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Universities of the Bloc

Universitetskaya Embankment, 11, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 199034

The famous poet Alexander Blok graduated from Saint Petersburg University at the beginning of the 20th century. He started in the Faculty of Law but finished university as a student of Philology. In his letters, he sometimes mentioned the time he spent within the university walls. Like today's students who move from school to university, Alexander Blok was amazed by the freedom that higher education grants after the tedious rote learning in school. “At university, of course, it is much more interesting, and besides, there is a very strong feeling of freedom, which I, however, do not misuse and attend lectures diligently” (Letter to his father, 18.10.1898).
St. Petersburg of Alexander Blok
photo
Jermaine

The famous poet Alexander Blok graduated from Saint Petersburg University at the beginning of the 20th century. He started at the Faculty of Law but finished university as a student of Philology. In his letters, he sometimes mentioned the time he spent within the university walls.

Like today's students who move from school to university, Alexander Blok was amazed by the freedom that higher education grants after the exhausting rote learning at school.

“University is, of course, much more interesting, and besides, there is a very strong feeling of freedom, which I, however, do not abuse and attend lectures diligently” (Letter to his father, 18.10.1898).

Admit it, diligently attending lectures nowadays is more of a rarity than a usual student habit.

However, not even a couple of years pass before “everything falls into place”: “I almost never go to university anymore, which seems right to me on the grounds that I am in my second year of the second course, and besides, listening to lectures is useless for me, probably due, among other things, to my poor memory for things of this kind” (Letter to his father, 01.12.1900).

However, Blok did take his exams properly. “At the political economy exam, I sat trembling because I knew nothing... When I, trembling with fear, approached Georgievsky and drew a ticket, Georgievsky asked me what a ‘market’ is. I answered: ‘A sphere of sales’; the professor highly valued such an answer and did not tolerate when he was told that the market is a ‘place of sales.’ I knew this firmly. For this, Georgievsky immediately let me go, giving me a five” (Diary, 17(30).08.1918).

Blok showed no inclination towards legal sciences and decided to transfer to the Faculty of Philology, for which he submitted a petition to the rector in his third year. In the autumn of 1901, this transfer took place. He began to get acquainted with the Petersburg literary elite. In 1902, he befriended Zinaida Gippius and Dmitry Merezhkovsky. Valery Bryusov published Alexander Blok’s poems in the almanac “Northern Flowers.”

Blok immediately enrolled in the Slavic-Russian department of the Historical-Philological Faculty. His choice, wavering between the classical department and the Slavic-Russian one, was only finalized by the third year. Among the professors whose lectures Blok attended, Professor Zelinsky was especially popular among students. Professor Zelinsky was a widely educated classical philologist and by 1901 was already a skilled lecturer with his “artistic” manner of presentation, not unfamiliar with rhetoric. He saw “the predominant significance of antiquity in that it was the progenitor of those ideas by which we still live.” Blok, who was intensely developing his worldview, searching for an explanation for everything he felt and “knew” in the surrounding reality, was able to appreciate such a “modern” approach of Zelinsky to antiquity.

Studying at the Philological Faculty went much more cheerfully for Blok, and the only obstacle to gaining knowledge was the ever-growing student “pre-revolutionary” unrest. “In our university (which was closed on February 6) terrible things are happening: at a meeting they demanded an active strike, and the very next day ‘from above’ classes were stopped” (Letter to his father, 08.11.1902).

Closer to the end of his studies, however, the university walls began to feel cramped for Blok. “At university, I mostly listened to Polish language and Russian literature. Now I have to present a report on the Slavic language, which has long been troubling me. In general, I gladly see the end of the university course because I often see in it something deeply alien to me and hard for me to endure...” (Letter to his father, 30.12.1903).

According to Blok’s contemporaries, he prepared very thoroughly for his final exams, which was reflected in the results. “Today my exams ended. I hasten to inform you of this. I managed to finish with the highest distinction, receiving four ‘very good’ marks in oral exams and a perfect ‘very good’ in written exams” (Letter to his father, 05.05.1906).

https://kudago.com/spb/list/peterburg-bloka/

https://www.examen.ru/news-and-articles/news/aleksandr-blok-v-sankt-peterburgskom-universitete/

 

photo
Jermaine

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More stories from St. Petersburg of Alexander Blok

The poet's early childhood

Universitetskaya Embankment, 9, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 199034

St. Petersburg of Alexander Blok
In infancy, Blok lived and was raised in the family of his grandfather Andrey Beketov, a botanist and rector of St. Petersburg University.
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Grenadier Regiment Barracks - Youth

Petrogradskaya Embankment, 44, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 197101

St. Petersburg of Alexander Blok
The poet Alexander Blok's mother divorces her husband and later marries the military officer Franz Kublicki-Piottukh. The family moves to the barracks of the Grenadier Regiment. From 1889 to 1906, Blok lives with his mother and stepfather in an apartment in the officers' barracks of the Life Guards Grenadier Regiment.
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Gymnasium Period

Bolshoy Prospekt P.S., 37, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 197198

St. Petersburg of Alexander Blok
My mother took me to the gymnasium; for the first time in my life, from a cozy and quiet family, I found myself among a crowd of neatly cut and loudly shouting boys; I was unbearably scared of something, I would have gladly run away or hidden somewhere; but at the classroom door, though open, I felt an impassable boundary. They seated me at the front desk, right in front of the teacher’s podium, which was pushed up close to it and on which the Latin teacher was about to step any minute. I felt like a rooster whose beak had been chalked to the floor, and it remained bent and motionless, not daring to raise its head… *Confession of a Pagan.* A. Blok
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The Marriage of Blok

Lakhtinskaya St., 3, lit. A, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 197136

St. Petersburg of Alexander Blok
Alexander Blok and Lyubov Mendeleeva, the daughter of chemist Dmitri Mendeleev, had known each other since childhood. But it was in the summer of 1898, when they worked together on an amateur home production of *Hamlet*, that they grew closer. Their estates near Moscow, Shakhmatovo and Boblovo, were neighbors, and their parents had always been friends. She perfectly fit the image of a professor’s daughter: a strict and reserved gymnasium student. At that time, Blok was not yet “the” Blok — he was only destined to become a famous poet. He asked for Mendeleeva’s hand and heart much later and married his beloved only in 1903, at the age of 23. Lyubov Dmitrievna became the poet’s muse and influenced the creation of his first book of poems, *Verses About the Beautiful Lady*. Their relationship, with interruptions, lasted until the poet’s final years.
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Nemetti Theater

39 Dekabristov St., Saint Petersburg, Russia, 190121

St. Petersburg of Alexander Blok
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Modern residents of St. Petersburg associate Dekabristov Street exclusively with the Mariinsky Theatre. Numerous disputes and regrets remain in history about the demolished Palace of Culture of the Fifth Five-Year Plan, and even earlier, the building of the decoration workshops destroyed by fire, which has now been rebuilt into a Concert Hall. It was precisely on this site, listed on the city’s posters as Mariinsky-3, that the best theatrical venues and the most amazing park in the city once stood.
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Blokovskaya "Stranger" - Ozerki Station

Ozerki, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 197375

St. Petersburg of Alexander Blok
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“In the evenings above the restaurants, the hot air is wild and deaf…” Who isn’t familiar with these lines from the famous Blok poem *The Stranger*? Under the poem, there is a note: “April 24, 1906, Ozerki.” It is commonly believed that the poet wrote it in the station restaurant in Ozerki. But where exactly? In this popular summer suburb, there were two stations: one on the Finland railway line, the other on the Ozerki branch of the Primorskaya (Sestroretskaya) railway…
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Poem Retribution

Malaya Monetnaya St., 12, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 197101

St. Petersburg of Alexander Blok
From 1910 to 1912, Alexander Blok lived here together with Lyubov Mendeleeva. Their four-room apartment No. 27 was located on the sixth, attic floor. The poet's study had a balcony, which has been preserved to this day.
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The Last Address of Blok

57 Dekabristov St., Saint Petersburg, Russia, 190121

St. Petersburg of Alexander Blok
Died "from lack of air." A contemporary recalled: "They had just removed the plaster mask from his face. It was quiet and solemnly desolate... nearby, by the wall, stood Anna Akhmatova quietly weeping; by six o'clock the room was filled with those gathered for the memorial service. Anna Akhmatova lay dressed in the shroud of the deceased, with a gaunt, yellowish-pale face... In death, he lost the appearance of greatness and took on the visage of suffering and decay."
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Two graves of Blok - the first is Smolensk Cemetery

Kamskaya St., 24, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 199178

St. Petersburg of Alexander Blok
Surprisingly, there are two graves of Alexander Blok in Saint Petersburg. Fans of the poet visit both of them, as no one is still certain where his remains are actually buried. Initially, Blok was buried at the Smolensky Orthodox Cemetery, alongside other family members. According to his will, the tombstone was made in the form of a simple wooden cross. In 1944, it was decided to move the grave to the Volkovo Cemetery, to the prestigious Literatorskie Mostki (Writers' Footsteps). Blok’s biographers never saw the point in this action, considering it unnecessary. The new burial site caused many discrepancies regarding where admirers of Blok’s work should make their pilgrimage. Historians claim that only the skull was moved to the Volkovo Cemetery, while the rest of the remains stayed in place. This version was confirmed by the art historian, academician Dmitry Likhachyov. Today, at the Literatorskie Mostki, one can see a beautiful memorial in the form of a black stele with the poet’s name and years of life. Fans love this place and willingly come to honor the memory of the outstanding Russian symbolist.
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Two graves of Blok - the second is Volkovo Cemetery

Rasstannaya St., 30, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 192007

St. Petersburg of Alexander Blok
In 1944, it was decided to move the grave to the Volkovo Cemetery, to the prestigious Literatorskie Bridges. Block's biographers never saw the point in this action, considering it unnecessary. The new burial gave rise to many discrepancies regarding where fans of Block's work should make their pilgrimage. Historians claim that only the skull was moved to the Volkovo Cemetery, while the rest of the ashes remained in place. This version was confirmed by the art historian, academician Dmitry Likhachyov. Today, at the Literatorskie Bridges, one can see a beautiful memorial in the form of a black stele with the poet's name and years of life. Admirers love this place and willingly come to it to honor the memory of the outstanding Russian symbolist.
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The Suicide Pharmacy of Blok

Chkalovskaya metro station, Admiral Lazarev Embankment, 24, BC "Trinity", Saint Petersburg, Russia, 197110

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Night, street, lamp, pharmacy, Meaningless and dim light. Live for another quarter of a century — Everything will be the same. There is no way out.
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Controversial monument to Blok

60 Dekabristov St., Saint Petersburg, Russia, 190121

St. Petersburg of Alexander Blok
In Saint Petersburg, on Dekabristov Street, a monument to Alexander Blok was unveiled. The bronze sculpture, 3.6 meters tall, was placed in the square near the house where the poet lived for nine years from 1912 to 1921. The authors of the sculpture are Evgeny Rotanov and architect Ivan Kozhin.
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