On August 6, 1798, 220 years ago, Pavel Nikolaevich Demidov was born - a man who made a huge contribution to the development of the Russian metallurgical industry, but went down in history as one of the most famous Russian patrons of art. It was his support that many bright minds of the Russian state were indebted to, to whom the Academy of Sciences paid the famous Demidov prizes from the funds donated by the patron. But not only Russian science was supported by Pavel Demidov. He financed the construction of a wide variety of social facilities - from orphanages to hospitals. Even now, more than two hundred years later, it is rare to find people among big entrepreneurs who are ready to spend such funds on charity.
Pavel Nikolaevich comes from the famous and richest family of the Demidovs - Russian entrepreneurs who became rich thanks to the mining and arms enterprises he created in the Urals and Tula. The founder of the clan, Nikita Demidov, surprisingly, came from state peasants - his father Demid came to Tula from the village of Pavshino, became a blacksmith, a gunsmith, and Nikita himself was promoted thanks to his personal acquaintance with Peter the Great. During the Northern War, Nikita became a supplier of weapons for the imperial troops, and in 1702 he received the Verkhoturye Iron Works. This is how the history of the Demidov empire and the famous family began, almost every representative of which was an outstanding and worthy person.
Pavel Demidov's father, Nikolai Nikitich Demidov (1773-1828), was not only an industrialist, but also a diplomat, occupying from 1815 the post of Russian envoy to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. During the Patriotic War of 1812, he promised to support the whole army Demidov regiment at his own expense, thus becoming its chief. Nikolai Nikitich donated colossal sums for charitable purposes, including for the construction of public buildings and objects, monuments to outstanding people, donated his houses for social infrastructure. Therefore, there was nothing surprising in the fact that his son Pavel Demidov, following his father's example, also became a famous philanthropist.
Pavel Demidov's childhood was held abroad - in France. His mother, Baroness Elizaveta Aleksandrovna Stroganova, was very fond of France and French culture, therefore she tried to educate her son in Paris, where Pavel studied at the Lyceum of Napoleon. Elizaveta Stroganova greatly admired Napoleon, considered herself a friend of Josephine, but when relations between the Russian Empire and France seriously deteriorated in 1805, the Demidovs were forced to move to Italy, and then return to the Russian Empire. In 1812, Nikolai Nikitich Demidov, as mentioned above, created and financed an entire army regiment that fought against the French.
When Napoleon's troops attacked Russia, Pavel Demidov was only 14 years old, but he, being a cadet, took part in the Battle of Borodino. The next fifteen years of Pavel Demidov's life were associated with service in the Russian imperial army. In 1822, Pavel, who served as the head-captain of the Life Guards Horse-Jaeger Regiment, was transferred to the Cavalry Regiment. At the same time, he served as an adjutant of the Moscow governor-general to the general from the cavalry of Prince Golitsin, and in 1826 he was promoted to captain. Who knows, maybe Pavel Demidov would have continued his service further, if not for the serious illness of his father Nikolai Nikitich, who wanted to involve the heir in his affairs as soon as possible.
In December 1826, Pavel Demidov, after 15 years of service, was dismissed from the guard and received the rank of collegiate counselor. In 1831 he was appointed civil governor of the Kursk province with the promotion to the rank of state councilor, and then a full state councilor. At the same time, Demidov continued to manage numerous enterprises and lands of the family, showing himself to be an excellent business executive - a manager who took care of the prosperity of both his own factories and the state territories entrusted to them.
Interestingly, when Demidov was the governor of Kursk, the emperor's office received regular complaints about his actions from local officials. In the end, in 1832, even a special imperial commission arrived in Kursk, but it found that Pavel Demidov conducted his affairs very fairly and defended the interests of the state. But the most interesting thing is that there was practically no corruption in the province, which in most other regions of the empire even then acquired the character of a real disaster. It was possible to establish that Pavel Demidov fought against bribery of officials of the provincial government by his own methods - he paid extra bonuses to officials from his personal funds, which were twice the amount of bribes that the provincial officials could take every month on average. Thus, he tried to eradicate corruption not with a stick, but with a carrot, and, I must say, he did it quite effectively.
But Pavel Nikolayevich Demidov entered the history of Russia not so much by his merits in the military and civilian field as by his patronage activities. Being an enlightened person, Pavel Demidov sincerely wanted to help the development of various sciences in Russia. For this, he had all the possibilities - untold wealth and colossal political influence. In 1830, Pavel Demidov began to provide assistance to the Russian Academy of Sciences in order for it to finance the scientific development of domestic scientists.
In 1831, a special Demidov Prize was established, and in 1832 it began to be paid to all those who excelled in science and industry. Every year Pavel Demidov allocated 20 thousand rubles in state notes for the prize. In addition, every year from Demidov to the Academy came 5000 rubles for the publication of those handwritten works that were noted by the Academy as valuable and of interest to science. At the same time, the patron himself gave the right to award the prize to the Russian Imperial Academy of Sciences. Annually scientists - academicians considered scientific works nominated for the prize. Physicist Magnus von Pauker received the first Demidov Prize in 1832 for his work "Metrology of Russia and its German Provinces", which, unfortunately, remained unpublished. In 1833, the Demidov Prize was awarded to Yuliy Andreevich Gagemeister, an economist who wrote "Investigations about the finances of ancient Russia."
The Demidov Prize was awarded 34 times annually - until 1865. Usually it was awarded on the birthdays of emperors, and scientists considered the prize as the most honorable non-state award of the Russian Empire. Among the recipients of the Demidov Prize were famous Russian scientists, engineers, travelers, for example, seafarers Fedor Petrovich Litke, Ivan Fedorovich Kruzenshtern, Ferdinand Petrovich Wrangel, marine engineer Grigory Ivanovich Butakov, doctor Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov (twice), philologist and orientalist Iakinf (Bichurin) and a lot others. Thus, Pavel Demidov provided invaluable assistance to the development of science, technology, knowledge about the world around the Russian Empire, providing material assistance to scientists.
According to Demidov's will, the prize was paid for another 25 years after his death. Full and half prizes were awarded. The full Demidov prize was 5000 rubles in bank notes (1428 rubles in silver), and the half - 2500 rubles in bank notes (714 rubles in silver). In 1834, the Demidov Commission decided to establish gold medals to encourage reviewers - a large and a small price of 12 and 8 ducats, respectively.
Interestingly, the prize was awarded for research in various fields of scientific knowledge - in natural, and in technical, and in the humanities. Thus, Demidov tried to support not only the development of economically significant technical and natural sciences, but also Russian literature, philology, and history. For example, the same Iakinf (Bichurin) received the Demidov Prize for the "Chinese grammar" in 1838, and David Chubinov - for the "Russian-Georgian dictionary". The awarding of the Demidov Prizes was very important for the development of domestic medical science. So, in addition to Nikolai Pirogov, twenty more doctors received the Demidov Prize. Among them were the military doctor A. A. Charukovsky, professor of the St. Petersburg Medical-Surgical Academy P. P. Zablotsky, forensic physician S. A. Gromov and many other Russian medical specialists.
Only in 1865, 25 years after Demidov passed away, the last award of the prize in his name took place. Over the 34 years of the history of awarding prizes, the Academy of Sciences reviewed 903 scientific works, awarding 275 of them with prizes, including 55 studies were awarded full awards and 220 studies - half awards. The Demidov Prize reviewers were awarded 58 large and 46 small gold medals. The very history of the existence of the Demidov Prize has become a wonderful example of the support of Russian science by philanthropists - entrepreneurs.
Pavel Demidov was always ready to help any scientific research. So, he helped the "steamship project" of the father and son of the Cherepanovs. Efim Alekseevich Cherepanov and Miron Efimovich Cherepanovs came from serfs attached to the Demidov factories in the Urals, but made a very serious career in enterprises. Efim Cherepanov for twenty years, from 1822 to 1842, served as chief mechanic of all factories in Nizhny Tagil. Father and son worked on a project for steam engines, which, in their opinion, should be implemented in industrial enterprises. Pavel Demidov, to whom they turned for help, agreed to help without any further ado.
He told the petitioners:
Personally, I have no talent for such matters. I see it with my mind, but I’m not trained to do it with my hands. But there will always be money for the right business….
But Pavel Demidov was remembered not only by the creation and payment of the Demidov Prize and by the help of scientists and naturalists. He made a huge contribution to Russian charity. In particular, together with his brother Anatoly Demidov, Pavel Demidov founded the Nikolaev Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg, making a special contribution to its maintenance. Demidov also financed the construction of four hospitals in Kursk and the Kursk province, where the patron was the civil governor for several years. Pavel Demidov regularly received donations to the Committee of the Disabled, to the Shelter for the Poor and to other organizations involved in helping those in need. For example, in 1829, 500 thousand rubles were allocated by the Demidovs to help the widows and orphans of officers and soldiers who died during the Russian-Turkish war of 1828-1829. This was a very significant support, given the general underdevelopment of the system of social protection of the population in the Russian Empire. By the way, such a broad gesture of Demidov was immediately appreciated by Emperor Nicholas I - Pavel Nikolaevich was promoted to chamberlain of the imperial court.
In 1840 Pavel Demidov ordered to establish the Museum of Natural History and Antiquities in Nizhniy Tagil. Pavel Demidov also made a huge contribution to the development of the cities of the Urals. It should be noted that it was thanks to the Demidov factories that many Ural cities became large industrial centers, received an incentive for their development for many decades and even centuries to come. Living in the Russian capital and in European cities, the Demidovs never forgot about the distant Urals, striving to maximize the life and life of the Ural cities. Even the founding of the museum in Nizhny Tagil, which at that time could hardly be called a cultural center, says a lot about how much Pavel Demidov cared about the transformation of the Urals into a civilized, as they would say now, "advanced" region.
Pavel Nikolayevich Demidov died, unfortunately, at a very young age - he died in March 1840 on the way from Brussels to Frankfurt, not even reaching the age of 42. In July 1840, the body of Pavel Demidov was taken to St. Petersburg, where he was buried in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. Thirty-five years later, in 1875, at the request of his relatives, Demidov's ashes were transported to Nizhny Tagil and reburied in the crypt of the Vyisko-Nikolskaya church - next to the ashes of his father Nikolai Nikitich Demidov, whose body was also brought to the Urals from Florence. …
