Alexandra Alexejewna Obolenskaya

Alexandra Alexejewna Obolenskaya (1879)

Princess Alexandra Alexejewna Obolenskaya born Djakowa ( Russian Александра Алексеевна Оболенская * November 27 ^{. Jul} / 9. December  1831 ^greg. In Tscheremoschny in Mtsensk , † December 8 ^{. Jul} / 20th December  1890 ^{. Greg} in St. Petersburg ) was a Russian nobleman, advocate of women's education in Russia , school founder and patron .

Life

Alexandra's father was the landlord and colonel ret. D. Alexei Nikolajewitsch Djakow (1790-1837). Alexandra's mother, Baroness Marie Dahlheim de Limousin, was Djakov's second wife. As the daughter of a French emigrant , she had graduated from St. Petersburg's Smolny Institute for noble girls and had become lady-in-waiting of Empress Maria Feodorovna , who ensured a quick marriage. During their four-year marriage, she gave birth to her three daughters Maria, Alexandra and Jelisaweta and died after the birth of Jelisaweta in 1833. In 1836, Djakow married the singing lover Jelisaweta Alexejewna Okulowa (1805–1886), daughter of Lieutenant General Alexei Matwejewitsch Okulow, and as his third wife died a year later.

Alexandra enjoyed an excellent education and showed a talent for drawing at an early age . She portrayed relatives and friends with an accurate representation of their characteristics. In 1852 she rejected Lew Tolstoy's application . In 1853 she married Prince Andrei Wassiljewitsch Obolensky, son of Major General Prince Vasily Petrovich Obolensky . The house of the Obolenskis in Kaluga was a meeting place for a circle of advocates of peasant liberation .

When Alexandra with her husband in 1868 by Kaunas moved to St. Petersburg, Alexandra joined a circle of supporters of women's education, the Anna Filossofowa , MA Bykova, Jelena Lichatschowa and Marija Trubnikowa belonged and intensively the opening of the Higher Courses for Women in the sense advised a women's university in St. Petersburg. In 1869, Alexandra decided to set up a girls' high school in St. Petersburg similar to a high school for boys in preparation for university studies. For the creation of a curriculum for the new high school, she invited Alexander Heard and AN Strannoljubski along with other competent teachers . After a year, a budget of 8,000 rubles was established, of which Alexandra took over half and the supporters the rest. Since Alexandra found it difficult to find a person to lead the school construction, she took the trouble to take the tutor test. In November 1870 she opened Princess Obolenskaya's girls' high school . She continued to support the school and took over its financial deficits. For her school she engaged outstanding teachers, so AR Heard as scientific director (1879-1888) and as teacher the literary scholar Pjotr ​​Weinberg and the mathematicians NI Bilibin and AN Strannoljubski.

In 1880 Alexandra's high school was put on an equal footing with the state high schools. Because of her poor health ( asthma , diabetes ), Alexandra handed over the management of her high school to her daughter Princess Marija Andrejewna Meschtscherska (1858–1915) without giving up her interest in the school. Every year she spent a few months relaxing on the Côte d'Azur . Before her death she returned from the Crimea to St. Petersburg in order to be able to die in the company of her children and her high school.

Web links

Commons : The Obolensky Family  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

Commons : The Djakov family  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Александр Александрович Половцов (Большая биографическая энциклопедия): Оболенская, княгиня on January 25, 2017.
2. ^ Friedrich Fiedler : From the world of writers. Character traits and judgments . Wallstein, Göttingen 1996, ISBN 3-89244-183-9 , p. 538 .
3. ↑ Лихачёва Е. О .: Материалы для истории женского образования в России (1856–1880) . St. Petersburg 1891.