Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum illustrated in the Presidential Library’s materials

The grand opening of the Imperial Tsarskoye Selo, an educational institution for the noble "youth, especially destined for important parts of the public service", took place on October 31 (19 old style) , 1811.

The decree on the establishment of the Lyceum in August 1810 was signed by Emperor Alexander I. The idea was implemented by the State Secretary of the Russian Empire Mikhail Speransky, the charter of the Lyceum was developed by him with the participation of the Minister of Public Education Alexei Razumovsky. The rare "Decree on the Lyceum" (1810), signed by Alexander I, available on the Presidential Library's portal, said that "The Lyceum in its rights and advantages is absolutely equal to Russian Universities". 

The Lyceum was located in the building of the palace wing of the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo (now Pushkin), rebuilt for his needs. The grand opening of the new educational institution, which was attended by the emperor and his family, high dignitaries and cultural figures, took place in the conference hall and began with a prayer service. A detailed description of the ceremony is given by its participant, a pupil of the Lyceum, the future Decembrist Ivan Pushchin in the publication of "Notes of I. I. Pushchin about Pushkin" (1907), and the official version is given by the historian, bibliographer, graduate of the Lyceum in 1856 Dmitry Kobeko in the book "Imperial Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum" (1911); electronic copies of these books ae available on the library's portal.

The “Decree on the Lyceum” strictly regulated the requirements for applicants: “Pupils are admitted to the Lyceum only by preliminary testing of their knowledge. <…> ... From the pupils entering the Lyceum, it is required that they have undoubted certificates of their excellent morality and be completely healthy. <...> Pupils at their admission must be between 10 and 12 years old, and at the same time present certificates of their nobility".

The curriculum was developed by Mikhail Speransky, it is summarized in the “Resolution on the Lyceum”: “The subjects of study in the Lyceum are divided into two courses, of which the first is called the initial, the second final. Each takes place in three years. The initial course at the Lyceum will be the following subjects: A. Grammatical teaching of languages ​​... B. Moral sciences ... C. Mathematical and Physical sciences ... D. Historical sciences ... E. Initial Foundations of elegant letters ... F. Fine Arts and Gymnastic Exercises ... The course will be finalized with the following sciences: A. Moral sciences. B. Physical. C. Mathematical. D. Historical. E. Literature. F. Languages. G. Fine arts and gymnastic exercises".

The teaching was based on the principle “…do not obscure the mind of children with lengthy explanations; but to excite its own action".

Special attention was paid to the selection of teachers. According to Dmitry Kobeko "...Count Razumovsky tried to invite the best Russian pedagogical force of that time to the Lyceum". Seven professors, two adjuncts, a priest, six teachers of fine arts and gymnastics served in the Lyceum. Among the teachers there were representatives of not only Russian, but also foreign professors, for example, French was taught by Professor David de Boudry, the brother of the famous revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat.

Strict rules were introduced in the lyceum - for example, it was forbidden to leave it during the school year. Some of the first lyceum students did not like it. Ivan Pushchin, on the contrary, saw in this order: “... the embryo of that inextricable, gratifying connection that connects the first-year Lyceum. On this basis, probably, the Lyceum was arranged in such a way that, whenever possible, all the comforts of home life were combined with the requirements of a public educational institution". Also, a special clause of the charter, which favorably distinguished the Lyceum from private boarding houses and military schools, was the prohibition of corporal punishment.

On the first floor of the Lyceum there were economic services, on the second there were a hospital with a pharmacy, an office, a conference room and a dining room for pupils, on the third there was an excellent library, recreation, classes for studies and independent work. The pupils lived on the fourth floor. Despite the general atmosphere of the palace building, the rooms of the lyceum students (“cells,” according to Alexander Pushkin) were furnished very modestly: “In each room there is an iron bed, a chest of drawers, a desk, a mirror, a chair, a table for washing, together with a night one. On the desk there is an inkwell and a candlestick ..." - Pushchin recalled. The walls of the bedrooms did not always reach the ceiling, which allowed neighbors, in particular Pushchin and Pushkin, to talk.

The first graduation from the Lyceum took place in June 1817. It gave Russia the great poet Alexander Pushkin, the Chancellor of the Russian Empire Alexander Gorchakov, the Decembrists Wilhelm Kuchelbecker and Ivan Pushchin, the poet Anton Delvig, the polar explorer Fyodor Matyushkin and other outstanding personalities. Lyceum students of this issue were called "cast iron" - they were presented as a keepsake of strong, like metal, friendship rings in the form of joined hands. The rings were made from a cast-iron bell broken after the release, which had been calling students to classes for six years.

In 1843, the Lyceum was transferred from Tsarskoye Selo to St. Petersburg, to the building of the Alexandrinsky Orphanage on Kamennoostrovsky Prospekt and by decree of Nicholas I began to be called the Imperial Alexandrovsky Lyceum, preserving the traditions of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum.

The opening day of the Lyceum was declared by the first lyceum students to be their holiday and decided to celebrate it annually, and even when only one of the 30 people graduated in 1817 survives, it will still have to celebrate this day.

The holiday on October 19 survived both the last of the first lyceum students and the Lyceum itself, it entered the life of future generations and today is celebrated as the All-Russian Lyceum Day.