Education, and from 1882 - the Military Department. The lyceum accepted children 10-12 years old, the number of students ranged from 30 (in 1811-17) to 100 (from 1832). Initially, the Lyceum building contained palace premises, built at the end of the 18th century according to the design of I.V. Neelova. And in 1811, the outstanding Russian architect Stasov rebuilt the palace premises of the wing and adapted them to the needs of the school.
Director of the Lyceum
The internal management of the Lyceum was carried out by the director, whose candidacy was approved by the emperor. Vasily Fedorovich Malinovsky, a Russian educator and diplomat, was appointed the first director of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum. Malinovsky tried to raise his pets to be useful to the Fatherland
Vasily Fedorovich Malinovsky
Teachers
The educational process at the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum was organized by the director, seven professors, two adjuncts, one priest - teacher of the law of God, six teachers of fine arts and gymnastic exercises, three supervisors and three tutors.
In addition, the Lyceum staff included a doctor, an accountant, two hairdressers, a doorman, five scribes, several watchmen, cooks, laundresses and other support workers.
Particular attention was paid to the selection of professors who headed the departments.
Among the first professors were famous domestic and foreign teachers.
Lyceum students
Of fundamental importance was the staffing of the Lyceum, where the best representatives of noble origin were admitted. In August 1811, 38 applicants were selected to form the 30 young men who made up the first course.
The first issue is famous for the names of the great Russian public figures and future Decembrists Ivan Pushchin, Wilhelm Kuchelbecker, Anton Delvig, Alexander Gorchakov, Fyodor Matyushkin, Vladimir Volkhovsky and, of course, Alexander Pushkin.
He, like a soul, is indivisible and eternal -
Unwavering, free and carefree
He grew together under the shadow of friendly muses.
Wherever fate throws us,
And happiness wherever it leads,
We are still the same: the whole world is foreign to us;
Our Fatherland is Tsarskoye Selo.
Cases from the life of lyceum students
The lyceum years of Pushkin and his comrades were years of serious study. Suffice it to say that the final exams in 1817 included 15 subjects.
The boys' life was strictly determined by order; even during the holidays, which lasted only one month a year, they could not leave the walls of the Lyceum.
Like all boys, they played pranks, made fun of each other, quarreled, made peace. There were various funny incidents.
"Yes, monsieur"
On the opening day of the Lyceum, October 19, 1811, after the solemn ceremony, the Empress Mother came to the dining room to see how the boys were fed.
She was German by origin and did not speak Russian very correctly. Approaching the youngest, Kornilov, she asked: “Karosh soup?”
The boy, out of confusion, answered in French: “Oui, monsieur” (yes, monsieur). Some of the lyceum students snorted, and the queen, smiling, moved on.
And Kornilov retained his nickname for years - “Mosier”.
Nicknames
They began to appear from the first days, this happened not only with Kornilov.
Pushkin, for example, immediately began to be called “French”, because even before coming to the Lyceum he already knew this language perfectly. Later, due to his liveliness and restlessness, another nickname appeared - “Egoza”.
Prince Gorchakov paid a lot of attention to how he looked, for which he was named Frant. The brave, desperate and pugnacious Ivan Malinovsky received the nickname Cossack, and the large and lazy Danzas received the nickname Bear. For his dreams of the sea, the future admiral Fyodor Matyushkin was called “I want to swim.” They called Alexey Illichevsky affectionately, but with a sarcasm - Olosenka.
Everyone had nicknames. Some did not even need explanations: Ivan Pushchin - Big Zhanno or Ivan the Great, Anton Delvig - Tosya, Tosenka, Kuchelbecker - Kyukhlya, Myasoedov - Myasozhorov or Myasin.
Lyceum literature
At the Lyceum they were fond of writing. They wrote poetry, prose, so-called “national”, that is, lyceum songs, fables, epigrams.
"And the astonished nations do not know what to do:
Go to bed or get up."
Teaching methods
The teaching staff was free to choose the methods of their work.
However, at the same time, the main principle of training was strictly observed - lyceum students should not be in an idle state.
For each section of the training program, certain methodological rules were established, which were strictly followed. At the Lyceum they taught to think consciously, reason, and argue about the truth. Scientists, lawyers, and philologists did not leave the walls of the Lyceum; graduates received an encyclopedic education; acquired a humanistic worldview and respect for the individual, regardless of a person’s class.
The number of lessons depended on the students' knowledge. It was not strictly determined by any document, but was established after the enrollment of students, when their level of training was already known. Each new course had its own number of classes.
Imperial Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum Pushkin
Teachers helped students achieve their goals. Thus, Alexander Gorchakov, while still at the Lyceum, decided to devote himself to diplomatic activities, which is why the teachers obtained for him authentic diplomatic materials from the Foreign Collegium. And Fyodor Matyushkin dreamed of becoming a navigator. Graduates of the Lyceum did not join the navy, but director Engelhardt helped his student Matyushkin achieve assignment to the sloop "Kamchatka", commanded by V.M. Golovin. Sometimes the wisdom of professors was that they simply did not interfere with the development of their student's talent. Mathematics professor Kartsov did not try to force Pushkin to know his subject, he saw the poet’s talent and, jokingly, said: “You, Pushkin, in my class everything ends in zero. Sit down in your place and write poetry.”
Lyceum students were brought up in an atmosphere of impossibility of encroaching on the dignity of another person. At the Lyceum, any person, regardless of his social status, had the right to respect. Lyceum students were forbidden to scold ministers, even if they were serfs. There was no corporal punishment at the Lyceum.
Each pupil had his own small room where he could retire. The lyceum was kept clean, the air temperature was maintained down to one degree. The premises were ventilated, and in order for the air to circulate properly, the partitions in the lyceum students’ rooms did not reach the ceiling. The classrooms were beautiful and spacious.
All life at the Lyceum was aimed at ensuring that students developed correctly, successfully mastered knowledge and did not indulge in laziness. Six days a week were training days. The training lasted a whole year, with the exception of August, the month of vacation. At the same time, the classes were properly organized, studying alternated with rest and walks, so that the students did not feel overloaded.
Freedom of communication reigned between lyceum students and teachers. Together they were family. The special relationship between lyceum students and teachers is evidenced by the fact that quite a lot of caricatures of teachers have been preserved. The students were not afraid of their mentors and considered it possible to play a joke on them. This did not happen in other educational institutions of that time. Most often, the buildings of educational institutions were poor and could hardly accommodate students, classrooms were cramped, and bedrooms were poorly ventilated. For the most part, other educational institutions were distinguished by grueling discipline and constant cramming.
Everything was different at the Lyceum. Relationships between lyceum students were regulated by certain rules, which stated that “all students are equal, ... students must live peacefully and friendly among themselves.” Thanks to these rules and the efforts of teachers, a spirit of camaraderie and cohesion reigned in the Lyceum. No one ever handed over a guilty person unless he himself admitted to what he had done.
Lyceum students' daily routine
The Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum was a closed university, and its students were on full board. Leaving the Lyceum during the school year was prohibited. All lyceum students were subject to a strict daily routine, which was observed by the director, staff guards and teachers.
6.00 - rise, prayer
7.00 - 9.00 - training sessions
9.00 - tea with white bun
9.00 - 10.00 - walk
10.00 - 12.00 - classes
12.00 - 13.00 - walk
13.00 - lunch
14.00 - 15.00 - penmanship and drawing
15.00 - 17.00 - doing homework
17.00 - tea and walk
20.30 - dinner
Uniform at the Lyceum
A distinctive feature of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum was its uniform uniform. The Lyceum uniform consisted of a caftan of dark blue cloth with a standing collar of red cloth and the same cuffs, with gold and silver embroidery. The buttons were smooth, gilded, and the lining was blue. Camisole and underdress - made of white cloth .
First issue and imperial
In 1817, the first graduation of students from the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum into public service took place.
By imperial decree of March 18, 1822, the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum was transferred to the department of the chief director of the Page and Cadet Corps.
Lyceum under Nicholas I
After the accession to the throne of Emperor Nicholas I, by decree of February 23, 1829, the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum switched to training students only for civil service.
The organizational structure of the Lyceum has also changed. Instead of two classes of 3 years, pupils began to study in four classes of 1.5 years each.
According to the new regulations, the sons of nobles at the age of 12-14, who must be baptized and in good health, could enter the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum.
Moving the Lyceum from Tsarskoe Selo
In 1843, the Lyceum left Tsarskoye Selo. On November 6, 1843, Emperor Nicholas I signed the Decree “On the introduction of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum into the general structure of civil educational institutions.” According to this decree, the Lyceum came under the direct supervision of the monarch and moved from Tsarskoye Selo to St. Petersburg to the building of the Alexander Orphanage.
After this, the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum was renamed the Imperial Alexander Lyceum.
200th anniversary of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum
October 19, 2011 - Lyceum Student Day. This day is inextricably linked with the name of A.S. Pushkin, with the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum and with the history of all Russian education. It was on this day 200 years ago that the legendary educational institution opened in Tsarskoe Selo.
The education and upbringing of the younger generation has always been a socially important topic. Time could only change the goals and objectives facing teachers, but teaching itself has always remained an urgent task for society. This is what happens in our time. Education in Russia is currently experiencing very strong changes. The GIA and Unified State Exams have become mandatory, primary schools are already working according to the new standards, secondary schools have yet to switch to them, and a system of bachelor’s and master’s degrees has appeared in higher education. You can criticize these changes or welcome them - only time will tell the result. And today we want to remember one of the best educational institutions in the country. It was from here that the best people in Russia came into life: A.S. Pushkin, A.A. Delvig, V.K. Kuchelbecker, I.I. Pushchin, A.M. Gorchakov, M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin and others.
The lyceum was a closed educational institution, so students had no right to leave it. The first director of the Lyceum, V.F., insisted on this. Malinovsky. The director believed that children could be exposed to "harmful" influences at home and sought to isolate children from this. This system made it possible to eliminate excessive parental care, spoiling, and outside influence on the development of lyceum students. They lived and studied at the Lyceum. And it was here that they became individuals. This is where their worldview took shape. From the walls of the Imperial Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum came a whole galaxy of wonderful people who left their mark on history. Therefore, when thinking about modern reforms in education, it is useful to remember the unique experience of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum.
Speaking about the great Russian poets, the selfless Decembrists, we will talk about the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum. We will talk about it as the first privileged educational institution in which young men were trained for the most important public service, as a freedom-loving “lyceum republic” that revealed to the world the names of Delvig, Pushchin, Kuchelbecker and, of course, Pushkin.
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Ilya Repin. “Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin reads his poem before Gavriil Derzhavin at the Lyceum exam in Tsarskoe Selo on January 8, 1815” (1911).
His classmates nicknamed him “Frenchman” and “Egoza” - for his good knowledge of a foreign language and his restlessness. Studying was not easy for the future genius of Russian poetry. They said that tears came to their eyes when the mathematics teacher wrote a series of examples on the board.
The situation was much better in the humanities. “His progress in Latin is good; in Russian they are not so much solid as they are brilliant,” summed up one of the teachers. Eventually Pushkin was among the graduates, demonstrating success only in Russian and French literature and fencing.
And although the poet called the six-year study within the walls of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum “years of imprisonment,” he later warmly recalled teachers, friends, and the numerous pranks of the lyceum students. Many of Pushkin’s poems are dedicated to them: “It was time: our holiday is young...”, “The more often the Lyceum celebrates”, “Memories in Tsarskoe Selo”, “October 19” and many others.
2. Fyodor Matyushkin: “beloved child of waves and storms”
Fedor Matyushkin
One of Pushkin’s best friends from the Lyceum was Fyodor Matyushkin, the future admiral and polar explorer. From the very first months of his studies, he showed amazing abilities for geography and history. And although the boy had never been on a ship, he dreamed of the sea.
Young Pushkin was partly to blame for Fyodor’s inexplicable craving for travel. Friends often sat together on the shore of a pond and dreamed of distant countries. And the future “sun of Russian poetry” was not lacking in eloquence.
From his comrades the future admiral received the nickname “I want to sail.” “The beloved child of waves and storms,” Pushkin said about him.
Soon after graduating from the Lyceum Matyushkin achieved that he was taken on a circumnavigation of the world, and later participated in the expedition of Ferdinand Wrangel. Three years of painstaking work in the Arctic turned into an ocean coast line on Russian maps. And one of the open capes was named in honor of Fedor - “Cape Matyushkin”.
3. Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin: “gloomy lyceum student”
Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin. Photograph from the late 1850s.
In 1843, the Lyceum moved from Tsarskoe Selo to St. Petersburg and became known as the Imperial Alexander Lyceum. Mikhail Saltykov (in the future - the famous satirist Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin) was among the first to renovate the educational institution.
Since Pushkin's time, a lot has changed at the Lyceum. For example, they were once prohibited here. However, in the memoirs of the future writer, the lyceum appears as a “paramilitary boarding school”, where lyceum students were put in a corner, deprived of lunch, flogged with rods, put in a punishment cell and even expelled from the educational institution. AND Saltykov's surname was often mentioned among the guilty students.
Classmates called Mikhail a “poet” and a “smart guy.” And his relatives added another nickname - “gloomy lyceum student”, because it was impossible to catch a smile on his gloomy face. Apparently, even then the future satirist began to accumulate material for his future feuilletons and books.
4. Vyacheslav Schwartz: historian and artist
Vyacheslav Schwartz. Self-Portrait (1869).
The future founder of the historical-everyday genre in Russian painting showed interest in drawing very early, although he had abilities in many subjects. For example, at the age of 10 he was already fluent in French, German and English, and subsequently learned Italian and Arabic.
At the Lyceum, Vyacheslav immediately attracted attention to drawing and made great progress under his leadership. A good memory often saved the boy. During most classes he drew - instead of writing down the lesson, however, remained the best student in the class. He graduated from the course with a gold medal.
After graduation, Schwartz studied at the Academy of Arts in the department of battle painting and at the same time attended lectures by historian Nikolai Kostomarov at St. Petersburg University. At the intersection of his passion for history and painting, his special style was born.
Once upon a time, on the outskirts of Athens, near the temple of Apollo Lyceum, there was a school founded by the great philosopher of the past, Aristotle. It was called the Lyceum or Lyceum. On October 19, 1811, an educational institution under the same name opened in Tsarskoe Selo, near St. Petersburg. And, probably, its creators hoped that the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum would in some way become the successor to the famous school of antiquity, of which the beautiful park architecture here in Tsarskoe Selo was reminiscent. However, she spoke not only about the world of eternal art. The parks preserved the memory of the glorious pages of Russian history - the battles of Peter the Great, the victory of Russian weapons at Kagul, Chesma, Morea.
History of the establishment of the Lyceum
“The establishment of the lyceum is aimed at the education of youth, especially those destined for important parts of the public service,” said the first paragraph of the lyceum charter. The author of the project to create a lyceum, M. M. Speransky, saw in the new educational institution not only a school for training educated officials. He wanted the lyceum to educate people capable of implementing the plans for the transformation of the Russian state. The broadest knowledge, the ability to think and the desire to work for the good of Russia - these were the qualities that the graduates of the new educational institution were supposed to distinguish. It is no coincidence that in a new program speech addressed to students on the day of the grand opening, associate professor of moral and political sciences Alexander Petrovich Kunitsyn spoke about the duties of a citizen, about love for the Fatherland and duty to it. The boys remembered the words for the rest of their lives: “Love of glory and the Fatherland should be your leaders.”
According to the charter, children of nobles aged 10-12 years were admitted to the lyceum. At the same time, no more than 50 people could be educated in an educational institution. The first, Pushkin course, accepted 30 students. The training lasted six years and was equivalent to university education. The first three years - the so-called initial course - studied subjects in the upper grades of the gymnasium. The next three years - the final course - contained the main subjects of the three faculties of the university: verbal, moral-political and physico-mathematical. The extensive program harmoniously combined the humanities and exact sciences and provided encyclopedic knowledge. A large place was given to “moral” sciences, which, as the lyceum charter stated, “...means all that knowledge that relates to the moral position of a person in society, and, consequently, concepts about the structure of civil societies, and about rights and responsibilities, arising from here."
Traditions of education in lyceums
One of the main tasks of lyceum education is to develop mental abilities and teach students to think independently. “The basic rule of a good method or way of teaching,” it was emphasized in the lyceum charter, “is not to darken the minds of children with lengthy explanations, but to stimulate its own action.” The most important place in the training program was given to a deep study of Russian history. The development of patriotic feelings was closely connected with knowledge of the native country, its past, present, and future.
Much attention was paid to the study of the biographies of great people - it was believed that historical examples would help the self-education of the individual and teach him great service to the Fatherland. When drawing up the curriculum, the age characteristics of the students were taken into account. In the first year, when the boys were 10-12 years old, a lot of time was devoted to learning languages: Russian, French, Latin and German. There were days when students were required to speak a foreign language among themselves.
The Lyceum was a closed educational institution. The daily routine here was strictly regulated. The pupils got up at six o'clock in the morning. During the seventh hour it was necessary to dress, wash, pray and repeat lessons. Classes began at seven o'clock and lasted two hours.
At ten o'clock the lyceum students had breakfast and took a short walk, after which they returned to class, where they studied for another two hours. At twelve we went for a walk, after which we repeated our lessons. At two o'clock we had lunch. After lunch there are three hours of classes. In the sixth - a walk and gymnastic exercises.
The students studied for a total of seven hours a day. Class hours alternated with rest and walks. Walks were taken in any weather in the Tsarskoye Selo Garden. The pupils' recreation consists of fine arts and gymnastic exercises. Among physical exercises at that time, swimming, horse riding, fencing, and in winter - skating were especially popular. Subjects that promote aesthetic development - drawing, penmanship, music, singing - are still included in the secondary school curriculum.
In future statesmen they tried to develop a sense of self-esteem and respect for the personality of another person. They were taught that “all pupils are equal... and therefore no one can despise others or be proud of anything before others”; that teachers and tutors should always tell the truth, “for to lie to your boss means to disrespect him.” It was forbidden to shout at the uncles or scold them. There was no corporal punishment or official drill at the lyceum. Each pupil had a separate room. In the first years of study, grades were not given at the lyceum. Instead, professors regularly compiled characteristics in which they analyzed the student’s natural inclinations, his behavior, diligence, and success. It was believed that a detailed description helped work with the student better than an unambiguous assessment.
The students of the Lyceum were never idle. Here everything was aimed at developing mental interests, every desire for knowledge was encouraged. For example, Alexey Illichevsky collected materials for the biographies of great people of Russia, and Wilhelm Kuchelbecker compiled a dictionary containing extracts from the works of philosophical writers close to him.
The students read a lot. “We studied little in class, but a lot in reading and conversation with constant friction of minds,” recalled Modest Korf. Replenishing the library was a constant concern of the council of lyceum professors. In a letter to Pavel Fuss, answering the question whether new books reach the lyceum, Alexey Illichevsky reflects on the benefits of reading: “Do newly published books reach our solitude? - you ask me. Can you doubt it?.. Never! Reading feeds the soul, shapes the mind, develops abilities...”
Lyceum students knew their contemporaries - Russian writers and poets - not only from their works. Illichevsky’s testimony from a letter to Fuss is interesting: “... until I entered the Lyceum, I did not see a single writer, but at the Lyceum I saw Dmitriev, Derzhavin, Zhukovsky, Batyushkov, Vasily Pushkin and Khvostov; I also forgot: Neledinsky, Kutuzov, Dashkov.” Professor of Russian and Latin literature Nikolai Fedorovich Koshansky considered the ability to write and compose to be the basis of literary education and approved of the poetic experiments of his students. Often in class he suggested writing poems on a given topic. “How I now see that afternoon class of Koshansky,” Ivan Pushchin later recalled, “when, having finished the lecture a little earlier than the lesson hour, the professor said: “Now, gentlemen, let’s try feathers: please describe a rose to me in verse.”
One of the favorite activities of lyceum students was meetings at which everyone was obliged to tell something - fictional or read. Gradually, the stock of poems, stories, and epigrams increased, and they were written down. Handwritten journals were created, and lyceum poets grew up, friendly competing with each other. And since 1814, their poetic experiments began to appear on the pages of Russian magazines.
Famous students of the Lyceum
At that time, students of many educational institutions had their own mottos, but hardly any of them had a motto more humane and noble than the one chosen by the lyceum students of the Pushkin course - “For the Common Benefit.” The directors of the lyceum, Vasily Fedorovich Malinovsky and Yegor Antonovich Engelhardt, the best professors and teachers, taught to live “For the Common Benefit”. During the 32 years of existence of the Imperial Lyceum in Tsarskoe Selo (from 1811 to 1843), 286 people graduated from this privileged educational institution. The following students studied within its walls at different times: the outstanding satirist M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, the poet L. A. Mei, the organizer of the society of utopian socialists M. V. Butashevich-Petrashevsky, philosopher, historian N. Ya. Danilevsky, compiler “Dictionary of the Russian Language” Academician Y. K. Grot. And yet, the lyceum owes its glory primarily to its first-born, a class that went down in Russian history with the names of the poet A. S. Pushkin, poet, journalist A. A. Delvig, an active participant in the uprising on December 14, 1825 on Senate Square, one of the most courageous, persistent Decembrists I. I. Pushchin, poet, Decembrist V. K. Kuchelbecker, navigator Rear Admiral F. F. Matyushkin, participant in the Turkish and Persian campaigns General V. D. Volkhovsky, prominent statesman, Minister of Foreign Affairs A. M. Gorchakova.
General information about the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum
Once upon a time in ancient Athens there was a legendary school founded by the philosopher Aristotle, called the Lyceum or Lyceum. The Russian Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum is an elite educational institution that strives to be similar to the example of high antiquity, imbued with the spirit of romanticism and free thought. The Lyceum gave Russia many great names. It was founded in 1810 in Tsarskoe Selo and opened on October 19, 1811. The creators of the Lyceum turned not only to the ideal of antiquity, but also to Russian traditions: it is no coincidence that the outstanding historian Karamzin was among the trustees of the educational institution.
“The establishment of the Lyceum is aimed at the education of youth, especially those destined for important parts of the public service,” said the first paragraph of the Lyceum charter. The author of the project to create the Lyceum, M.M. Speransky, saw in the new educational institution not only a school for training educated officials. He wanted the Lyceum to educate people capable of implementing the plans for the transformation of the Russian state. The broadest knowledge, the ability to think and the desire to work for the good of Russia - these were the qualities that the graduates of the new educational institution were supposed to distinguish. It is no coincidence that in a new keynote speech addressed to students on the day of the grand opening, Associate Professor of Moral and Political Sciences Alexander Petrovich Kunitsy spoke about the duties of a citizen and war, about love for the Fatherland and duty to it. The boys remembered the words for the rest of their lives: “Love of glory and the fatherland should be your guides.”
The lyceum accepted children 10-12 years old, the number of students ranged from 30 (in 1811-17) to 100 (from 1832). During 6 years of study (two 3-year courses, from 1836 - 4 classes of one and a half years each) the following sciences were studied at the Lyceum: moral (God's law, ethics, logic, jurisprudence, political economy); verbal (Russian, Latin, French, German literature and languages, rhetoric); historical (Russian and general history, physical geography); physical and mathematical (mathematics, principles of physics and cosmography, mathematical geography, statistics); fine arts and gymnastic exercises (penmanship, drawing, dancing, fencing, horse riding, swimming). The extensive program harmoniously combined the humanities and exact sciences and provided encyclopedic knowledge. A large place was given to “moral” sciences, which, as the lyceum charter stated, “...means all that knowledge that relates to the moral position of a person in society and, therefore, the concept of the structure of civil societies, and the rights and responsibilities that arise from this.” ". The most important place in the training program was given to a deep study of Russian history. The development of patriotic feelings was closely connected with knowledge of the native country, its past, present, and future.
The lyceum's curriculum was changed several times, but it retained its humanitarian and legal basis. Graduates received the rights of university graduates and civil ranks of the 14th - 9th grades. For those wishing to enter military service, additional military training was provided, and they were granted the rights of graduates of the Corps of Pages.
The Lyceum was a closed educational institution. The daily routine here was strictly regulated. The pupils got up at six o'clock in the morning. During the seventh hour it was necessary to get dressed, wash, pray to God and repeat the lessons. Classes began at seven o'clock and lasted two hours. At ten o'clock the lyceum students had breakfast and took a short walk, after which they returned to class, where they studied for another two hours. At twelve we went for a walk, after which we repeated our lessons. At two o'clock we had lunch. After lunch there are three hours of classes. In the sixth - a walk and gymnastic exercises. The students studied for a total of seven hours a day. Class hours alternated with rest and walks. Walks were taken in any weather in the Tsarskoye Selo Garden. The pupils' recreation consists of fine arts and gymnastic exercises. Among physical exercises at that time, swimming, horse riding, fencing, and in winter - skating were especially popular. Subjects that promote aesthetic development - drawing, penmanship, music, singing - are still included in the secondary school curriculum.
In the first years of its existence (1811-1817), the Lyceum created an atmosphere of passion for new Russian literature, represented by the names of N. M. Karamzin, V. A. Zhukovsky, K. N. Batyushkov, and French literature of the Enlightenment (Voltaire). This passion contributed to the unification of a number of young people into a creative literary and poetic circle that determined the spirit of the educational institution (A. S. Pushkin, A. A. Delvig, V. K. Kuchelbecker, V. D. Volkhovsky, A. D. Illichevsky, K. K. Danzas, M. L. Yakovlev and many others). The circle published handwritten magazines “Lyceum Sage”, “Bulletin”, “For Pleasure and Benefit”, etc., creative literary competitions were held between its members, poems by lyceum students Pushkin, Delvig, Kuchelbecker and others. Since 1814, famous magazines began to be published (“Bulletin” Europe", "Russian Museum", "Son of the Fatherland"). The poetic creativity of lyceum students and their interest in literature were encouraged by the professor of Russian and Latin literature, Zhukovsky’s friend N.F. Koshansky and his successor from 1814 A.I. Galich.
The students read a lot. “We studied little in classes, but a lot in reading and conversation with constant friction of minds,” recalled Modest Korf. Replenishing the library was a constant concern of the Council of Lyceum Professors. In a letter to Pavel Fuss, answering the question whether new books reach the Lyceum, Alexey Illichevsky reflects on the benefits of reading: “Do newly published books reach our solitude? You ask me; can you doubt it?.. Never! Reading nourishes soul, forms the mind, develops abilities...". Lyceum students knew their contemporaries - Russian writers and poets - not only from their works. Illichevsky’s testimony from a letter to Fuss is interesting: “... until I entered the Lyceum, I did not see a single writer - but at the Lyceum I saw Dmitriev, Derzhavin, Zhukovsky, Batyushkov, Vasily Pushkin and Khvostov; I also forgot: Neledinsky, Kutuzov , Dashkova". Professor of Russian and Latin literature Nikolai Fedorovich Koshansky considered the ability to write and compose to be the basis of literary education and approved of the poetic experiments of his students. Often in class he suggested writing poems on a given topic. “How now I see that afternoon class of Koshansky,” Ivan Pushchin later recalled, “when, having finished the lecture a little earlier than the lesson hour, the professor said: “Now, gentlemen, let’s try feathers: please describe a rose to me in verse.”
The Lyceum was located in Tsarskoe Selo in a wing of the Catherine Palace. The building of the Lyceum of simple, strict forms, traditional for Russian classicism, forms, together with the church wing of the Great (Catherine) Palace, a single architectural ensemble, unusual both in its compositional structure and peculiar beauty. The building was built under Catherine II by architect Ilya Neelov. The main façade of the building, facing the palace, has a portico of four columns of the Corinthian order; above the windows of the third floor there is a decorative frieze. The lyceum and church wings are connected by a narrow passage, the walls of which, cut through with arches below, seem to let the street pass through them. On the sides of the middle arch there were niches for decorative statues, above which were placed round bas-reliefs made by the Tsarskoye Selo modeler Grigory Makarov. The eastern façade of the Lyceum with its front porch is the most impressive. On this side, a three-span arch connecting the lyceum building with the church building harmoniously closes the perspective of the canal embankment separating Catherine Park from the city quarters. Through the arch you can see the turn of the street and Alexander Park. On the western side of the Lyceum, from under the arches there is a view of the street going downhill and the Catherine Park.
The Lyceum was the most modern educational institution of its time, due to which many of its students shared radical political views and participated in the Decembrist movement. After the attempted uprising of 1825, the government reorganized the Lyceum, establishing a restrictive regime for students, control over the selection of teachers and the direction of lectures. At the end of 1843, the Lyceum was reorganized into the Alexandrovsky Lyceum and in January 1844 it was transferred to St. Petersburg. In 1917, the lyceum was closed due to the abolition of class privileges.
Over the 33 years of the existence of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, 286 people graduated from it, including 234 in the civil sector, 50 in the military, 2 in the navy. Many of them joined the ranks of the bureaucratic nobility of the Russian Empire, becoming ministers, diplomats, senators, members of the State Council (Prince Gorchakov, the future Minister of Foreign Affairs, N. Korsakov and others). K. S. Veselovsky, Ya. Pushchin. The great Russian poet Alexander Pushkin truly glorified the Lyceum throughout the world.
The trustees of the Lyceum were Emperor Alexander I, the great Russian poets Derzhavin and Zhukovsky, the outstanding Russian historian Karamzin, M.M. Speransky, Minister of Public Education A.K. Razumovsky, Director of the Department of Public Education I.I. Martynov.
The first director of the lyceum was Vasily Fedorovich Malinovsky (1765 - 23.III.1814) - a graduate of Moscow University, diplomat, writer, who led the institution from its opening until 1814. Vasily Fedorovich was the author of one of the first projects for the abolition of serfdom (1802), and was a supporter of the state reforms of M.M. Speransky. First-year lyceum students spent “leisure hours” in the family of the lyceum director. At the end of March 1814, lyceum students attended the funeral of V.F. Malinovsky at the Okhtinskoye cemetery. In Pushkin’s “Program of Autobiography,” V. F. Malinovsky is also mentioned among the people who influenced his upbringing of the future poet. Malinovsky was replaced by Fyodor Matveevich von Gauenschild (1780 - 18.11.1830) - professor of German language and literature at the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, an Austrian subject who lived in Russia in 1809 - 1829. Thanks to the patronage of S.S. Uvarov was not only a professor, but from January 1814 he was appointed director of the Noble boarding school at the Lyceum. In addition, in 1814-1816. corrected the position of director of the lyceum. Gauenschild, an educated man, quickly learned the Russian language and translated Karamzin’s “History” from the manuscript into German. The third director was Yegor Antonovich Engelhardt (1775-1862) - teacher and administrator. In 1812, he was appointed director of the Pedagogical Institute, a position he held for less than four years. Since March 1816 - director of the Lyceum. In October 1823 he resigns.
Among the first teachers of the lyceum were Alexander Ivanovich Galich (1783 - 9.IX.1848) - professor of Russian and Latin literature, later professor at St. Petersburg University (1819 - 1837); Ivan Kuzmich Kaidanov (2.II.1782 - 9.IX.1845) - Honored Professor of History of the Tsarskoe Selo Lyceum, corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences, in 1814 - 1816. conference secretary of the lyceum: author of a number of textbooks on general and Russian history and several historical studies on ancient and general history; Alexander Petrovich Kunitsyn (1783 - 1.VIII.1840) - associate professor (1811 - 1816), teacher of moral and political sciences in 1814-1820. at the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum. He completed his education in Heidelberg and was one of the best teachers of his time: an independent legal theorist. In 1838, Kunitsyn was chairman of the Committee to supervise the printing of the complete collection of laws and was elected an honorary member of the university. In 1840 he was appointed director of the Department of Foreign Confessions.
The educational institution, created to train government officials, thanks to a broad training program and comprehensive development of students, educated Russian citizens who became famous in various fields of state and public life, science and culture. Perhaps the most striking characteristic of the Lyceum was its motto - “For the Common Benefit”.
Imperial Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum
Lyceum in 19th century drawings
Imperial Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum(since 1843 - Alexandrovsky Lyceum) - a higher educational institution in pre-revolutionary Russia, operating in Tsarskoe Selo from 1811 to 1843. In Russian history it is known, first of all, as the school that educated A.S. Pushkin and was sung by him.
Goals of the educational institution. Program
The Lyceum was founded by order of Emperor Alexander I in 1810. It was intended to educate noble children. According to the original plan, the younger brothers of Alexander I, Nikolai and Mikhail, were also to be educated at the Lyceum. The general offensive of the reaction before the War of 1812, expressed in particular in the fall of Speransky, led to the fact that the original plans were discarded. The program was developed by M. M. Speransky and is aimed primarily at training state educated officials of the highest ranks. The lyceum accepted children 10-12 years old; admission took place every three years. The Lyceum was opened on October 19 (31), 1811. Initially it was under the authority of the Ministry of Public Education, but in 1822 it was reassigned to the military department.
The duration of training was initially six years (two three-year courses, since 1836 - four classes of one and a half years each). During this time the following disciplines were studied:
moral (God's Law, ethics, logic, jurisprudence, political economy);
verbal (Russian, Latin, French, German literature and languages, rhetoric);
historical (Russian and general history, physical geography);
physical and mathematical (mathematics, principles of physics and cosmography, mathematical geography, statistics);
fine arts and gymnastic exercises (penmanship, drawing, dancing, fencing, horse riding, swimming).
A distinctive feature of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum was the prohibition of corporal punishment of students, enshrined in the Lyceum charter.
Lyceum in Tsarskoe Selo
Building
The educational institution was located in the building of the palace wing of the Catherine Palace. The outbuilding was built in the 1790s by the architect Ilya Neelov (or Giacomo Quarenghi) for the Grand Duchesses, daughters of Emperor Paul I. In 1811, the building was significantly rebuilt by the architect V.P. Stasov and adapted to the needs of the educational institution. Consists of four floors. Each lyceum student had his own room - a “cell,” as A.S. Pushkin called it. In the room there is an iron bed, a chest of drawers, a desk, a mirror, a chair, and a table for washing.
Lyceum teachers
The first director of the Lyceum was Vasily Fedorovich Malinovsky (1765-1814). After his death, Yegor Antonovich Engelhardt was appointed director. Among the first professors and teachers of the Lyceum, who had a direct influence on A. S. Pushkin and the generation of Decembrists, were Alexander Petrovich Kunitsyn, 1782-1840, (moral and political sciences); Nikolai Fedorovich Koshansky, 1781-1831, (aesthetics, Russian and Latin literature); Yakov Ivanovich Kartsev, 1785-1836, (physical and mathematical sciences); Tepper de Ferguson, 1768 - after 1824, (music and choral singing) Alexander Ivanovich Galich, 1783-1848, (Russian literature); Fyodor Bogdanovich Elsner, 1771-1832, (military sciences); David Ivanovich de Boudry, 1756-1821, (French literature); Sergei Gavrilovich Chirikov, 1776-1853, (fine arts), Evgeniy Aleksandrovich Belov, 1826 - 1895 (history and geography).
Room No. 14, where Pushkin lived
The first pupils
In 1811, the first students of the Lyceum were:
Bakunin, Alexander Pavlovich (1799-1862)
Broglio, Silvery Frantsevich (1799 - between 1822 m and 1825 m)
Volkhovsky, Vladimir Dmitrievich (1798-1841)
Gorchakov, Alexander Mikhailovich (1798-1883)
Grevenits, Pavel Fedorovich (1798-1847)
Guryev, Konstantin Vasilievich (1800-1833), expelled from the Lyceum in 1813.
Danzas, Konstantin Karlovich (1801-1870)
Delvig, Anton Antonovich (1798-1831)
Esakov, Semyon Semyonovich (1798-1831)
Illichevsky, Alexey Demyanovich (1798-1837)
Komovsky, Sergei Dmitrievich (1798-1880)
Kornilov, Alexander Alekseevich (1801-1856)
Korsakov, Nikolai Alexandrovich (1800-1820)
Korf, Modest Andreevich (1800-1876)
Kostensky, Konstantin Dmitrievich (1797-1830)
Kuchelbecker, Wilhelm Karlovich (1797-1846)
Lomonosov, Sergei Grigorievich (1799-1857)
Malinovsky, Ivan Vasilievich (1796-1873)
Martynov, Arkady Ivanovich (1801-1850)
Maslov, Dmitry Nikolaevich (1799-1856)
Matyushkin, Fedor Fedorovich (1799-1872)
Myasoedov, Pavel Nikolaevich (1799-1868)
Pushkin, Alexander Sergeevich (1799-1837)
Pushchin, Ivan Ivanovich (1798-1859)
Rzhevsky, Nikolai Grigorievich (1800-1817)
Savrasov, Pyotr Fedorovich (1799-1830)
Steven, Fedor Khristianovich (1797-1851)
Tyrkov, Alexander Dmitrievich (1799-1843)
Yudin, Pavel Mikhailovich (1798-1852)
Yakovlev, Mikhail Lukyanovich (1798-1868)
“The establishment of the Lyceum has the goal of educating young people, especially those destined for important parts of the public service,” the Charter of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum began with these words. However, the author of the educational institution project, Mikhail Mikhailovich Speransky, saw in the Lyceum not only a school for training educated officials. He wanted the Lyceum to educate people with new views, capable of implementing the planned plans for the transformation of the Russian state: the beginning of the century encouraged the public to make bold plans for mass education, the abolition of serfdom, and the constitution... Therefore, first of all, teachers were obliged to teach their students to think independently and, secondly, to develop their talents, which each graduate could later use for the benefit of Russia. “For the Common Benefit” - this motto, inscribed on the coat of arms of the Lyceum and on the graduation medals of the Lyceum students, once and for all determined their civic position and set their life priorities.
HAPPY PRISONERS
Education at the Lyceum lasted 6 years and consisted of two courses of 3 years each. The first course was called elementary and included the grammatical study of languages (Russian, Latin, French and German), moral sciences (the law of God, philosophy and the foundations of logic), mathematical and physical sciences (arithmetic, geometry, trigonometry, algebra and physics), science historical (Russian history, foreign history, geography and chronology), the original foundations of fine writing (selected passages from the best writers and the rules of rhetoric), fine arts and gymnastic exercises (drawing, penmanship, dancing, fencing, horse riding, swimming).The second course (final) covered the following sections: moral sciences, physical, mathematical, historical, literature, fine arts and gymnastic exercises. Throughout the course, students were given an introduction to civil architecture. Classes at the Lyceum began on August 1 and lasted until July 1, but July, the only month of “vacation” (vacation), the lyceum students had to spend in Tsarskoye Selo. Like any ban, the ban on leaving the territory of the Lyceum caused the opposite effect among the students - they jokingly called themselves prisoners and periodically dared to go “AWOL”.
Of fundamental importance was the staffing of the Lyceum, where the best representatives of noble origin were admitted - physically healthy boys aged 10-12 years. As soon as the first students were collected in one class, it became obvious: despite the fact that they all passed the entrance exams in Russian, French and German, arithmetic, physics, geography and history, the levels of training of lyceum students differ significantly. Then the teachers wisely stepped back from the “educational race” and conducted classes so that none of the students fell behind in their studies. They were even forbidden to dictate new material for academic subjects until all lyceum students had mastered the lessons they had learned.
THE MYSTERY OF THE “LYCEUM SPIRIT”
Vasily Malinovsky - the first director of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, state councilor, graduate of Moscow University, worked for many years in the diplomatic field, while simultaneously being engaged in literary activities. An unusually erudite scientist with progressive views, a writer who spoke and wrote in many languages, and a subtle and insightful teacher, Malinovsky, in a very short period of his directorship, managed to create in the Lyceum a unique atmosphere of freedom, creativity, and friendship, which was later called the “Lyceum spirit.” He paid special attention to the selection of professors who headed the departments - these were mostly young and energetic people, dedicated to their work, able to establish friendly, emotional contact with lyceum students.From the first year they were taught to live according to a schedule. A well-thought-out daily routine contributed to the accelerated development of lyceum students, who by the age of 16–18 became physically strong, seasoned, hardworking, morally healthy people.
6 am – general rise, morning prayer, repetition of tasks
from 8 to 9 – lesson in classes
from 10 to 11 – breakfast and walk in the park
from 11 to 12 – second lesson in classes
from 13:00 – lunch and short break
14 hours – penmanship and drawing classes
from 15 to 17 – lessons in classes.
after 17:00 – short rest, afternoon snack, walk, games and gymnastic exercises
from 20 to 22 – dinner, walk in the park and review of lessons
22 hours – evening prayer and sleep
LYCEUM TEACHERS
“The main rule is that students should never be idle,” says the “Resolution on the Lyceum.” In this regard, each professor considered it his duty to keep lyceum students busy with useful work outside of class hours. For example, art teacher Sergei Gavrilovich Chirikov organized literary meetings for students in his apartment. We owe him the wonderful illustrations of Pushkin to his own poems. The teacher of “Russian literature” Nikolai Fedorovich Koshansky regularly gave poetry assignments to his students. As a result, handwritten literary magazines “Lyceum Sage”, “Inexperienced Pen”, “Bulletin” arose in the lyceum environment. Yakov Ivanovich Kartsev, the founder of the department of physical and mathematical sciences, set up physics and mineralogical classrooms at the Lyceum. At the same time, the lyceum authorities spared no expense in purchasing the most modern scientific instruments for the physics classroom. A special machine for demonstrating the laws of magnetism and electricity cost the Lyceum a huge sum of 1,750 rubles at that time.CHARACTERISTICS OF A LYCEUM STUDENT
“Pushkin (Alexander), 13 years old. He has more brilliant than solid talents, a more ardent and subtle mind than a deep one. His diligence in learning is mediocre, because hard work has not yet become his virtue. Having read many French books, but without a choice appropriate to his age, he filled his memory with many successful passages from famous authors; He is quite well-read in Russian literature, he knows a lot of fables and poems. His knowledge is generally superficial, although he is beginning to get somewhat accustomed to thorough reflection. Self-love together with ambition, which sometimes makes him shy, sensitivity with a heart, hot outbursts of temper, frivolity and a special willingness to talk with wit are characteristic of him. Meanwhile, good nature is also noticeable in him, recognizing his weaknesses, he willingly accepts advice with some success. His loquaciousness and wit took on a new and better form with a happy change in the way he thought, but in general there was little constancy and firmness in his character.”
Director of the Lyceum V. Malinovsky
PUSHKIN ISSUE
In 1817, the first graduation of students from the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum into public service took place - the most famous and unique. It is famous for the names of the Chancellor of the Russian Empire Alexander Gorchakov, the navigator Fyodor Matyushkin, the Decembrists Ivan Pushchin, Wilhelm Kuchelbecker, Vladimir Volkhovsky, the poet Anton Delvig, the composer Mikhail Yakovlev and, of course, Alexander Pushkin. In total, during the existence of the Lyceum in Tsarskoe Selo (1811–1844), it produced 12 members of the State Council, 19 senators, 3 honorary guardians, 5 diplomats, more than 13 district and provincial leaders of the nobility, as well as numerous scientists and artists.An unheard of pedagogical innovation for those times was the abolition of any corporal punishment at the Lyceum and the complete equality of students. Other types of penalties were in use: putting a name on a black board, a special table in the classroom for the offender, solitary confinement in a punishment cell. In future statesmen they tried to develop a sense of self-esteem and respect for the personality of another person. They were taught that no one could despise others or be proud of anything in front of others, that teachers and tutors should always tell the truth, that it was forbidden to shout at their uncles and scold them. The lyceum students also did not feel any material oppression: each student had a separate room, in it there was a classroom table (desk), a chest of drawers and a polished iron bed with copper decorations, covered with canvas.
In the first years of study, grades were not given at the Lyceum. Instead, professors regularly compiled characteristics in which they analyzed the student’s natural inclinations, his behavior, diligence, and success. It was believed that a detailed description helped work with the student better than a clear numerical assessment.
Its library was of great importance in the life of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum. Relentless attention was paid to the religious education of young men. In addition to planned lessons on the law of God, the students read the Bible independently. On Sundays and holidays, lyceum students attended services. All students attended classes in spiritual singing and studied it with great diligence.
In 1816, training for young men in horse riding began, and in 1817, swimming classes, no less popular among lyceum students, were introduced. The place for exercise was a large bath in the royal garden. After swimming, medical control was carried out. The students of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum had to behave well at balls in secular society, so the famous dance teachers Guard and Eberhardt were invited to them.
The Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, indeed, became a progressive and vibrant educational institution for its time. Many innovations mastered by teachers of that era are still successfully used in modern practice. The noble motto “For the Common Benefit,” which united the best young men of the beginning of the century, became the basis for educating people with a statesmanlike mind, caring for the well-being of their country and people.