Here, you can read the first part of our article about Tsarskoye Selo.
The Heart of Friendship
In the Lyceum, there was a remarkable fraternity, here Pushkin found his best friends for life: Pushchin, Delvig, and Küchelbecker.
Троих из вас, друзей моей души,
Здесь обнял я. Поэта дом опальный,
О Пущин мой, ты первый посетил;
Ты усладил изгнанья день печальный,
Ты в день его Лицея превратил.
Three of you, friends of my soul,
It hugged me. Poet's House in disgrace,
On my Leo, you're the first visit;
You delight exile sad day,
You're in his face, turned the day.
The freedom of choice offered to students bore fruit. Among the first graduates of the Lyceum, besides the great Russian poet, were well-known public figures, famous scientists, and great explorers who discovered new lands and sea routes:
Счастливый путь!.. С лицейского порога
Ты на корабль перешагнул шутя.
И с той поры в морях твоя дорога,
О волн и бурь любимое дитя!Ты, Горчаков, счастливец с первых дней,
Хвала тебе – фортуны блеск холодный
Не изменил души твоей свободной:
Всё тот же ты для чести и друзей.
Нам разный путь судьбой назначен строгой;
Ступая в жизнь, мы быстро разошлись:
Но невзначай просёлочной дорогой
Мы встретились и братски обнялись.
Happy journey! ... From the Lyceum's threshold
You took the ship with a joke.
And from that time on the seas you go your way,
On the waves and in the storms, favorite child!
You, Gorchakov, lucky from the first days,
Praise be to you - fortune shine cold
Do not change the freedom of your soul:
All the same honor to you and your friends.
We were appointed a different way of strict fate;
Stepping into life, we soon parted
But if by chance on a country road
We would meet, we would embraced each other as brothers.
Pushkin wrote his poem “October 19” in 1825, when he was in exile, but even in spite of such a severe punishment, the poet was ready to forgive Alexander, crediting him with the creation of the Lyceum.
Простим ему неправое гоненье:
Он взял Париж, он основал Лицей.
Let us forgive him unjust persecution:
He took Paris, and founded the Lyceum.
The Significance
The Lyceum of Tsarskoye Selo lasted 32 years. On September 6, 1843, the Lyceum was transferred to St. Petersburg and, by order of Nicholas I, was renamed the Imperial Alexander Lyceum. The reason for the change was the fact that some graduates of the Lyceum, including Pushkin’s friends Pushchin and Küchelbecker, were among the participants in the Decembrist Revolt (December 14, 1825).
The phenomenon of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum lay in the fact that teachers did not try to force students, did not intend to fill their heads with as much knowledge as possible, or to teach them how to choose the correct answers in exams. Two hundred years ago, teachers sought to give proper instruction to honest and honorable men who respected and loved their motherland, valued justice, and had a sense of dignity. Such a system of education and training contributed to the development of the person as a whole, devoted heart and soul to his motherland.
A Goodbye Message
While saying goodbye to the graduates, Engelhardt admonished: “Идите, друзья, на новом вашем поприще!.. Храните правду, жертвуйте всем за нее; не смерть страшна, а страшно бесчестие; не богатство, не чины, не ленты честят человека, а доброе имя, храните его, храните чистую совесть, вот честь ваша. Идите, друзья, поминайте нас...” (Go, my friends, on this new road of life!.. Keep the truth, sacrifice anything for it, death is not terrible, but terrible is the shame, no wealth, no rank, no ribbon to be proud of, and your good name, keep it too, keep a clean conscience and your honor. Go, my friends, remember us...)
Тамара Мелентьева
