They were called schoolgirls, gentile white-handed women and sentimental young ladies who believe that “rolls grow on trees” and “after the mazurka tour, a gentleman must marry,” and the word “schoolgirl” has become synonymous with excessive sentimentality, impressionability and limitation.
In 1764, the Educational Society for Noble Maidens was created in St. Petersburg, which later became the Smolny Institute. Considering that prior to this, the need for women's education was in great doubt, the matter was truly revolutionary.
Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens.
In the decree of Catherine II, it was said that the purpose of the establishment of the institution was "to give the state educated women, good mothers, useful members of the family and society." The charter of the Institute was sent out "to all the provinces, provinces and cities … so that each of the nobles could, if he wishes, entrust his daughters in their young years to this institution of education from Us."
However, few of the nobility agreed to condemn their daughters to 12 years of study without leaving, after which a difficult question arose about the further marriage of an overly educated girl. And yet, in 1764, in August, the first recruitment took place.
Smolny Institute teachers.
True, instead of the supposed 200 female students, only 60 girls of 4-6 years old were recruited. These were children from low-income, but well-born noble families. A year later, the institute opened a faculty "for bourgeois girls." Peasant girls were not admitted to the institution.
The institute existed for 153 years, 85 graduates passed through it, the "spirit of enlightenment" evaporated, but the barracks remained and the ability to bypass them was also a science.
Promotional video:
Smolny Institute teachers in the teacher's room.
All the pupils were divided into parquet flooring and moving bags. The first title went to those who completely obeyed the rules and customs of institute life, were distinguished by obedience and excellent behavior, were perfection (from the French "parfaite" - perfect) in all respects: he knew how to behave properly, answer politely, gracefully make a curtsy and always keep body straight.
Any violation of order was a departure from the institution's "good behavior" and was considered "bad behavior." Therefore, the mischievous and obstinate people were called "movies" ("mauvaise" - bad). One could be among them for any deviation from the rules: too loud conversation at recess, carelessly made bed, not according to the regulations tied bow on an apron, a torn stocking or a strand of a strait from a strict hairstyle.
At the director.
Corporal punishment was not applied to violators, however, they did not stand on ceremony with those who committed any offense: they replaced the apron with a teak one, transferred to a special table in the dining room, where they had to eat while standing, or left to stand in the middle of the dining room during lunch, joking an uncleaned piece of paper or a torn stocking for a dress. But some of the pupils deliberately rebelled against the order.
Drawing lesson.
The appearance of the students was strictly regulated: a neat uniform, the same hairstyle, different for different ages - the younger girls were often cut short, and the older ones were forced to strictly pin their hair.
The form consisted of a dress with short sleeves and a neckline, an apron (apron), a cape and arm ruffles with ribbons. The color of the uniform depended on the class of instruction: the younger were given practical coffee dresses with white aprons, for which they were called coffee pots or coffee pots, the middle ones were blue, and the older ones had white dresses with green aprons.
The younger group in the vocal class exam.
Pepinieres - those who remained after completing the main course in order to obtain further education and career growth to a class lady, wore gray dresses. Many girls were kept in Smolny due to private scholarships. Such young ladies wore a ribbon around their necks, the color of which was chosen by the benefactor.
So, for the Paul I scholarship holders they were blue, for the Demidovskys they were orange, Betsky's protégés were tied green, and Saltykov's were crimson. For those who could not receive any scholarship, relatives paid a fee. At the beginning of the 20th century, it was about 400 rubles a year. The number of places for such students was limited.
Singing lesson.
The main criterion for the selection of class ladies who were obliged to monitor the decent upbringing of girls was usually unmarried status. At a time when a successful marriage was the main and, accordingly, the most desirable event in a woman's life, the disorder in her personal life had a very negative effect on her character. Surrounded by young girls, realizing that life did not live up to expectations, the aging lady began to take revenge on her charges, forbidding everything that was possible, and punishing for the slightest offense.
In a sewing workshop.
Male teachers in Smolny were taken exclusively to those who were married, if possible, elderly or of a very unattractive appearance, often with physical disabilities, so as not to lead the virgins into temptation.
Nevertheless, usually anyone who had anything to do with the institute had fans. This was due to a specific institutional tradition - adoration, that is, the desire to find an object of worship, an idol in the person of someone who comes to hand. Girlfriend, high school student, priest, teacher, emperor. It was imperative to adore someone. Only the classy ladies were not favored, it was a consequence of the fear of being suspected of outright sycophant.
Harp lesson.
The object of love was given gifts for the holidays, experienced all sorts of ritual torments in order to be "worthy", for example, they cut out with a knife or poked out the initials of his well-being.
The adoration of the emperor, encouraged by the leadership, generally crossed all sorts of boundaries. Schoolgirls collected and carefully stored "pieces of roast, cucumber, bread" from the table at which the tsar dined, stole a handkerchief, which was cut into small pieces and distributed among the pupils who wore these "talismans" on their chests.
Needlework lesson.
"Do what you want with me," Alexander II said to the pupils of the Moscow Alexandrovsky Institute, "but don't touch my dog, don't try to cut his fur as a keepsake, as it was, they say, in some institutions." But the girls not only cut off the wool from Alexander's pet, but even managed to cut the expensive fur of his fur coat in several places.
The curriculum included such disciplines as reading, spelling, French and German (later Italian was added), physics, chemistry, geography, mathematics, history, etiquette, handicrafts, home economics, the law of God, rhetoric and ballroom dancing.
At a dance lesson, 1901.
It was common to alternate between French and German days, when girls were required to speak only these languages, even among themselves. For the use of the Russian language, a cardboard tongue was hung around the neck of the offender, which she had to pass on to the next one caught at the crime scene. True, they learned how to easily circumvent such a punishment: before the Russian phrase they inserted in a foreign language: "How to say this in French (German)?" and then calmly switched to their own.
Geography lesson.
An integral part of the training was memorizing the ritual of receiving the august persons. “I remember how, at a full gathering of all classes, the inspector“rehearsed”this ceremony with us: a deep bow-curtsey, almost to the floor, and a chorus of greetings uttered in French. I remember her to this day,”wrote E. N. Kharkevich.
Physical education and dancing lessons were obligatory. However, given that it was forbidden to run or play outdoor games within the walls of the institute, and daily walks were short, there was no excess of physical activity.
Sports activities.
Good teachers of needlework served in Smolny, but they were engaged not so much in teaching as in the manufacture of expensive embroidery, which was customary to give to important persons who visited the institute. In addition, girls who did not show a special inclination for embroidery preferred not to teach this craft at all in order to save material.
The usual air temperature at the institute was about 16 ° C, and in some institutes it could go up to 12 ° C, so a winter night spent under a thin blanket became a test for the pupils. Extra bedspreads were allowed as a rare exception.
Dormitory.
The mattresses were hard, lifting was done at 6 am, daily morning washing was practiced to the waist with cold water. It was possible to get warm and sleep off in the local infirmary. It was warmer there than in the huge dormitories, enhanced meals were provided, and many young ladies, who had perfectly mastered the art of fainting, arranged for themselves "holidays", simulating the corresponding diseases. However, many did not have to pretend.
Washroom.
The specific attitude towards the few men and the opinion of the schoolgirls about the rules of decency reaching the point of absurdity caused a lot of trouble for doctors. The very thought of undressing in the presence of a person of the opposite sex made shy girls endure pain to the end, sometimes tragic.
Medical checkup.
Elizaveta Tsevlovskaya wrote that when she fell down the stairs and severely injured her chest, the thought that she had to appear naked to the doctor made her hide her illness. And only when she fainted from a fever, she was taken to a specialist.
Downhill skiing.
For winter festivities, the alleys of Smolny were covered with boards. It was considered a great valor to drag an almost melted snowball into the room. The pupils walked exclusively on their own territory and only once a year - in the summer they were taken out to the Tauride Garden, from where all visitors were previously expelled.
On the rink.
It was forbidden to read books outside the program. To prevent the schoolgirls from accumulating harmful ideas and preserving the innocence of thoughts, about which the educators were so concerned, the classics that passed strict censorship were used to study literature, in which there were often more gaps than text. Sometimes the educators reached the point of idiocy: the seventh commandment (the prohibition of adultery) was sealed.
Pupils for a walk in the garden playing tennis.
Varlam Shalamov wrote that “the discarded places were collected in a special last volume of the edition, which the students could buy only after graduating from the institute. It was this last volume that was a subject of special desire for female students. If the book could be obtained, it had to be well hidden.
A group of pupils of the Smolny Institute in the living room embroidering and reading
The ability to gracefully squat in a curtsy in the 19th century Smolny was valued more than successes in mathematics, failures in physics were forgiven for good manners, but they could be expelled for vulgar behavior, but certainly for unsatisfactory grades. The only science that was considered sacred was the study of the French language.
Meetings with relatives took place on a schedule, in the presence of educators, and were limited to four hours a week (two visiting days). It was especially hard for girls brought from far away. They had not seen their loved ones for months and years, and trips home were not allowed.
Pupils of the Smolny Institute with relatives in the reception room.
All correspondence was supervised by cool ladies who read the letters before sending and after receiving. So the pupils were protected from the harmful influence of the outside world. The parents had no right to stop their studies at will and take their daughter home, it was impossible to meet more often, but in order to send letters “bypassing the censorship”, all they had to do was pay the maid.
The pupils were taught cooking and housekeeping, but knowledge in these subjects was given completely fragmentary. For example, in the senior grades there was a duty in the kitchen, when the schoolgirls, under the guidance of the cooks, prepared food themselves, however, frying cutlets was limited to them only by sculpting products from ready-made minced meat. No information was given about the choice of meat or further heat treatment of the dish.
Pupils in the kitchen preparing dinner.
The food was no-frills, here is the usual menu for the day:
Breakfast: bread with butter and cheese, milk porridge or pasta, tea.
Lunch: thin soup without meat, meat from the soup, pie.
Dinner: tea with a roll.
On Wednesdays, Fridays, and on fasting days, the diet became even less nutritious: for breakfast they gave six small potatoes (or three medium ones) with vegetable oil and gruel, for lunch there was soup with cereals, a small piece of boiled fish, aptly nicknamed by hungry schoolgirls "carrion. ", And a miniature lean pie.
Pupils of the Smolny Institute in the dining room before dinner.
At one point, when more than half of the girls were in the infirmary with a diagnosis of exhaustion, the posts were reduced to one and a half months a year, but no one canceled Wednesdays and Fridays. It was possible to expand the diet by paying a special fee and drinking tea with more nutritious food in the morning in the teachers' room, separately from other schoolgirls.
If you had pocket money, you could negotiate with the servants and buy at an exorbitant price of food, but this was severely punished by the cool ladies.
Speech by the pupils in the column hall.
After lights out, silence was to be observed in the dormitory. Before bed, stories of white ladies, black knights and severed hands were popular in the bedrooms. The walls were disposed to this, since the legend of the walled-up nun was associated with Smolny.
The storytellers staged a real theater of horror, moving from a terrible whisper to a formidable bass and periodically grabbing the listeners by the hands in the dark. It was very important not to scream with fear.
Solemn graduation act at the Smolny Institute
Was the life of the pupils after graduation a continuous holiday? When faced with the real world, they developed, as they say now, cognitive dissonance. In everyday life, the schoolgirls were completely helpless. Graduate Elizaveta Vodovozova recalled:
Immediately after leaving the institute, I did not have the slightest idea that first of all it was necessary to agree with the cabman about the price, did not know that he needed to pay for the fare, and I did not have a purse.
It remained only to make infantilism its zest - to blink innocently and speak in a touching childish voice, there were those who liked to save the "innocent child". Nevertheless, the names of many noble graduates of Smolny remained in history.
A group of graduates of the Smolny Institute with teachers.
Among them are Princess Praskovya Gagarina - the first Russian aeronaut, Baroness Sophia de Bode, who commanded a detachment of junkers in 1917 and is remembered by her contemporaries for her incredible courage and cruelty, Maria Zakrevskaya-Benkendorf-Budberg - double agent of the OGPU and British intelligence, terrorist Maria Shul'tsakh and intelligence officer, the famous harpist Ksenia Erdeli, as well as one of the first futurists - the poet Nina Habias.