Maria Antonovna Naryshkina

Joseph Maria Grassi : Portrait of the Princess Marija Antonovna Naryschkina. Oil on canvas, 1807

Marija Antonowna Naryschkina ( Russian Мария Антоновна Нарышкина ; * 1779 ; † 1854 in Starnberg ) was a Polish princess and the mistress of the Russian Tsar Alexander I.

Sofya Naryshkina, the daughter of Maria Antonovna Narishkin and Tsar Alexander I.

Grave of Marija Naryschkina on the old southern cemetery in Munich location

Origin and marriage

Marija was the daughter of the Polish prince Antoni Stanisław Czetwertyński-Światopełk (1748–1794). She was married to the chief hunter Dmitri Lwowitsch Naryschkin (1764-1838) since 1795 . The then Grand Duke Alexander (1777-1825) made Marija Antonovna his permanent mistress in 1799, a position that she - with the approval of her husband - would hold for nineteen years.

mistress

In Saint Petersburg nobody was shocked or astonished that the future tsar took a lover, especially since they knew about it, least of all his mother Maria Feodorovna , who had always treated tsar Paul's courtesans as personal friends, provided of course that Paul had his consent gave. But his wife, Elisabeth Alexejewna (1779–1826), found herself in a completely different situation: she had no children and always remained a lonely person to whom everything Russian was alien, and she could never fully relate to the country she had adopted , adjust. She regarded the Naryshkina as a common prostitute who was out to destroy something beautiful, which even after ten years of marriage held magic for her. She did not take her friend, Grand Duchess Anna Fyodorovna , as an example, who, tired of the fits of rage and infidelity of Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich , had left Russia - also remained childless; she had learned to be patient.

Later years

Maria Naryshkina was not a courtesan in the ordinary sense of the word. Around 1803 her nickname in society was " Aspasia of the North ", a name that flattered her wit and spirit and the statesmanship of her lover. Familiar with the art of coquetry , she charmed like a siren . Again and again she found ways and means to seduce those whom she had cast an eye on. In July 1803 her circumstances changed, and with great tactlessness she exhibited her pregnancy in front of Tsarina Elizabeth Alexejewna, making no attempt to hide the paternity of her unborn child. Perhaps she believed Alexander would move the Orthodox Church to annul his and her marriage in order to make her his wife and tsarina. If this was her dream, she misjudged the complexity of tsarism and the bonds that existed between the ruler and his wife.

In January 1804, Marija Naryshkina gave birth to her lover, a daughter, Zenaida. Alexander was a proud father, and he did not manage to hide his joy from Elizabeth Alexeyevna. A few months later, Zenaida died, but this sad event did not affect the hectic life of Princess Marija. It was Elisabeth, and not Marija, who shared Alexander's pain and gave him confidence and comfort.

In 1814 Marija Naryschkina followed the Tsar to Vienna and rented a house at 60 Paniglgasse, which was observed by agents of Baron Hagers, Prince Metternich 's police chief at the Congress of Vienna . Since she was Polish by birth, the Austrians believed that she would want to influence Alexander's policies regarding their fatherland. Perhaps her motive was rather jealousy of the leading political courtesans at the Congress of Vienna, Duchess Wilhelmine von Sagan and Princess Katharina Bagration . Prince Boris Golitsyn kept telling the Tsar that God would punish him for his adultery with Maria Naryshkina. The tsar respected the prince's views, but felt drawn to Marija and loved his children, Zenaida (1806–1810), Sophia (1808–1824) and Emanuel (1813–1901), born from this relationship. He was simply unable to break off this relationship, which, with a few interruptions, had lasted nearly nineteen years. It was not until the summer of 1818 that he decided to do so after a difficult mental battle. In a letter to his sister Katharina Pavlovna , he even went so far as to refer to Marija and her children as "my family".

After the death of the Tsar and her husband, Princess Narischkina left Russia and moved to Munich in 1842, where - according to the police registration form - she lived in the house of the Count von Rechberg family from October 28, 1842, which is at Hundskugel 7 (today's Hackenstrasse) found. According to the sources, Marija Antonowna Naryschkina died in Starnberg in 1854.

tomb

The tomb of Marija Naryschkina is on the old southern cemetery in Munich (Old Arkadenplatz 73 at cemetery) Location . The circumstances that led to the burial in the Old Southern Cemetery are not known. It is very likely, however, that it is no coincidence that the grave site Alte Arkaden is located at 73 in the prestigious Alte Arkaden, very close to the Alte Arkaden at 61 of the family von Rechberg's friends. A connection to Count von Wyszkowsky, who also came from Eastern Europe and whose grave is right next to it, is also possible.

Johann von Halbig was commissioned to design and build the tomb . The princess chose the representation of Caritas, one of the three theological virtues , for her tomb . Since her former status as the tsar's influential mistress could not be taken up for her tomb, she apparently tried to be remembered as a caring mother for posterity.

literature

• Daria Olivier: Alexandre Ier: le prince des illusions , Paris: Fayard, 1973
• Alan Palmer : Alexander I. - opponent of Napoleon , Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1984, ISBN 3-453-55114-1 .
• Karin Feuerstein-Praßer: The Prussian Queens , Piper, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-492-23814-9 .

Web links

Commons : Maria Naryshkina  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files