Sergey Uvarov
Encyclopedia
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
– September 4 (16), 1855, Moscow) was a Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n classical scholar best remembered as an influential imperial statesman
Statesman
A statesman is usually a politician or other notable public figure who has had a long and respected career in politics or government at the national and international level. As a term of respect, it is usually left to supporters or commentators to use the term...
.
Uvarov, connected through marriage with the powerful Razumovsky
Razumovsky
Razumovsky , originally Rozumovsky , formerly transliterated as Rasumowski, Rasumofsky and Rasoumofsky) is a Ukrainian noble family from Russian Empire. Surviving branch remains in Austria.-History:...
family, was a godchild of Catherine the Great. He published a number of works on Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
and archaeology
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
, which brought him European renown. A confirmed conservative
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
, he was on friendly terms with Alexander Humboldt, Madame de Stael, Goethe, Prince de Ligne
Charles Joseph, Prince de Ligne
Charles-Joseph Lamoral, 7th Prince de Ligne in French, Charles Joseph Lamoral 7te Fürst von Ligne : was a Field marshal and writer, and member of the princely family of Ligne.-Military service:He was the son of Field Marshal Claude Lamoral, 6th Prince of Ligne and Elisabeth Alexandrine...
, Nikolay Karamzin, and Vasily Zhukovsky
Vasily Zhukovsky
Vasily Andreyevich Zhukovsky was the foremost Russian poet of the 1810s and a leading figure in Russian literature in the first half of the 19th century...
. From 1811 to 1822, he curated the Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
educational district.
In 1832, Uvarov was appointed Deputy Minister of Public Education
Public education
State schools, also known in the United States and Canada as public schools,In much of the Commonwealth, including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom, the terms 'public education', 'public school' and 'independent school' are used for private schools, that is, schools...
. In 1833–1849, he succeeded his father-in-law Count Razumovsky as Minister. He was elected an Honorable Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Academy of Sciences
The Russian Academy of Sciences consists of the national academy of Russia and a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation as well as auxiliary scientific and social units like libraries, publishers and hospitals....
in 1811 and was the President
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
of that venerable institution from 1818 until his death.
Uvarov was responsible for coming up with the formula "Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality", the basis of his activities regarding public education. He worked to limit access to education by people of non-noble origin and strengthening government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
al control over the universities and gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
s, once famously remarking, "No university Pugachevs
Yemelyan Pugachev
Yemelyan Ivanovich Pugachov , was a pretender to the Russian throne who led a great Cossack insurrection during the reign of Catherine II...
."
Despite these reactionary measures, Uvarov was also responsible for laying the foundations of high-quality education in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
and reinstating the practice of sending Russian scientist
Scientist
A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...
s abroad. Uvarovite
Uvarovite
Uvarovite is a chromium-bearing garnet group species with the formula: Ca3Cr23. It was discovered in 1832 by Germain Henri Hess who named it after Count Sergei Semenovitch Uvarov , a Russian statesman and amateur mineral collector....
, the rarest of garnet
Garnet
The garnet group includes a group of minerals that have been used since the Bronze Age as gemstones and abrasives. The name "garnet" may come from either the Middle English word gernet meaning 'dark red', or the Latin granatus , possibly a reference to the Punica granatum , a plant with red seeds...
s, is named after him. His son Aleksey Uvarov
Aleksey Uvarov
Count Aleksey Sergeyevich Uvarov was a Russian archaeologist often considered to be the founder of the study of the prehistory of Russia....
co-founded the Russian Archaeological Society and the State Historical Museum
State Historical Museum
The State Historical Museum of Russia is a museum of Russian history wedged between Red Square and Manege Square in Moscow. Its exhibitions range from relics of the prehistoric tribes inhabiting present-day Russia, through priceless artworks acquired by members of the Romanov dynasty...
in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
.
Selected works
- Ouvaroff, M. (alternatively given as Sergei Semenovich Uvarov, or Sergey Uvarov, 1786-1855) (Translated from the French by J. D. Price) Essay on the Mysteries of Eleusis, London : Rodwell and Martin, 1817.
- Ouvaroff, Sergei, "Projet d'une Académie Asiatique," in Études de philologie et de critique. 2nd ed. (Paris: Didot Frères, 1845), 1-48