Princess Elena Nikitichna Vyazemskaya , nee Princess Trubetskaya ( December 27, 1745 - October 14, 1832 ) - daughter of Elizabeth Prosecutor General N. Yu. Trubetskoy (from the second wife of Anna Danilovna Kheraskova), wife of the Catherine General Prosecutor A. A. Vyazemsky (1727— 1793), a lady of state , an influential figure in the Petersburg high society of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The organizer of the estate Murzinka ( Alexander ).
Life
The second wife of Prince N. Yu. Trubetskoy gave birth to him eight sons and five daughters. Elena was their ninth child; on the occasion of her birth, her father wrote [1] :
| 1745 year. December 27. The daughter of Princess Elena was born, in St. Petersburg, 8 o'clock in the afternoon; name given May 21 st. Tsar Constantine and Tsarina Helena; the most gracious sovereign empress and sovereign grand duke deigned to be perceivers. |
Her childhood passed in the rich house of her parents, in the very center of court life. Soon after the death of her father, Princess Elena Trubetskaya was married, in July 1768, with Attorney General Alexander Vyazemsky , one of the highest dignitaries of the empire, who was her almost 20 years older. After the wedding, the Vyazemskys settled in their St. Petersburg house on Malaya Sadovaya , for the summer they moved to their rich estate of Alexandrovsky , lying on the banks of the Neva and received by Elena Nikitichnaya as a dowry.
The young princess was on friendly terms with her mother’s relatives ( Varvara Urusova , Sergey Vyazemsky and others), arranged their fate and promoted a career. She also constantly corresponded with the “diamond” prince A. B. Kurakin , who named the avenue of his park in Nadezhdin in her honor. A whole volume of his letters to Princess Vyazemskaya was found in this estate, which serve as a valuable source for researchers of the last quarter of the 18th century.
Catherine II did not like either Kurakin or Vyazemskaya, in part because of her excessive frugality and love of money [2] . In the diary of Khrapovitsky there are many undesirable reviews of the empress about her. However, Princess Vyazemskaya played a big role in the world. In her house on Nevsky Prospekt [3], the entire diplomatic corps and the upper circle of St. Petersburg gathered. As F. Vigel recalls, following the conclusion of the Tilsit Peace, the old woman Vyazemskaya was the only noblewoman who hosted “with open arms” Savari and other Napoleonic diplomats [4] :
| The widow of the Attorney General, who married two daughters to the ambassadors of Neapolitan and Danish, always loved the memory of foreigners and especially the French, and for them she always had a stash. Before, many tried to imitate her; but by a prolonged connection with the French embassy, she deplored her old age; there were people who were not afraid to slander her, as if she received money from the government for treating the French. |
Elena Vyazemskaya enthusiastically equipped the estate in Aleksandrovsky, where an unusual church was built, nicknamed “Easter cake and Easter” . The Vyazemsky estate was honored several times by the empress. During one of these visits at dinner, a “magnificent Egyptian obelisk was displayed in front of her, on the top of which a name Catherine shone on a silver shield, and around the seasons were depicted” [5] .
Wanting to have a house next to Moscow , Princess Vyazemskaya acquired in 1788 the estate of the famous eccentric P.A. Demidov , near Moscow . However, the prosecutor general did not like the fascination with Masonic doctrines, which her brothers M. Kheraskov and N. Trubetskoy indulged in in Moscow, as well as many other high-born residents of the “throne”. It is believed that the latter’s exile to the village was the result of her constant complaints to her husband that “the Moscow brothers, obeying Novikov , were wasting their property on the printing of some books” [2] .
Together with her husband, Princess Vyazemskaya collected one of the best numismatic collections in St. Petersburg (a collection of coins, medals and minerals). Their collection is often mentioned in numismatic literature. Having survived her husband for almost 40 years, Elena Nikitichna finally parted with the collection in 1831, only on the eve of her death.
Vyazemskaya died 87 years old and was buried next to her husband in the Annunciation Church of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra [6] . Half a century before, poor health, which the Prosecutor General constantly complained about, bothered her many friends. Judging by the letters of Kurakin, the princess
| suffered from hysterical seizures and trembling in the body and, in addition, was under the pressure of some secret moral oppression, which left its imprint on her appearance [2] . |
Children
Spouses Vyazemsky had four daughters, who were also unloved by the Empress:
- Ekaterina Alexandrovna (1769-1824), since 1789, married to Count D.A. Tolstoy (1754-1832).
- Anna Alexandrovna (1770-1840), from 1788 the wife of the Neapolitan envoy to St. Petersburg, Duke Antonio Moresca Serra Capriola (1750-1822). Her house on 22 Fontanka Embankment was one of the most brilliant salons in the capital.
- Praskovya Aleksandrovna (1772-1832), maid of honor, since 1790 the wife of Count D.A. Zubov (1766-1849). Empress Catherine II considered her "better than Anna's elder sister, similar to a duty".
- Varvara Alexandrovna (1774-1850), married to the Danish envoy Baron Rosencrantz.
- Daughters
Catherine
Anna
Praskovya
Barbara
Notes
- ↑ Trubetskoy. Magazine own
- ↑ 1 2 3 Vel. Prince Nikolai Mikhailovich . " Russian portraits of the XVIII and XIX centuries ." Volume 4, No. 52.
- ↑ In the 19th century, the Passage department store was built on the site of the Vyazemsky house (48 Nevsky).
- ↑ F.F. Vigel
- ↑ V. G. Sakhnovsky. Fortress Manor Theater. Kolos, 1924. Page 32.
- ↑ Tomb of E.N. Vyazemsky