Faces of a bygone era: 22 retro portraits of Russian schoolgirls from 1900

Not so long ago, there were debates about whether school uniforms were necessary. The opinions of teachers, parents and psychologists were very contradictory. But it is enough to look at photographs from 1900, which depict pupils of Russian gymnasiums, to dispel all doubts. These strict, noble girls are charming in itself.

1. Student of the Kharkov 2nd gymnasium

2. Student of the Moscow gymnasium

3. Elena Antipova

4. High school student Nadenka Zabaeva

5. Gymnasium students

6. Well-bred girl

7. Schoolgirls of the early 20th century

8. Gymnasium students of the 1st women's gymnasium

9. Portrait of schoolgirls with their class teacher

10. Princess Zinaida Yusupova

11. Girl embroidering

12. Noble girls

13. Yusupov sisters

14. Gymnasium graduate

15. Student of the Mariinsky Women's Gymnasium

16. Sofia Yakovlevna Parnokh

17. Graduate of the Smolny Institute of Noble Maidens

18. High school student graduate

19. Special uniform dresses

20. Elizabeth Kologrivova

21. Student of the Smolny Institute

22. Graduate of the Alexander Institute

Women's institutes— in Russia, women's closed secondary educational institutions. One of the first Women's Institutes - the Society for the Education of Noble Maidens (Smolny Institute), founded in 1764 according to the project of I.I. Betsky with a department for girls of bourgeois rank (from 1765 Alexander Institute).

Pupils of the Smolny Institute of Noble Maidens at a dance lesson (1889)

Women's institutes were created as class (noble and bourgeois) educational institutions mainly for orphans and girls from low-income families and belonged to the Department of Institutions of Empress Maria. In them, children were isolated from the surrounding life, parents signed obligations not to see their children until the end of the course. In the 19th century, the class criterion lost its significance, and the rules of strict isolation underwent changes. Since 1864, it has been legalized to hold vacations and holidays at home. At the beginning of the 20th century there were 31 Women's Institutes (7,500 students).

Girls aged 10-13 years old were enrolled in educational institutions for free vacancies and from 10-16 years old for free ones. Upon admission, knowledge of prayers, the ability to read, write and count were required. The institutions provided general, religious and secular education. Unlike gymnasiums, the Women's Institutes placed the greatest emphasis on learning new languages, art, and home economics. Girls also received a teaching profession (training was carried out in Pepinier classes, pedagogical courses, music, drawing and drafting classes). The best students were enrolled in the court service. The headmistress and class ladies (two per class) were responsible for the education of the students.

Women's gymnasiums- secondary general educational institutions in Russia, were divided into gymnasiums of the Department of Institutions of Empress Maria (Mariinsky), gymnasiums of the Ministry of Public Education and private gymnasiums.

Women's gymnasiums of the Department of Institutions of Empress Maria (Mariinsky). In 1862, the Mariinsky Women's School for incoming girls was renamed the Women's Gymnasium. Until 1866, 7 gymnasiums (with a 7-year course of study) were opened in St. Petersburg. Following their example, gymnasiums were created in other cities. They were opened with funds from the Department of Institutions of Empress Maria.

They accepted girls of all classes and religions who had reached 8 years of age. The Charter of girls' schools for incoming girls, approved in 1862, was in effect until the closure of the Mariinsky gymnasium (1918). The “Normal Educational Report Card” adopted in 1905 finally equalized the curriculum of gymnasiums with institute courses. Gymnasiums were fee-paying educational institutions. By 1911 in Russia there were 35 Mariinsky Women's gymnasiums with 16 thousand students.

Home economics lesson in a girls' school. City of Kyshtym, Russian Empire. 1917

Women's gymnasiums of the Ministry of Public Education. In 1870, women's schools were renamed gymnasiums and pro-gymnasiums. Women's gymnasiums were intended for girls of all classes and religions and consisted of a preparatory class, seven main classes, and an 8th pedagogical class.

The course of study in the Women's Gymnasium of the Ministry of Public Education was slightly higher than in the Mariinsky, but lower than in the men's gymnasiums. Those who completed 7 grades were given a certificate for the title of primary school teacher, those who completed 8 grades were given a certificate as a home teacher, and those who received a medal were awarded a certificate as a home tutor. Completion of the 8th grade provided access to the Higher Women's Courses without an exam. All Women's gymnasiums of the Ministry of Public Education were paid.

In 1880 in Russia there were 79 gymnasiums and 164 pro-gymnasiums; by 1909 the number of women's gymnasiums and pro-gymnasiums was 958.

Private girls' gymnasiums adhered to the rules and programs established by the Ministry of Public Instruction and were subordinate to the local school district. In the 70s 23 such gymnasiums were opened, including 7 in St. Petersburg, 5 in Kharkov and 4 in Moscow. Due to high tuition fees, only daughters of wealthy parents could study there. In the best private women's gymnasiums, the course of study corresponded to the course of men's gymnasiums (for example, the Stoyunina gymnasium in Tsarskoe Selo, the classical gymnasium of S. N. Fisher in Moscow). Some private gymnasiums were class-based, for example the Women's Gymnasium of the aristocratic type of Princess Obolenskaya in St. Petersburg. In the 80s some private women's gymnasiums were transformed into ministerial ones.

I II

Semyon Kozhin, Denis Davydov’s mansion on Prechistenka Street (2005). Image from kozhinart.com

Legend house

The building itself had history. We mentioned him when we were talking about Doctor Illarion Dubrovo, one of the prototypes of Chekhov's Osip Dymov (the story “The Jumper”). Dubrovo lived in this house, and before that the legendary partisan poet Denis Davydov lived here. The old grunt bought it in 1835, guided by a one-time impulse (he simply liked the house, Davydov wrote: “What a house ours is, dear friend! Every time I drive past it, I admire it, it’s a Hotel or a palace, not a house”) , and then suddenly it turned out that maintaining this “Hotel” costs incredible money, we barely managed to sell it.

Before Davydov, the estate was the property of the leading military family of the Bibikovs (“General Gavrilo Ilyich Bibikov especially flaunted his music,” noted the everyday life writer and, again, military man Andrei Bolotov on one occasion).

Then the secretary of the Dutch embassy, ​​H. Soldein, lived here. His wife, Vera Yakovlevna, hosted Pushkin himself (the poet wrote: “My life is monotonous, I rarely go out. Zvan was everywhere, but only Soldan and Vyazemskaya visited”). Then - the mentioned Denis Davydov, the mentioned Illarion Dubrovo and, finally, the gymnasium of Sofia Alexandrovna Arsenyeva.

Carrier pigeon Nikolai Andreevich

S.A. Arsenyeva and L.I. Polivanov; Arsenyevskaya and Polivanovskaya gymnasiums

This gymnasium was rightfully considered elite. Tatyana Aksakova-Sievers wrote: “In the eighties of the last century, two outstanding teachers of that time - Sofya Aleksandrovna Arsenyeva and Lev Ivanovich Polivanov - established two gymnasiums in Moscow in the Prechistenka area - Arsenyevskaya and Polivanovskaya. The connection between these schools was the closest; if the sons studied with Polivanov, the daughters were sent to Arsenyeva. In most cases, the teachers were common, almost all the students knew each other, and starting from the 6th grade, youthful romances arose between them.

There were cases of sending notes in the coat pockets of the mathematician Nikolai Andreevich Ignatov, who moved from lesson to lesson, not suspecting that he was playing the role of a carrier pigeon.

The Polivanovites did not have official uniforms; they wore civilian coats, soft hats and black jackets with a belt without a badge, which seemed very elegant to us.”

Obviously, the status of the school “for its own circle” played a certain role here. Of course, families living in the vicinity of Prechistenka tried, if possible, to locate children closer to home. But this circumstance did not play a special role - there were enough cab drivers in Moscow, and the parents of Prechistenka high school students had enough money not only for cab drivers, but also for their own crews - at least if you try to put their income in line with the prices for Prechistenka education. And they - in both cases - were very noticeable.

One of the later, already Soviet, inhabitants of this house, M. Drinevich, wrote in her memoirs: “Few people know that the elegant Moscow mansion on Prechistenka, known at the beginning of the 19th century as the house of the poet Denis Davydov, in the 70s of the last century belonged to a private women's house. gymnasium with boarding school. The founder of the gymnasium and its permanent director from 1873 until the revolution was my great-aunt Sofya Aleksandrovna Arsenyeva, née Vitberg, a relative of the architect A.L. Vitberg, the author of the first - unrealized - project for the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. The entire gymnasium was run by her sister, my great-grandmother Alexandra Lukinichna Drinevich. She had three sons and three daughters, two of them - Maria Nikolaevna and Alexandra Nikolaevna - after graduating from the Arsenyevskaya gymnasium, they served there as class ladies and even replaced foreign language teachers, as they read and spoke fluently in many European languages. My mother Olga Aleksandrovna Drinevich, the granddaughter of Alexandra Lukinichna, also graduated from this gymnasium.

“Memoirist M. Drinevich either deliberately or accidentally makes the biography of Sofia Alexandrovna more modest. In fact, she was not just a relative, but the own daughter of the architect Vitberg.” Pyotr Sokolov, portrait of Alexander Vitberg (1820s). Image from wikipedia.org

Arsenyeva's gymnasium was considered elite: they charged high tuition fees, but teaching was conducted at the highest level. I have preserved the program, from which it is clear that high school students in the 3rd grade studied algebra, geometry, anatomy, and grammar of the Slavic language. Particular attention was paid to foreign languages.”

The memoirs of, in fact, a high school student, T. Aksakova-Sivers, have also been preserved: “When I entered the 1st grade in 1902, Sofya Aleksandrovna Arsenyeva was already old and moved away from the direct management of the school, she lived in the left wing of a large mansion... occupied by the gymnasium , and appeared only when some trouble occurred and its influence was required. Being called to “the other half,” as we called the boss’s apartment, did not bode well. I remember how at the end of November 1905 a memorial service was held in the hall for the suddenly deceased rector of Moscow University, Sergei Nikolaevich Trubetskoy. Upset by this death, Sofya Alexandrovna came out to us to say a few words about the deceased. Those gathered in the 8th grade hall represented a large crowd, which did not immediately fall silent upon her appearance. Our boss had a fit of anger, and she left, slamming the door and without saying the prepared obituary.

The direct management of gymnasium affairs was in the hands of Sofia Alexandrovna’s nieces - Maria Nikolaevna and especially Alexandra Nikolaevna Drinevich. Evil tongues noted some nepotism in the management of the school, but this did not cause any harm. All the boss’s relatives: the Arsenyevs, the Drinevichs, the Vitbergs were people of high decency and erudition. My class mentor for 8 years was also a relative of Sofia Alexandrovna - Nadezhda Alexandrovna Saginova (née Merchanskaya), who was distinguished by her softness and femininity. The braid, which went down to her knees and was gathered into a knot at the back of her head, weighed down her head so much that she had to sometimes undo the knot and at such moments she became very youthful.

Nadezhda Nikolaevna treated me well, and only in high school, when my “spontaneity” began to be in full swing, and I, unable to hold back the onslaught of impressions that overwhelmed me, constantly gathered a “kind of evening” around me, she nicknamed me “godfather.”

Walking as a crocodile

“Moscow in winter. Prechistinka"; open letter, 1904.

Even though Sofya Alexandrovna retired, everything was under her control, and it was organized during the active period of teaching and organizational activities of the founder and first director. The fact that the business was carried out by close relatives gave further reason to believe that everything was arranged in accordance with tradition. Here are the lines from the notes of a high school student: “The gymnasium was located just opposite the fire station with a watchtower. Sometimes a fire brigade would ring out from the gates, and the Moscow fire-major Hartier, with a dashingly curled mustache on a smart, French-style face, would rush by in a sleigh, saluting me. In the low, spacious entrance hall I was met by the doorman Alexander, a small fat old man, marking time like a bear cub, and his wife, an efficient, fast old woman Natalya, who for more than 30 years was in charge of hangers, boiled water, and ringing bells. My class consisted of about 40 people, I studied well, but it was somewhat heterogeneous...

After three morning lessons and breakfast, we went for a walk in the streets in pairs (this was called “crocodile walking”). The route was always the same: along Prechistenka to Zubovsky Boulevard and back, past the Lyceum, along Ostozhenka. If you had a bar of chocolate in your pocket, bought for 5 kopecks in the small shop of the gymnasium supplier Kapustin, then the walk would not be so boring.

Leveling plan of Moscow in 1888, a fragment of the areas adjacent to Prechistinka from the Cathedral of Christ the Savior to Zubovskaya Square. Image from retromap.ru

In addition, over the years, I began to have the ability inherited from my mother to extract interest from all situations in life. At three o'clock, towards the end of classes, my mother sometimes came to pick me up. When she, in a short astrakhan jacket, so elegant and unlike other mothers, was waiting for me, standing at the bottom of the stairs along which we descended in a noisy avalanche after the bell rang, I saw that all the girls were looking at her with undisguised curiosity. Mom was even more interested when she had her hunting dog Alpha with her. Alpha, or, as I called her, Bubochka, appeared on Prechistensky Boulevard as a little puppy with me and lived for 12 years as a member of the family. Both mom and I loved her equally, and expressed the idea that Bubochka was too smart for a simple dog and that she was probably an enchanted princess.”

Bubochka the dog, the enchanted princess

Sisters-schoolgirls of the early 20th century. Moscow, Prechistinka street, S.A. Arsenyeva women's gymnasium. Photo from pavelbers.com

Memoirist M. Drinevich, either deliberately or accidentally, makes the biography of Sofia Alexandrovna more modest. In fact, she was not just a relative, but the native daughter of the architect Vitberg.

If for a young man, a future man of that time, the desired character traits were boldness, a desire for discovery, the ability to defend one’s opinion (and, for a second, have one), a certain shockingness, artistry and a penchant for liberalism, then for a girl everything was different. Walks like a crocodile, an unchanging route for those walks, hot water supplied on time, and, as a manifestation of extreme liberalism, a five-kopeck chocolate bar in the coat pocket.

Nihilists had already appeared, but they were known more from rumors and from the novels of Mr. Leskov. Women's courses and even university education are for the most daring. The ideal woman, the ideal wife to her intellectual husband, blossomed from just such pupils, right up to the wedding ceremony of those who believed in the origin of the dog Bubochka from some princesses, when innocent epistolary novels with young Polivanovites were the height of madness.

As a matter of fact, Sofia Alexandrovna’s role in creating and maintaining just such a gymnasium is no less a mission, no less a service than the role of Polivanov. Bright personalities did not come out of this gymnasium - learned ladies, activists, revolutionaries, bombers. The graduates became wonderful wives, but history, naturally, is silent about their role in the structure of the family and society. But what could be more important than the tradition that a woman learns and carries - carries it steadfastly and non-publicly. And Arsenyeva’s secrecy and non-publicity is one of the most important conditions for the entire educational process.

The Rostov men's gymnasium was built at the expense of the merchant Alexei Leontyevich Kekin.
On June 22, 1908, the ceremonial laying of the building took place. The author of the building project is Moscow architect Pavel Alekseevich Trubnikov.

All construction work was undertaken by the St. Petersburg company Kucher-Solun. (on the screen you see construction at the very beginning and an almost finished building)
On August 3, 1910, the gymnasium was put into operation. On October 5, 1910, on the name day of A.L. Kekin, the solemn consecration of the building and the opening of the gymnasium took place.
Since then, the birthday of the gymnasium, judging by numerous letters and telegrams on the anniversary day from former students and teachers of the gymnasium, has been considered October 5 (18).
The gymnasium building contained 18 classrooms, 15 educational and other offices, 2 auditoriums: one for 300 people, the other for 75 people, an assembly hall, two drawing classes, three recreational halls-corridors, a gymnasium, two dining halls. The entire building is three-story, designed for 720 students. Adjacent to it is a three-story building for apartments for the administration of the gymnasium (now the elementary school of our gymnasium studies here) and behind it is a house for ministers.

He was appointed director of the gymnasium at the beginning of construction. Sergei Pavlovich Moravsky. He became a member of the construction commission. On his advice, an astronomical observatory was built.
It was an 8-grade men's classical gymnasium. The purpose of such gymnasiums is to prepare students for entering university.
The completed building was supposed to accommodate 700 students and a boarding house for 120 students. True, in our gymnasium before the revolution there were fewer students than were supposed to be according to the project:
Boys aged 8 to 10 years old studied at the gymnasium. Education at the gymnasium lasted 8 years. Children who “can read and write in Russian, know the main prayers, and arithmetic - addition, subtraction and multiplication tables” were accepted into the 1st grade of the gymnasium. Each class was limited to no more than 40 students.
The gymnasium charter stated that “children of all conditions, without distinction of rank or religion, study in the gymnasium and pro-gymnasium.” Poor students who were distinguished by success in their studies and behavior were given an annual scholarship. At the gymnasium, with the permission of the Minister of Public Education, a boarding house was established (something like a boarding school at the school where the students lived). . The boarding house accepted only pupils of the four junior classes of the gymnasium. Older pupils could live in rented apartments if they came from the village or from other cities.

The academic year lasted from August 16 to June 1, about 240 days.
Winter holidays (“vacations”) lasted two weeks, and summer holidays for high school students at that time were shorter than those of today’s schoolchildren, and lasted only six weeks.
Sundays and days of great Orthodox church holidays were non-school days. During World War I, an infirmary for the wounded was placed in the building and students began to study in 2 shifts.
In winter, by order of the director, flags were hung at 7 o'clock in the morning to announce to the high school students whether classes would be held: in frosts of 20 - up to 25 ° at all city water intake booths, and in frosts of 25 ° or more - at the city tower.

What subjects were taught:
The previous set differed from the modern set of objects in the presence of the Law of God, Greek and Latin. Arithmetic, algebra and geometry were not separated into separate subjects, but were combined into a mathematics lesson.
Education at the gymnasium was paid. The payment was 50 rubles per year, for residents of Rostov - 20 rubles of this amount were paid by the city. The poor were exempted from tuition fees, enjoyed free hot breakfasts and went on free excursions to Moscow, St. Petersburg, along the Volga, Crimea and even abroad.

Even then, the gymnasium was provided with all kinds of visual aids - wall paintings, maps, tables, models, pictures for a magic lantern and for a stereoscope, etc. There were especially many of them for lessons in natural history, geography and history.

Examinations were annually oral and written. Those who passed the exams successfully were awarded certificates of merit and books. Those who completed the course at the gymnasium received certificates of maturity, which opened access to all higher educational institutions.

Teachers: The director of the gymnasium was approved by the Minister of Public Education. The second person in the administration of the gymnasium was the inspector - assistant director for educational and educational affairs. The staff of the gymnasium included teachers, educators, a teacher of the law (teacher of the Law of God), a doctor and a clerk. At the gymnasium, in accordance with the Charter, there were trustees, as well as pedagogical, educational and economic councils.

A qualified teaching staff worked at the Rostov gymnasium. Many of them, when they left Rostov in the early 20s, became professors at higher educational institutions in Moscow and other cities.
In order to invite the best teachers to the gymnasium, the director looked for them in other schools and even other cities and sought increased salaries for them from the city duma.
Among the teachers were:

• Since 1907, clerk Evlampy Dmitrievich Bogoslovsky (Yaroslavl Theological Seminary) - singing.
• Since 1907, teacher of the law, priest Nikolai Ivanovich Chufarovsky (Yaroslavl Theological Seminary) - The Law of God.
• Since 1907, teacher of Russian language Vasily Vladimirovich Kazantsev. (Moscow Theological Academy with a PhD in Theology)
• Since 1907, mathematics teacher Alexey Pavlovich Kosminkov (Moscow University)
• Since 1907, teacher of geography and natural history Fedor Zakharyevich Chembulov (Novorossiysk University, Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, Department of Natural Sciences).
• Since 1907 Elizaveta Fedorovna Sudbinina (Moscow School of the Order of St. Catherine) French.
• Since 1907, Elena Georgievna Lopatina (In the St. Petersburg Vasilyevskaya Women's Gymnasium, special pedagogical classes of the St. Petersburg Women's Gymnasium) German language.
• V.P. Pokrovsky is a Russian language teacher who died in the 1st World War. Evgeniy Andreevich Morokhovets is a history teacher.
• Since 1907, Alexander Ivanovich Zvonilkin (Stroganov Central Art and Industrial School with the title of academic draftsman) drawing and calligraphy
• Since 1908 Nikolai Alexandrovich Ivanovsky (Moscow Theological Academy) Latin language
• Since 1909 Alexander Yakovlevich Kremer (Moscow University) - mathematics
• Since 1910 Fyodor Antonovich Palitsa - German language.
• Since 1910 Abdulla Ibrahimovich Devishev - gymnastics.
• Since 1910 Anatoly Konstantinovich Von Traubenberg Moscow University - Russian language
• Since 1911, Archpriest Alexander Vasilyevich Troitsky (St. Petersburg Academy) - The Law of God.
• Since 1911 Fyodor Andreevich Voznesensky (St. Petersburg Philological Institute) - - Latin language
• Since 1911 Vadim Feofanovich Malchevsky (Moscow University) - history
• Since 1911 Ludwig Fobianovich Julia - French

The gymnasium teachers constantly improved their qualifications. It is known that art teacher A.I. Zvonilkin (he painted that portrait of Moravsky, which is whist in our 2nd floor corridor) got acquainted with new methods of teaching his subject at summer courses in drawing and painting in St. Petersburg. A.I. Devishev took part in a teachers’ seminar on manual labor in Sweden in 1910. F.Z Chembulov, a geography teacher, got acquainted with the organization of educational work in Belgium and England.
The director, Sergei Pavlovich Moravsky, was a history teacher.
Our gymnasium was part of the Moscow educational district.
In the gymnasium, everything was done to ensure that the students did not overwork, but worked with interest..

The gymnasium organized close medical supervision over the health of students. The gymnasium doctor Leonid Yakovlevich Bogdanov was a qualified and conscientious doctor. He regularly conducted thorough examinations of students, was present in the gymnasium during lessons, and also made sure to visit the apartments of students who did not live with their parents, and treated at home all sick students. The doctor was present at almost all pedagogical councils of the gymnasium.

At the gymnasium, hot breakfasts were organized for students, and children of poor parents had breakfast for free. Milk for breakfast was brought from the Belogostitsky Monastery.

Recesses were carried out outdoors whenever possible; In the courtyard of the gymnasium, 2 large playgrounds were built, with a skating rink on them in winter. During breaks, general games were organized: extra, fortress, sorcerers, giants, butter, spinning cow; In winter the icy mountain was flooded. We played a lot of sports.

At the gymnasium, drawing and singing lessons were compulsory for all students. Those students who wished could engage in modeling, which they did with pleasure on Sundays at the gymnasium. A choir and orchestras were organized, at first - balalaika players, and then - brass and strings.

Numerous excursions were conducted to local enterprises, around the outskirts of Rostov on skis and bicycles, and longer excursions throughout the country and even abroad. Graduates of the gymnasium of the 1913-1914 academic year traveled, accompanied by their teachers, to Switzerland and Germany.

A number of scientific societies were organized at the gymnasium, in particular, the Society for the Study of the Rostov Region, various circles (astronomical, modeling, physical, etc.).
There was a good fundamental library here. The schoolchildren read the books very willingly.

The students published many different magazines of their own, and not only in the senior classes, but also in the junior classes. In the large auditorium of the gymnasium, public literary evenings were held dedicated to Russian writers: Nekrasov, Nikitin, Garshin, Leo Tolstoy, etc. Public evenings in the gymnasium attracted great attention and were attended by townspeople. Musical evenings and amateur performances were organized, in which both high school students and teachers took part. Professional artists were often invited. Sobinov and Chaliapin came more than once. The gymnasium organized series of public lectures on a wide variety of issues, and lecturers were usually invited from Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Sunday meetings became regular. All interested students and most of the teachers came to these meetings. Here they spent several hours in joint activities and entertainment of their own choosing: photography, drawing, sculpting, music, singing
The following mandatory rules were in force at the gymnasium:

1. Each student, while outside the walls of his educational institution, is required to have a student card with his first, middle and last names, educational institution and class on it.
2. Students walk through the streets, squares, gardens and boulevards, etc. were allowed in summer until 10 pm, in winter and autumn - until 8 pm.
3. Uniforms are required for students. Mixed uniforms, such as a uniform cap and a civilian coat, are allowed in especially respectful cases

Special guards were abolished at the gymnasium. The teachers believed that order did not depend on the severity of the punishment, but on the self-discipline of students and respect for the gymnasium staff.
The following penalties were established:

1. rebuke,
2. removal from class,
3. standing in class instead of sitting,
4. detention,
5. informing parents about a student’s misconduct,
6. deprivation of the right to participate in the general game during a big break.

In 1914, the gymnasium made its first graduation.
Its first graduates became famous people in the city.
In 1990, in the year of the 80th anniversary of the gymnasium, memorial plaques were unveiled on its building to the founders of the gymnasium, Kekin A.L. and Moravsky S.P.

History of gymnasium education in Russia. The formation of gymnasium education

Classical gymnasiums in pre-revolutionary Russia existed as general education institutions along with special real schools (according to the charter of 1864, there were real gymnasiums, which until 1871, that is, for a very short time, were also assigned the role of general education institutions). The former gave the right to enter any department of the university, the latter prepared for polytechnic school. Classical gymnasiums in Russia initially arose as subordinate to universities and for the purpose of preparing for university, so this connection between the gymnasium and the university was primordial for us. The gymnasium involved the study of ancient Greek and Latin, gave the Law of God, strong mathematics, that is, a full-fledged general education. Therefore, at the university, widely educated people who knew how to work studied in all faculties. The mathematician read Greek, and the philologist, in principle, knew the basic modern information on mathematics and the natural sciences. Thus, it was the classical gymnasiums that provided the opportunity to provide truly higher education at universities for people with a broad outlook, who spoke the leading European languages, that is, three ancient (including Church Slavonic) and two or three new ones, and were familiar with the modern scientific picture of the world. But it must be said that Latin was studied in many real schools.

All university graduates - historians, philosophers, lawyers, mathematicians, physicists, biologists - and very many polytechnic graduates read at least Latin. It should be noted that gymnasiums provided good education both in the capitals and in the provinces. D. I. Mendeleev graduated from the Tobolsk gymnasium and entered the department of natural sciences of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of the Main Pedagogical Institute in St. Petersburg, which was actually a university structure and was located in the building of the Twelve Collegiums. A graduate of the classical gymnasium of Pavlovsk, D. D. Mordukhai-Boltovskoy, after graduating from the gymnasium, entered the physics and mathematics department of St. Petersburg University, successfully studied mathematical analysis, number theory, descriptive geometry, translated Euclid’s Elements and Newton’s mathematical manuscripts from ancient Greek and wrote an extensive a comment. The historian S. M. Solovyov graduated from the Moscow 1st Gymnasium, who then studied at the historical and philological department of the Faculty of Philosophy of Moscow University. His son, philosopher V.S. Solovyov, graduated from the Moscow 5th Gymnasium and studied at the historical, philological and physics and mathematics faculties of Moscow University.

It is a classical gymnasium, and not any kind of special school, that should prepare you for entering a university. Then the university will provide university education and train real scientists, not technicians of various specialties, including the humanities. As for our modern “just a gymnasium”, in its essence it is, at best, a special school, most often a humanitarian or simply language school. And since in our system there are no classical gymnasiums as such, the Russian education system from 1918 to this day remains fundamentally flawed: it lacks the link that connects the best modern schools with the European tradition from its origins and at the same time allows maintaining high level of education in the most ordinary secondary schools. And it’s clear why.

It would also be very useful for students in Russia - and for teachers - to realize that without Greek and Latin we use the Russian language like slaves, that is, without understanding its closest historical and cultural connections with the first two languages ​​of European culture and with our own history. It is enough to remember only the vocabulary associated with school, the school curriculum and the pedagogical process: director, class and teacher, names of disciplines (mathematics, arithmetic, geometry, physics, geography, biology, history, literature, physical education), linguistic terms (grammar, syntax, punctuation, spelling, phoneme, morpheme, suffix, prefix), humanitarian (philological) specialization, mathematical terminology (lemmas, theorems, axioms), etc., etc. (words from Greek and Latin are in italics). But it is very difficult to explain what free learning and free thinking mean to someone who has never heard that the liberal arts - artes liberales - are the basis of a proper education, and has not thought about what kind of freedom they presuppose and give.

Understanding that our native language is closely related to Greek and Latin is only the beginning of the view of the world that people who receive the right education acquire from childhood. Already starting to study the alphabet, we encounter the Greek alphabet and thereby become familiar with the origins of European culture, which began with the invention of the alphabet at the beginning of the first millennium BC, probably in the 9th century; in the 8th century, the Latin alphabet was created on the basis of Greek, and in the 9th century AD, the Cyrillic alphabet, which forms the basis of our modern alphabet, was created on the basis of the Greek alphabet. Starting to study counting, we come across the science of arithmetic, which appeared in the 6th century BC, and at the very beginning of the 18th century the first set of mathematical sciences, Magnitsky's Arithmetic, appeared in Rus'; Getting to geometry, we note that Euclid composed his Principia in the 3rd century after almost three centuries of the development of Greek mathematics, and Russian translations of the Principia appeared in the first half of the 18th century (the Principia was translated into Russian in full or in abbreviation eight times)...

This elementary information, with which teachers introduce any schoolchild, introduces the child to the most important episodes of European culture, to those thirty centuries of its development, as a result of which it acquired a planetary distribution in the 20th century. But the classical gymnasium provides a real basis for understanding this - the Greek and Latin languages ​​have been the leading languages ​​of European culture for over twenty centuries (Greek - twenty-five, Latin - twenty-three). Free orientation in that one cultural tradition which has continuously developed over thirty centuries and through which we Europeans become acquainted with all other cultures - this is the basis of freedom that classical education provides. At the same time, the Russian schoolchild will immediately form an idea of ​​​​the great role that Russia played in the history of Europe for a thousand years, closely connected both with Byzantium, which initially defined our culture as Orthodox, that is, Christian and European, and with Latin by the West, with the result that Latin was for two centuries a living language in our religious schools.

A classical gymnasium is a comprehensive school where gifted children receive a general education. The absence of such schools is a sign of social injustice, direct discrimination on the part of society and the state in relation to the intellectual minority. Equity in schools must include fair treatment of gifted children, who have the right to ensure that their diverse talents can be fully developed, and the state must ensure that this occurs regardless of the wealth of their parents.

Gymnasium-type educational institutions, i.e. with the study of the Latin language existed in Rus' for a very long time. Moreover, Latin was not only a language studied, but also a language of communication. Grammar, dialectics, rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music, philosophy and theology, and Greek were taught.

The Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy dates back to 1685, when the Likhud brothers opened a school in the Annunciation Monastery. Teaching here was conducted in Latin and Greek. There were no class restrictions for admission to the academy.

The history of gymnasiums dates back to a German school, opened in 1701, in the German settlement. It occupied the spacious chambers of the boyar V. Naryshkin and received the official name of the gymnasium, where they taught “languages ​​and the philosophy of wisdom.” The program included, in addition to ancient and modern languages, philosophy, politics, rhetoric, arithmetic and geography. Since 1703 The gymnasium was headed by Pastor E. Gluck. As noted in the decree of 1705. everyone could study in a school open for general, national benefit.

When the gymnasium was opened, there were 28 students studying there, in 1711. - 77. Education was free and consisted of three classes: primary, secondary and upper. The classes lasted 12 hours: from 8 am to 8 pm with a short break for lunch.

Subsequently, in 1715 it was transferred to St. Petersburg and consisted of foreign language courses with a simple program.

The turning point in the matter of gymnasium education in Russia began in the 18th century. In 1726, a gymnasium was opened at the Academy of Sciences, which was called academic. The main task of the gymnasium was considered to be preparation for military and civil service, as stated in the Charter written in 1733 by Fisher. The main subjects of the gymnasium were Latin, Greek, German and French, rhetoric, logic, history, and arithmetic. In 1726-1729, 278 students were enrolled in the gymnasium. Since 1747, teaching began to be conducted in Russian, and students were exempted from lashing. In 1758, Razumovsky entrusted the management of the gymnasium to M.V. Lomonosov, who founded a boarding school for 40 people at the gymnasium. In 1765, a department for young students was introduced. In the 70s, in high school they began to teach in Latin and German, and they began to study the basics of mathematics and natural sciences. But the number of students in the gymnasium was not enough, so in 1805 the gymnasium was closed.

On the initiative of M. Lomonosov, in 1755, a second gymnasium was created at Moscow University, which was called the university one. The purpose of the gymnasium was to prepare for listening to lectures at the university. It consisted of two sections: a section for nobles and a section for commoners. However, the training was carried out according to the same scheme. Each department contained four schools. The first school - ''Russian'' had three classes: 1) grammar, 2) poetry, 3) eloquence, study of Russian and Church Slavonic languages; the second school - ''Latin'' had two classes: 1) grammar, 2) syntax; the third school - ''scientific'' had three classes: 1) arithmetic, 2) geometry and geography, 3) philosophy; school four - European and Greek languages. The time spent studying in the gymnasium was counted towards the service period. In 1812, the gymnasium burned down in a fire in Moscow and was never rebuilt.

In 1758, a third gymnasium, called Kazan, was opened in Kazan. Oriental languages ​​began to be taught at the gymnasium: Tatar and Kalmyk, taking into account local conditions and its location. In 1768, the gymnasium was closed due to lack of funds. In 1798, it resumed its work with the aim of preparing young people for military service.

Gymnasiums in the 19th century

At the beginning of the 19th century, educational districts were introduced in Russia and gymnasiums began to open everywhere. In 1803, Alexander I ordered the opening of a gymnasium in every provincial city.

1. Charter of 1804.

According to this Charter, the purpose of the gymnasium was to prepare for entry into universities, as well as to provide young people with the information necessary for a well-bred person. A total of 32 gymnasiums were opened, in which 2838 children studied. The training lasted 4 years. Gymnasiums were free and all-class. Teachers were divided into senior and junior, and the teachers and students were supervised by the director. Corporal and moral punishment were prohibited. Studied: mathematics, history, geography, statistics, philosophy, fine sciences, political economy, natural history, technology, commercial sciences, Latin, French, German, drawing. The authorities strictly ensured that there were no national restrictions on obtaining education.

In 1805, a committee consisting of Fus, Rumovsky, Ozeretskovsky, organized in 1803 at the main administration of schools, compiled and published curriculum for gymnasiums, compiled lists of books and manuals for students, and proposed educational models. In the same year, a boarding school was opened at the gymnasium for noble children whose families lived in the city where the gymnasium was located.

At this time, despite the requirements of the regulations, rote learning reigned in the gymnasiums; it did not provide real knowledge, and it was not needed. But M.M. Speransky managed to correct the situation by introducing exams for ranks.

2. Reform of 1811.

The reform was carried out at the direction of the Minister of Public Education, Count S.S. Uvarov. During the reform, changes were made to the curriculum: the Law of God, the national language (Russian), logic were introduced, political economy, mythology, commercial sciences, aesthetics, and philosophy were excluded. The main goal of the gymnasium was preparation for entering universities.

In 1819, a single curriculum was introduced for all gymnasiums in Russia, which practically nullified the reform of 1804. Class reception and corporal punishment were established, and religion began to play a significant role. The training lasted seven years.

The curriculum contained the following disciplines: the Law of God and reading the Holy Scriptures, Greek, Latin, German and French, geography and history, statistics, logic and rhetoric, mathematics, statics and the beginnings of mechanics, physics and natural history, drawing. If the gymnasium management had additional funds, then it was allowed to invite dance, music and gymnastics teachers.

Extending the duration of study and reducing the number of subjects allowed us to get a more detailed understanding of each subject.

3. Charter of 1828.

The next stage in the development of the gymnasium is associated with the reign of Nicholas I. The direction of new reforms was announced by the new Minister of Education A.S. Shishkov. “Teaching literacy to the entire people or a disproportionate number of them would do more harm than good.” Already in 1825, with the highest approval, it was ordered:

1. political sciences exclude
2. reduce the number of lessons assigned for the study of rhetoric and poetry
3. choice of topics for essays is not left to the choice of teachers
4. provide lists of students at the gymnasium to the police
5. All subjects are taught in Russian.

As a result, on December 8, 1828, the “Committee for the Organization of Educational Institutions,” organized in 1826, drew up a new charter, according to which gymnasiums were to pursue such goals as preparation for entering universities and a focus on general upbringing and education. The training lasted seven years. Moreover, for three years all the gymnasiums taught according to a common program, and starting from the fourth, the gymnasiums were divided into those teaching Greek and those not teaching it. Instruction in the Greek language was left only in gymnasiums at universities. In other gymnasiums he was excluded due to the impossibility of finding good teachers, because... Greek was considered a luxury, while French was considered a necessity.

Lessons were supposed to last one and a half hours. The main subjects were ancient languages ​​and mathematics. They also taught geography, history, Russian literature, physics, German and French.

To discipline students, “corporal punishment” - rods - was introduced; tuition fees increased; teachers' salaries increased 2.5 times; graduates of gymnasiums could occupy the positions of employees of the highest rank, and those who graduated from the gymnasium with the Greek language were enrolled in positions immediately upon entering the service.

According to the charter, the positions of a director, who was at the head of the gymnasium, an inspector, who monitored order in the classrooms and managed the household, and an honorary trustee, who supervised the gymnasium together with the director, were introduced. Pedagogical Councils, formed from teachers, were created to guide educational and educational work.

Under Nicholas I, a uniform was introduced for high school students: “A blue single-breasted frock coat with white copper buttons, a crimson collar with shoulder straps, blue trousers over boots, a blue soldier’s cap with a crimson band” - for commoners. For noble high school students, a “university uniform with a triangular hat, but without a sword” was required.

In 1837, a system of tests was established when moving from class to class and at the end of the gymnasium. A certificate was introduced - a document issued upon graduation from high school. In 1846, a five-point system was introduced, the success, behavior, diligence and abilities of students began to be assessed according to it and entered into the statements. However, when moving from class to class, behavior was not taken into account. Those who received 4 or 5 points in the exams were awarded books and certificates of commendation.

The importance of trustees and inspectors in the life of the gymnasium was increased. It was allowed to graduate from high school without an exam in Latin in 1843.

Constant changes in the curriculum changed the list of subjects studied: in 1844 statistics was excluded, in 1845 descriptive and analytical geometry were excluded and law was introduced, in 1847 logic was excluded.

The admission of children of all classes to the gymnasium led to the fact that the percentage of nobles began to decrease. To increase this ratio in favor of children of noble origin, a significant increase in tuition fees was made. All this also caused a revision of the subjects taught in the gymnasium: they stopped teaching statistics, logic, and sharply reduced the number of hours in mathematics and ancient languages.

The reduction of ancient languages ​​seemed necessary to the government due to the harmful influences of the revolution that broke out in Germany in 1848. Greek was excluded from the curriculum.

The Gymnasium Charter of 1828, despite the bright class coloring, created, compared with the past, a much better environment for further prosperity and development.

4. Reform of 1849.

During this time, society developed an opinion about the need to bring gymnasium education closer to real life.

On March 21, 1849, the following reform was carried out in Russia. The course began to be divided into general and special training. Starting from the fourth grade, all students were divided into legal and Latin departments. The first prepared for official service, the second - for entering the university.

In 1852, the curriculum of the gymnasium was changed: the Greek language was retained in only 9 gymnasiums out of 69, logic was excluded, the volume of teaching mathematics was reduced, and tuition fees were increased. The awarding of gold and silver medals was introduced, and those awarded them received the title of “Honorary Citizen.”

In the mid-50s of the 19th century, 4 gymnasiums were most famous in Moscow. Among them is the gymnasium L.I. Polivanova, who set herself the task of “raising a new generation of intellectuals who think globally, capable of rising to the required heights in all spheres...”

Polivanov L.I. and his colleagues were convinced that the gymnasium should form a holistic, harmonious personality. Therefore, much attention in the gymnasium was paid to languages, Russian and foreign literature. An optional course was taught in the history and theory of art. A feature of teaching various disciplines in the gymnasium was the unity of developmental goals; all subjects were supposed to develop theoretical and imaginative thinking in gymnasium students, creative imagination and memory, emotionality of speech, and the ability to improvise.

At the Polivanov gymnasium, a program for working with gifted children was first developed and implemented. Personally oriented education and upbringing of people - original, talented, inquisitive, and active - were cultivated here. “From children,” said L.I. Polivanov, “it is necessary to develop living personalities who are capable of choosing a job according to their calling, who are fired up only by work, because working for the development of human personalities is a joyful and lofty thing.”

The style of the gymnasium itself shaped the pupils' originality of thinking, independence, initiative, serious study of languages, and literary creativity. In the 70s, there was a drama club in the gymnasium, widely known in Moscow. Gymnasium students participated in the organization of Pushkin celebrations in 1880, and attended meetings of the Society of Lovers of Russian Literature.

Gymnasium L.I. Polivanova raised a generation of new people - intellectuals of the 20th century. Among its graduates are the poets V. Bryusov, A. Bely, the artist A. Golovnin and many other famous people.

On May 30, 1858, the Regulations on Women's Schools of the Ministry of Public Education were approved. They began to open in the largest cities of Russia, and by 1874 there were 189 of them. Women's gymnasiums had a seven-year course of study, and upon completion, graduates received a certificate as a home teacher. Subsequently, graduates of women's gymnasiums could enter higher women's courses without exams. The most famous in Russia were considered to be the Moscow Women's Gymnasium Z.D. Perepelkina, Tsarskoye Selo Mariinsky Women's Gymnasium, Moscow Women's Gymnasium A.S. Alferova and L.F. Rzhevskaya.

A Ministry commission in 1878 proposed reducing the course of study in women's gymnasiums, concluding that “women's education should be limited to such subjects as do not divert students from their main purpose... and preserve the feminine qualities that adorn the family hearth. »

5. Charter of 1864.

Under the influence of the public, in 1861 the system of gymnasium education began to soften, special commissions began work on drawing up a new charter that reflected the needs of life and society.

In 1864, a new Charter was introduced and gymnasiums began to be divided into classical and real, the first in turn were divided into training with one ancient language and with two ancient languages. Those who graduated from a classical gymnasium were admitted to the university without exams, and those who graduated from a real gymnasium could enter higher specialized educational institutions and the physics and mathematics department of the university.

The unconditional all-class status of the gymnasium was proclaimed. Corporal punishment was categorically abolished. Teachers' salaries were increased with a fixed teaching load. The pedagogical council received the right of final decision when hiring a teacher.

Education in the gymnasium lasted seven years, in the pro-gymnasium - four years. The lesson lasted 75 minutes, and from September 27, 1865 - 60 minutes. Gymnastics and singing were introduced into the list of subjects, and the study of law ceased.

As a result of the reform, the number of students in gymnasiums increased by 30%. Literary conversations and performances are allowed in gymnasiums, and Sunday schools are opened at gymnasiums.

A circular dated November 12, 1866 announced the introduction of uniform programs for all gymnasiums in Russia. The circular of September 21, 1866 stipulated the tightening of exams.

6. Charter of 1871.

Minister of Education D.A. Tolstoy appointed a commission in 1866 to develop a new charter, the goal of which remained the revival of classicism in education. On July 30, 1871, the new charter of gymnasiums and pro-gymnasiums was approved.

The charter recognized only classical gymnasiums with two ancient languages. The training lasted eight years (the seventh grade was two years).

According to the new charter, primary importance was attached to the study of ancient languages; natural history was excluded; cosmography was replaced by mathematical geography; There was a decrease in the number of hours spent on penmanship, drawing, drawing, history and the Law of God. Logic was reintroduced. A system of class mentors was introduced; teachers were assigned educational functions; one teacher was allowed to teach different subjects; the principal and inspector were required to teach subject lessons in the classrooms.

In subsequent years, the charter of 1871 was supplemented with new clauses:

in 1872 - new rules were introduced regarding examinations of students upon admission to the gymnasium, upon transition from class to class, and upon graduation from an educational institution;

in 1873 - rules were approved that described their rights and obligations;

in 1874 - it was allowed to enter military service after graduating from six classes of the gymnasium;

in 1887 - tuition fees were increased; a restriction was introduced on admission to the gymnasium of the lower class.

On May 15, the “Charter of real schools of the department of the Ministry of Public Education” was approved. According to this charter, real gymnasiums were renamed into real schools. In real schools, training, starting from the fifth grade, was carried out in two directions: basic and commercial. In the seventh additional class there were the following departments: general, mechanical and chemical. Graduates of a real school could no longer enter universities, but students who graduated from the general department could enter a higher technical school, and those who graduated from the technical department could enter the service.

Since 1875, the gymnasium became eight years old. Police surveillance was allowed to monitor students, and searches of students' apartments could be carried out. It became strictly mandatory for students to attend church and observe all church rituals (fasting, confession, etc.).

In 1887, tuition fees were raised again. On June 18, 1887, a special circular from the Minister of Education I.D. Delyanov limited the admission of lower-class children to the gymnasium, with the exception of “those gifted with extraordinary abilities.” Jewish access was limited.

This reform of secondary education, carried out by the Minister of Education D.A. Tolstoy, met with a sharply negative attitude from society, since the curricula were borrowed from German newspapers and, naturally, the Russian language, literature, history, and partly the Law of God were unjustifiably relegated to the background. Foreigners, mainly Germans and Czechs, who did not speak Russian, were invited to teach ancient languages. The entire system of relations between the gymnasium and the family came down to the opposition of family and school. The reform was carried out very harshly, which naturally aroused general hatred of the school in society.

The shortcomings of secondary education were formulated in the circular of the Minister of Public Education N.P. Bogolepov dated July 8, 1899, which spoke about the alienation of the family from the school, inattention to the personal abilities of students, excessive mental work of students, inconsistency of programs, poor teaching of the Russian language, Russian history and literature, incorrect teaching of ancient languages, poor preparation of graduates and their inability to study at universities and higher schools. With this circular, the Minister created a commission to prepare the secondary school reform.

7. Reform of 1905.

Taking into account all these shortcomings and the development of industry in the country, the current education system was revised in 1901.

Since 1902, the teaching of Latin in the first two grades was abolished, and Greek in the third and fourth grades; it became an optional language. The gymnasium was open to all classes.

The academic year in secondary educational institutions began on August 16 and lasted until June 1, i.e. 240 days.

Only textbooks approved by the Scientific Committee of the Ministry were allowed for use.

Examinations were held in oral and written form. After the final exam, a matriculation certificate was issued.

In connection with the events of 1905, the Ministry introduced a new curriculum, according to which real schools received a more general education character.

It was allowed for pedagogical councils to deviate from the current rules for students, to stock libraries with books, deviating from the list of the Academic Committee. The Greek language exam was cancelled. Repeated examinations with the issuance of a new certificate were allowed.

In 1910, the new minister Schwarz presented a project in which he proposed a single type of school - a gymnasium. Three types of gymnasium were established:

· with two ancient languages

with one ancient language

· without ancient languages, but with two new languages.

Schwartz's project both strengthened classicism and went towards the bourgeoisie.

The new minister L.A. Kasso got Nicholas II to remove this project from discussion in the Duma. With a circular dated March 28, 1911, L.A. Kasso strengthened the requirements for student discipline and prohibited gatherings and meetings. All this caused strong discontent in society.

With the appointment of Count Ignatiev as minister on January 9, 1915, work began on collecting materials about the education systems in France, the USA and England. A new education system was considered, and it was planned to introduce eleven-year education. All subjects were divided into general education and educational subjects. Children of all classes from the age of 10 were accepted into the gymnasium. On December 28, 1916, Ignatiev was dismissed from service, and with his departure the reforms were abandoned.

The February Revolution of 1917 drew a line under gymnasium education in Russia.

Initially, the Law of God was not included in the number of basic subjects taught in gymnasiums. He was not even mentioned in the Imperial Decree of November 5, 1804, which established the system of gymnasium education in the Russian Empire.

The decree of 1804 provided for the obligatory teaching of it only for lower-level schools - parish schools, where children of the tax-paying classes were taught. Perhaps this was a conscious step by Alexander I, made under the influence of the Great French Revolution, which electrified the conservative atmosphere of old Europe. It is significant that the system of multi-level education introduced in the empire and the set of subjects intended for study in Russian gymnasiums largely coincide with the program for reorganizing the public education system in France, set out by the prominent philosopher-educator J.A. Condorcet at the Convention in April 1792.

However, already in 1811, according to the Highest Order, the Law of God, as “containing the main and essential part of education,” was introduced as a compulsory and main subject in secondary educational institutions of Russia at all levels.

You can name the circle of people who directly influenced the emperor’s decision. This is the trustee of the St. Petersburg educational district, Count S.S. Uvarov, who developed an alternative program of gymnasium education, in which much attention was paid to the Law of God, ancient languages ​​and literature. This is the Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod, Prince A.N. Golitsyn and Metropolitan of Moscow Filaret (Drozdov), who defended the need to organize a secondary education system on the foundations of Christian spirituality. And for the emperor himself, after the Patriotic War of 1812, the advantages of Christian doctrine over the destructive godlessness of revolutionary France became obvious. “The fire of Moscow sanctified my soul,” admitted Alexander I, “and I came to know God...”

In 1812, the imperial order on the mandatory teaching of the Law of God was confirmed. Seven years later, Bible Society member N.S. Sturdza, known by that time as the author of the “Note on the Present Situation of Germany,” which, in particular, contained criticism of German universities as breeding grounds for the ideas of revolution and atheism, on behalf of Alexander I, compiled instructions for educational committees, which argued for the need to study the Law of God in secondary educational institutions. At the same time, with the blessing of Metropolitan Philaret, daily reading of the New Testament was introduced in gymnasiums, in addition to the lessons of the Law of God.

True, not all gymnasiums agreed with the inclusion of this subject among the compulsory academic disciplines. Thus, the pedagogical council of the Kostroma provincial gymnasium only in 1819 agreed that knowledge of the Law of God does not interfere with a well-educated person, and this subject finally received its place in the curriculum. Moreover, no administrative pressure was exerted on the pedagogical council of this gymnasium, and the decision to make its teaching compulsory was the result of the free expression of the will of the teaching staff.

In 1823, the Orthodox Catechism, compiled by Metropolitan Philaret, was published - the main textbook on the Law of God in secondary educational institutions at all levels. It became the basis for drawing up a program on this subject.

The obligation to teach the Law of God was confirmed in the new Charter on secondary educational institutions, issued on December 8, 1828, during the reign of Nicholas I. The Charter was based on the already mentioned curriculum of Count S.S. Uvarov, by that time Minister of Public Education. Thus, a system of classical education was established in the Russian Empire.

According to this Charter, the program of the Law of God in gymnasiums included: the study of the Sacred History of the Old and New Testaments - in the 1st and 2nd grades of gymnasiums, the Long Catechism - in the 3rd and 4th, Church History and Holy Scripture in the 5th and 6th. In the 7th, final, grade, the responsibilities of a Christian were studied. In 1851 the program was changed. In the 1st grade, in addition to the Sacred History of the Old Testament, a short course of the Catechism was given, and basic prayers were repeated and explained. The Long Catechism course was taught in grades 3–5, and in the 7th grade, instead of the duties of a Christian, the doctrine of worship was taught and the entire course of the Law of God was repeated. From this time on, we can consider that this item received its final design.

The era of Great Reforms, begun by Alexander II the Liberator, also affected secondary school, and the Law of God was again excluded from the number of compulsory subjects.

However, under Alexander III the Peacemaker, the Law of God was again elevated to the rank of the main subject, and its volume was increased due to the course of moral and dogmatic theology, read in the 7th and in the first created 8th grades. The components of the course were distributed taking into account the age and psychological characteristics of the students.

The law of God was not isolated from other subjects. He had extensive interdisciplinary connections with courses in the Russian language, literature, domestic and foreign history, and philosophical propaedeutics, which included logic and psychology. As a matter of fact, the Law of God was not the main subject because it was in first place in the program, and not even because transfer and final exams began with it. He cemented the entire process of teaching at the gymnasium. Even the school year and the duration of the holidays depended on the annual circle of Orthodox holidays, the essence of which, by the way, was explained in class.

Although the gymnasiums were recognized as Christian educational institutions, that is, not in accordance with the Muslim and Jewish principles of faith, none of the gymnasiums was narrowly specialized. Neither teachers nor students were subject to restrictions regarding their religion. Equally, the very concept of “Orthodox gymnasium” did not exist. On the contrary, the Highest Order of January 17, 1829 ordered the appointment of a teacher of the law depending on the religion of the students.

In a number of cases, the leadership of the gymnasiums even considered it necessary to seek a common language with the Old Believers who were most persecuted by the official Church. For example, in view of the large number of Old Believers families in Gomel, the pedagogical council of the local gymnasium petitioned the trustee of the educational district to exempt Old Believers children from the entrance exam on the Law of God and from attending this subject at the gymnasium with the right to home study in this subject. It is surprising that such permission was obtained.

All these facts indicate a fairly flexible approach to issues of freedom of religion when teaching the Law of God, although in Russian legislation the very formulation of this issue was absent until the Manifesto of October 17, 1905, which for the first time proclaimed freedom of religion as an inalienable right of subjects of the Russian Emperor.

Alexander Avdeev