An Institute for Noble Maidens () was a type of educational institution and

finishing school A finishing school focuses on teaching young women social graces and upper-class cultural rites as a preparation for entry into society. The name reflects that it follows on from ordinary school and is intended to complete the education, wit ...

in late

Imperial Russia The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...

. It was devised by

Ivan Betskoy Ivan Ivanovich Betskoi or Betskoy (russian: Ива́н Ива́нович Бе́цкой; ) was an educational reformer in the Russian Empire who served as Catherine II's advisor on education and President of the Imperial Academy of Arts for thir ...

as a female-only institution for girls of noble origin. Those were "Closed female institutes of the

Office of the Institutions of Empress Maria The Office of the Institutions of Empress Maria (russian: Ведомство учреждений императрицы Марии) was the name of the Imperial government office of charity in Imperial Russia, and the 4th branch of His Imperial ...

". The first and most famous of these was the

Smolny Institute of Noble Maidens The Smolny Institute of Noble Maidens of Saint Petersburg (Russian: Смольный институт благородных девиц Санкт-Петербурга) was the first women's educational institution in Russia that laid the foundatio ...

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

History

Origins

Secondary education Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scale. Level 2 or lower secondary education (less commonly junior secondary education) is considered the second and final pha ...

for girls and a path to university education for women was extremely limited in

Tsarist Russia Tsarist Russia may refer to: * Grand Duchy of Moscow (1480–1547) *Tsardom of Russia (1547–1721) *Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of ...

. One path of educational training for the daughters of the Russian

nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy (class), aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below Royal family, royalty. Nobility has often been an Estates of the realm, estate of the realm with many e ...

were the Institutes for Noble Maidens ''(Instituti blagorodnykh devits),'' cloistered private academies which housed primary and secondary students and offered basic scholastic and cultural training.

The idea of the Institute for Noble Maidens dated to 1763, when

to Empress

Catherine the Great , en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes , house = , father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst , mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp , birth_date = , birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anhal ...

a "Statute for the Education of the Youth of Both Sexes," which proposed the education of both sexes in state

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

s aimed at creating a "new race of men."David Ransel, "Ivan Betskoi and the Institutionalization of Enlightenment in Russia," in ''Canadian-American Slavic Studies,'' vol. 14, no. 3 (1980), pp. 327–328. Boarding schools were to be preferred to other institutions of education in accordance with Rousseau's idea that "isolating the pupils enabled their tutors to protect them from the vices of society."

Regimen

An important memoir touching upon life at these facilities was left by

populist Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term developed ...

leader

Vera Figner Vera Nikolayevna Figner Filippova (Russian: Ве́ра Никола́евна Фи́гнер Фили́ппова; 7 July ld Style and New Style dates, O.S. 25 June1852 – 25 June 1942) was a prominent Russian revolutionary political activis ...

, who attended the Rodionovsky Institute for Noble Girls in

Kazan Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering a ...

from 1863 until 1869. Figner found the educational regimen at the Rodionovsky Institute to be largely unsatisfactory, with instruction in literature avoiding controversial modern themes and history likewise skewed towards the ancient period rather than more modern events. Scientific instruction was said to be particularly paltry, with the

zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

and

botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

instructor said to have

"...never showed us a skeleton, nor even a stuffed animal, and not a single plant. Never once did we look into a
microscope A microscope () is a laboratory instrument used to examine objects that are too small to be seen by the naked eye. Microscopy is the science of investigating small objects and structures using a microscope. Microscopic means being invisibl ...
, and we had not the remotest idea what a cell was...

On the other hand, for four years they tormented us over
penmanship Penmanship is the technique of writing with the hand using a writing instrument. Today, this is most commonly done with a pen, or pencil, but throughout history has included many different implements. The various generic and formal histor ...
. For seven years we had to study drawing, notwithstanding the fact that during all that time not one of us displayed the smallest sign of talent."Figner, ''Memoirs of a Revolutionist,'' pg. 28.

No discussion of contentious contemporary events or

civics Civics is the study of the rights and obligations of citizens in society. The term derives from the Latin word ''civicus'', meaning "relating to a citizen". The term relates to behavior affecting other citizens, particularly in the context of u ...

took place, according to Figner's testimony, with "not a word...spoken about

serfdom Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery, which develop ...

and the

emancipation of the serfs Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery, which developed ...

; or about land allotments and the redemption of the land." Time was carefully structured, and virtually no textbooks used according to Figner, with students compelled to copy and recopy handwritten notebooks. Only three hours of free time were allowed during the day, with the only structured physical activity consisting of one hour of dancing per week.Figner, ''Memoirs of a Revolutionist,'' pg. 29. Outside reading was not encouraged, with the only library at the Rodionovsky Institute kept behind locked doors by a dean of the school and access to books by students very tightly restricted. Only six weeks a year were allowed for vacation time, according to Figner, during which the girls were allowed to return home — and even this limited respite was denied girls in the two years as they approached graduation to avoid the possibility of inculcation of alien ideas or cultural influences. As a result, Figner asserts, "at the time I left the Institute, my mind was entirely free from any social or political ideas whatsoever."

List of Institutes for Noble Maidens

, St.Petersburg: 1764 * , St.Petersburg: 1798 *

Moscow School of the Order of St Catherine The Moscow School of the Order of St Catherine (russian: Московское училище ордена Святой Екатерины) was a girls' school in Moscow, Russia, between 1802 and 1918. It was a fashionable girl school for students f ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

: 1803 *

Kharkov Kharkiv ( uk, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest city and municipality in Ukraine.

: 1812 * ,

Kiev Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

: 1838 *

Białystok Białystok is the largest city in northeastern Poland and the capital of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is the tenth-largest city in Poland, second in terms of population density, and thirteenth in area. Białystok is located in the Białystok Up ...

: initiated 1837, opened 1 November 1841 in former Tsar's palace * Rodionovsky Institute for Noble Girls,

: 1841 *

Irkutsk Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat language, Buryat and mn, Эрхүү, ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 617,473 as of the 2010 Census, Irkutsk is ...

: 1845 *

Saratov Saratov (, ; rus, Сара́тов, a=Ru-Saratov.ogg, p=sɐˈratəf) is the largest city and administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River upstream (north) of Volgograd. Saratov had a population of 901,36 ...

: 1857 *

Nizhniy Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət ), colloquially shortened to Nizhny, from the 13th to the 17th century Novgorod of the Lower Land, formerly known as Gork ...

: established in 1852, moved to custom built building in 1858

Alumnae

(1852-1942), student at Kazan from 1863 to 1869, leader of the ''

Narodnaya Volya Narodnaya Volya ( rus, Наро́дная во́ля, p=nɐˈrodnəjə ˈvolʲə, t=People's Will) was a late 19th-century revolutionary political organization in the Russian Empire which conducted assassinations of government officials in an att ...

'' (People's Will) terrorist organization *

Elena of Montenegro Elena of Montenegro (; 8 January 1873 – 28 November 1952) was a Montenegrin princess as the daughter of King Nicholas I of Montenegro and his wife, Queen Milena. She was Queen of Italy from 1900 until 1946 as wife of King Victor Emmanuel I ...

(1873-1952), later Queen Elena of Italy. Attended the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens in

. * Maria Vasillievna Pavlova (née Gortynskaia) (1854-1939) paleontologist and academician attended Kyiv *

Vera Popova Vera Yevstafievna Popova, née Vera Bogdanovskaya (Вера Евстафьевна Попова; 17 September 1867 – 8 May 1896) was a Russian chemist. She was one of the first female chemists in Russia, and the first Russian female author of ...

(1867-1896), pioneer female chemist who died in a lab explosion.Anne C. Hughes, "Vera Evstaf'evna Bogdanovskaia," in

Marilyn Ogilvie Marilyn Bailey Ogilvie (born 1936) is an American historian of science known especially for her work on the history of women in science. She taught at Oklahoma Baptist University before becoming curator of the History of Science Collections and ...

Joy Harvey Joy Dorothy Harvey (born 1934) is an American historian of science. Life Harvey gained a PhD from Harvard University in 1983. She has been an associate editor of the Darwin Correspondence Project, and written a biography of Clémence Royer, Dar ...

, and

Margaret Rossiter Margaret W. Rossiter (born July 1944) is an American historian of science, and Marie Underhill Noll Professor of the History of Science, at Cornell University. Rossiter coined the term Matilda effect for the systematic suppression of information ...

(eds.), ''Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science: Pioneering Lives from Ancient Times to the Mid-Twentieth Century.'' New York: Routledge, 2014; pg. 153.

Footnotes