Enlightenment ideas and education
The Enlightenment was a European way of thinking: use reason, learn about nature, and improve laws and schools. Catherine II wrote to European thinkers and spoke of enlightened rule. But some writers used the same ideas to criticise Russia. Nikolai Novikov printed satirical journals and many books, and was arrested in 1792. Alexander Radishchev wrote Journey from St Petersburg to Moscow (1790), which attacked serfdom, and he was sent far away.
Education
The Academy of Sciences was set up in 1724 and began work in 1725. Moscow University opened in 1755 (Lomonosov and Ivan Shuvalov helped). The Academy of Arts opened in 1757. The Smolny Institute for noble girls opened in 1764. In 1786 a statute set up public schools in towns. Still, most serfs had no school.
Science
Mikhail Lomonosov (1711 to 1765) came from a fishing family in the north and walked to Moscow to study. He worked in chemistry, physics, astronomy and also wrote poems and a Russian grammar. In 1761, watching Venus pass in front of the sun, he saw a glow around the planet and explained that Venus has an atmosphere. The Academy of Sciences also sent big expeditions to study Siberia and other regions in the 1760s and 1770s. The self-taught mechanic Ivan Kulibin made clocks and designed a one-arch bridge.
Architecture, painting and sculpture
Architecture
Two styles. Baroque is rich, curved and gilded: Francesco Rastrelli built the Winter Palace (1754 to 1762) and the Catherine Palace. Later came Classicism: straight lines, columns and a triangle roof, as in the buildings of Vasily Bazhenov, Matvey Kazakov and Giacomo Quarenghi.
Painting and sculpture
The Academy of Arts trained artists. Fyodor Rokotov, Dmitry Levitsky and Vladimir Borovikovsky painted fine portraits. In 1782 the French sculptor Etienne Falconet finished the monument to Peter I, the Bronze Horseman, standing on a huge rock in St Petersburg.
Theatre and writing
Before the 1750s plays were mostly at court and in schools. In 1756 the first public Russian theatre opened in St Petersburg, with the actor Fyodor Volkov and the writer Alexander Sumarokov as director. In Moscow, the Petrovsky theatre opened in 1780. Rich nobles such as the Sheremetev family kept serf theatres with actors, singers and musicians who were serfs. Denis Fonvizin's comedy The Minor (1782) laughed at bad teaching and rude landowners. Poets such as Gavriil Derzhavin wrote odes, and Nikolai Karamzin brought a new, softer prose style.
Key formulas and definitions
- 1755: Moscow University; 1757: Academy of Arts; 1764: Smolny Institute; 1786: public schools
- 1761: Lomonosov sees the atmosphere of Venus
- 1754 to 1762: Winter Palace (Baroque); later Classicism
- 1756: first public theatre; 1782: The Minor and the Bronze Horseman
Worked examples
1. What did Lomonosov see in 1761 and what did he conclude?
While Venus passed in front of the sun he saw a glow around it. He concluded that Venus has an atmosphere.
2. How can you tell Baroque from Classicism?
Baroque is rich, curved and gilded. Classicism is calm, with straight lines, columns and a triangle roof.
3. Why were serf theatres a strange thing?
The actors, singers and musicians were serfs owned by the landowner, so artists had talent but not freedom.
Common mistakes
- Thinking Lomonosov only wrote poems. He was also a leading scientist and wrote a grammar.
- Mixing Baroque and Classicism. Baroque is curly and gilded; Classicism has straight columns.
- Mixing dates: Moscow University 1755, Academy of Arts 1757, Smolny 1764, public schools 1786.
- Believing all people could go to school. Most serfs still had no school.