In January 1820, Emperor Alexander I appointed a new governor to manage the capital, who had the honor of rebuilding Moscow, which was burned down by the Great Fire. The viceroy held the position for a quarter of a century, Muscovites remember him as a patriot and a brilliant organizer. His name was Dmitry Golitsyn.
Short biography
The future governor was born on October 29, 1771 in a family that belonged to the Moscow branch of the Golitsyn princes. The father and grandfather on the maternal side are diplomats. The confidant of Peter I and the first governor of the capital, the boyar Tikhon Streshnev, was the boy's great-grandfather.
Childhood and youth
At the age of three, Dmitry was enrolled in the Preobrazhensky Guards Regiment, where three years later he received the rank of sergeant. Together with his brother, at the age of 11, he entered the oldest educational institution in Europe, the University of Strasbourg. He stayed there for four years. At the age of 14 he entered the Horse Guards Regiment with the rank of sergeant major. A year later he was promoted to cornet, two years later - to second lieutenant. In 1788, Boris and Dmitry Golitsyn were enrolled in the Paris Military School, where he received his educationNapoleon Bonaparte. The brothers spent their holidays traveling around Europe.
Serving in the army
In 1789, the young men returned to their homeland, and Dmitry began to serve in the Horse Regiment. Moving up the career ladder, by the age of 23 he becomes a senior officer.
The character of the young man manifested itself in military operations on the territory of Poland (1794). The first highest award, the Order of George the Victorious, Dmitry Golitsyn received for the capture of the suburbs of Warsaw under the command of A. V. Suvorov. Six years later, in the rank of lieutenant general, he becomes the chief of the thirteenth Dragoon Regiment of Count Munnich and remains so for nine years. For the courage shown in the wars against Napoleon, Prince Dmitry Vladimirovich Golitsyn is awarded the second Order of St. George the Victorious.
From the end of 1806, under his command is the third part of the cavalry troops, and then the entire Russian cavalry. After the defeat in the battle of Friedland, the prince was entrusted with the command of the rearguard (cover troops).
In 1808, Dmitry Golitsyn participated in the Finnish War, after which he commanded the Vassky Corps, lodging in Finland. In 1809, the General Staff decides to transfer the Vassky corps through the Kvarken Strait, which separates the Botanical Bay. The purpose of the transition is the city of Umeå in northern Sweden. The leadership of the corps was entrusted to M. B. Barclay de Tolly. The offended prince wrote a letter of resignation.
At the beginning of the Patriotic War of 1812, Golitsyn returned to the army. M. I. Kutuzov puts him at the head of the Cuirassier Corps, consisting of two divisions. The prince showed himself positively inBattle of Borodino. When departing from Moscow, he was entrusted with the leadership of one of the two columns of retreat. In the battle of Krasny, he captured 35 guns and 7 thousand people.
On the campaign of 1813-1814 in Europe he went all the way to Paris at the head of the cavalry reserve corps. At the end of the foreign campaign, he was promoted to general.
In peacetime, the prince commanded the First Cavalry Reserve Corps, later the Second Infantry Corps.
Governor General
Eight years after the burning of Moscow, D. N. Golitsyn became its governor-general. Twenty-four years of governorship became a major milestone in the development of the city.
To the merits of the prince belong:
- development of the boulevard on the embankment of the Moscow River;
- expansion of the Alexander Garden near the western wall of the Kremlin;
- construction of the buildings of the Bolshoi and Maly theatres;
- construction of the Moskvoretsky bridge.
In honor of the victory over Napoleon, the Cathedral of the Russian Church, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, was laid; the Triumphal Arch was erected at the Tverskaya Zastava (Mayakovka).
Cooperation between Golitsyn and Osip Bove made it possible to create a new image of the capital. During the period of the prince's general government, the government allocated funds for paving the streets with cobblestones, laying water pipelines, and building roads. The desire to ennoble Moscow led to the creation of a new type of shopping arcade: the passage of the Bolshoi Theater and the Merchant Exchange.
Construction of hospitals and educationalestablishments
The honor of creating the Novo-Ekaterininskaya hospital (city number 24) belongs to D. N. Golitsyn. The prince bought the building of the English Club, which had burned out in the Great Fire and had been empty for a long time, and the architect Osip Bove restored the estate, completing the buildings and the church. The front chambers were replaced by wards and operating rooms. The hospital catered for all classes: the poor got the opportunity for free treatment.
The First City Hospital (Pirogovka), also built according to the project of Osip Bove, became the first hospital created with city funds. Like Novo-Ekaterininskaya, it provided free assistance to the poor.
Almshouses (Nabilkovskaya, Maroseyskaya), orphanages (Alexandrovsky, Nikolaevsky), orphanages, the house of industriousness, the petty-bourgeois school are the fruits of Dmitry Vladimirovich's labor.
Awards
Nikolai I appreciated Prince Golitsyn, showed him generosity. For services to the Fatherland, Dmitry Vladimirovich received the title of His Serene Highness and the Order of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called. Member of the Council since 1821, honorary member of the Academy of Sciences since 1822, in 1831 joined the emperor's entourage.
His Serene Highness Prince D. N. Golitsyn died in 1843 while undergoing treatment in France. He held the post of governor-general until his death. He was buried in the family tomb of the Golitsyns in the Donskoy Monastery. The list of 25 Russian and foreign awards of Golitsyn includes several higher orders.
