Betskoy I.I. (1704-1795), statesman and teacher

Categories / Capital/Personalia
Categories / Science. Education/Personalia
BETSKOY (Betsky) Ivan Ivanovich (1703 or 1704-1795, St. Petersburg), statesman and public figure, actual privy counsellor (1766). He was the illegitimate son of General Field Marshal Prince I.Y. Trubetskoy. In the 1740s, he served in the Collegium of Foreign Affairs. In 1747-62, he lived abroad where he was acquainted with French encyclopedists and was inspired by their ideas. While being the head of the Building Chancery (1762-93) and a member of the Commission for Stone Construction in St. Petersburg and Moscow, he directed the development of St. Petersburg. He developed the state system for educational institutions in 1764; founded the Smolny Institute in St. Petersburg, the Foster Home and an obstetrical school, reorganised training within the Infantry Cadet Corps, worked on the establishment of an All-Russian education system for schools. In 1763-94, he was president of the Academy of Arts, reorganised its program, and introduced courses for a number of new artistic specialities. He owned a house at 2 Dvortsovaya Embankment (1784-87, rebuilt in the 1830s, architect V.P. Stasov). In 1868, Betskoy's bust was installed in the courtyard of the Foster Home (1868, an enlarged copy by sculptor A.P. Lavretsky made from the original by Y.I. Zemelgaka, 1803; 52 Moika River Embankment), a bronze figure of Betskoy was placed on the monument of Empress Catherine II in St. Petersburg and Tsarskoe Selo. He was buried at the Annunciation Burial Vault of Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

References: Лаппо-Данилевский А. С. И. И. Бецкой и его система воспитания. СПб., 1904; Майков П. М. Иван Иванович Бецкой: Опыт его биографии. СПб., 1904; Ерошкина А. Н. Администратор от культуры: (И. И. Бецкой) // Русская культура последней трети XVIII в. М., 1997. С. 71-90.

G. V. Kalashnikov. Betskoy (Betsky) Ivan Ivanovich
Catherine II, Empress
Laveretsky Nikolay Akimovich
Stasov Vasily Petrovich
Trubetskoy Ivan Yurievich, Duke
Zemelgak Yakov Ivanovich
Dvortsovaya Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 2
Moika River Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 52
Майков П. М. Иван Иванович Бецкой: Опыт его биогр. СПб., 1904
Лаппо-Данилевский А. С. И. И. Бецкой и его система воспитания. СПб., 1904
Ерошкина А. Н. Администратор от культуры: (И. И. Бецкой) // Русская культура последней трети XVIII в. М., 1997 Building Office
Commission for St. Petersburg and Moscow Stone Construction
Smolny Institute
Boarding House of Education
Academy of Arts
Blagoveschenskaya (Holy Annunciation) Burial Vault