Uvarov, Sergej Semenovič

Autor: Uvarov, Sergej Semenovič
Rok: 1786-1855

Biogr./Hist. údaje: Ruský ministr osvěty.
Zdroj: Autoritní databáze Národní knihovny ČR

Count Sergey Semionovich Uvarov (Russian: Серге́й Семёнович Ува́ров) (25 August (5 September) 1786, Moscow – 4 (16) September 1855) was a Russian classical scholar best remembered as an influential imperial statesman under Nicholas I of Russia.Uvarov, connected through marriage with the powerful Razumovsky family, published a number of works on Ancient Greek literature and archaeology, which brought him European renown. A confirmed conservative, he was on friendly terms with Alexander Humboldt, Madame de Stael, Goethe, Prince de Ligne, Nikolay Karamzin, and Vasily Zhukovsky. From 1811 to 1822, he curated the Saint Petersburg educational district.In 1832, Uvarov was appointed Deputy Minister of National Education, succeeding his father-in-law Count Razumovsky. He was elected an Honorable Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1811 and was the president of that venerable institution from 1818 until his death. In the wake of the Decembrist revolt of 1825, the tsar moved to protect the status quo by centralizing the educational system. He wanted to neutralize the threat of foreign ideas and what he ridiculed as "pseudo-knowledge." However, Uvarov, quietly promoted academic freedom and autonomy, raised academic standards, improved facilities, and opened higher education to the middle classes. By 1848 the tsar, fearing the political upheavals in the West might uprisings in Europe, ended Uvarov's innovations.Uvarov was responsible for coming up with the formula "Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality", the basis of his activities regarding public education. He worked to limit access to education by people of non-noble origin and strengthening governmental control over the universities and gymnasiums, once famously remarking, "No university Pugachevs."The universities were small and closely monitored, especially the potentially dangerous philosophy departments. Their main mission was to train a loyal, athletic, masculinized senior bureaucracy that avoided the effeminacy of office work.Despite these reactionary measures, Uvarov was also responsible for laying the foundations of high-quality education in Russia and reinstating the practice of sending Russian scientists abroad.Uvarovite, the rarest of garnets, is named after him. His son Aleksey Uvarov co-founded the Russian Archaeological Society and the State Historical Museum in Moscow.