Славянский мир в третьем тысячелетии (Oct 2021)
Moscow in Russian-Polish Academic and Cultural Contacts from the End of the Eighteenth to the First Half of the Nineteenth Centuries
Abstract
The question of Russian-Polish academic and literary contacts, which began to take on a systematic character after the partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and formation of the autonomous Kingdom of Poland within the Russian Empire, has traditionally drawn the attention of both Russian and Polish historians. In this regard, of great interest is the period from the late 18th to the first half of the 19th centuries, which, in turn, can be divided into two stages: before the uprising of 1830–1831 (November Uprising), when the western provinces of the Russian Empire, as well as the Polish Kingdom, enjoyed an autonomous system of Polish education; and after the uprising, when universities and many academic societies in these territories were closed and the process of integrating Polish education into the all-Russian system began. In addition to St. Petersburg, which occupied a leading place in building contacts between representatives of Russian and Polish science and culture, Moscow, which was the second largest Polish colony after St. Petersburg, also played a significant role in maintaining these contacts. Before the uprising of 1830, these contacts took the form of personal ties between individual scholars and writers, including members of academic societies and editorial offices of periodicals. After 1830, Russian-Polish academic relations were mainly limited to the sphere of activity of the Slavophiles. However, during this period, Moscow received its status as one of the educational centres for Polish youth, and it became one of the places of scientific activity of Polish professors. Among the graduates of Moscow University there were many famous doctors, lawyers, philologists, natural scientists, and other representatives of the Polish intelligentsia. The Polish scientists who taught there contributed to the development of not only Polish, but also Russian science.
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