Ludwig Heinrich Freiherr von Nicolay (russian: Андре́й Льво́вич Никола́и, translit=Andréj L'vovič Nikolái; 25 December 1737, in

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

, in

Monrepos Mon Repos or Monrepos (French for "my place of rest") may refer to: Places * Mon Repos, Queensland, Australia ** Mon Repos Conservation Park, a turtle rookery at Mon Repos * Mon Repos, Saint Lucia, a village on the island of Saint Lucia * Mon Re ...

north of

Vyborg Vyborg (; rus, Вы́борг, links=1, r=Výborg, p=ˈvɨbərk; fi, Viipuri ; sv, Viborg ; german: Wiborg ) is a town in, and the administrative center of, Vyborgsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Karelian Isthmus ne ...

) was a German poet of the

Enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...

. He served as President of the

St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across t ...

between 1798 and 1803. Nicolay was the son of a

archivist. He graduated from the

University of Strasbourg The University of Strasbourg (french: Université de Strasbourg, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, with over 52,000 students and 3,300 researchers. The French university traces its history to the ea ...

with a degree in law. Like his father, he served as a librarian to a string of rich nobles. Prince Dmitry Gallitsyn employed Nicolay as his secretary in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

where he came to know

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his ...

Diderot Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the ''Encyclopédie'' along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a prominen ...

d'Alembert Jean-Baptiste le Rond d'Alembert (; ; 16 November 1717 – 29 October 1783) was a French mathematician, mechanician, physicist, philosopher, and music theorist. Until 1759 he was, together with Denis Diderot, a co-editor of the ''Encyclopédie ...

and other intellectuals of the

. In 1769 Nicolay was invited to the

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 Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

to be a teacher of logic for the future Emperor

Paul I of Russia Paul I (russian: Па́вел I Петро́вич ; – ) was Emperor of Russia from 1796 until his assassination. Officially, he was the only son of Peter III of Russia, Peter III and Catherine the Great, although Catherine hinted that he w ...

. In 1782 (on the same day as

Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as treat ...

) Nicolay was ennobled and granted the title of

baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...

Joseph II Joseph II (German: Josef Benedikt Anton Michael Adam; English: ''Joseph Benedict Anthony Michael Adam''; 13 March 1741 – 20 February 1790) was Holy Roman Emperor from August 1765 and sole ruler of the Habsburg lands from November 29, 1780 unt ...

. When Paul became emperor, he appointed Nicolay to run the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (15 April 1798 – 2 June 1803). Nicolay's private library, collections (cameos, letters and other documents) and pictures are now in the possession of the

Finnish National Library The National Library of Finland ( fi, Kansalliskirjasto, sv, Nationalbiblioteket) is the foremost research library in Finland. Administratively the library is part of the University of Helsinki. From 1919 to 1 August 2006, it was known as the ...

in Helsinki. This library is a very rare example of Russian libraries from the age of Enlightenment.The history of the Monrepos Park
/ref> In 1803 Baron von Nicolay settled into retirement at his estate

north of

. This estate belonged to the Nicolay family from 1788 to 1944 (when Vyborg was subsumed into the Soviet Union).

Collected works

* ''Elegien und Briefe''. Straßburg 1760 * ''Verse und Prosa''. Basel 1773 (2 Bde.) * ''Vermischte Gedichte''. Berlin 1778-1786 (9 Bde.) * ''Vermischte Gedichte und prosaische Schriften''. Berlin 1792-1810 (8 Bde.) * ''Theatralische Werke''. Königsberg 1811 (2 Bde.) * ''Poetische Werke''. Wien 1817 (4 Bde.)

References

* Peter von Gerschau: ''Aus dem Leben des Freiherrn Heinrich Ludwig von Nicolay''. Perthes & Besser, Hamburg 1834. * Edmund Heier: ''L. H. Nicolay (1737-1820) and his contemporaries''. Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague 1965. * Edmund Heier: ''L. H. Nicolay (1737-1820) as an exponent of neo-classicism''. Bouvier, Bonn 1981. {{DEFAULTSORT:Nicolay, Ludwig Heinrich von 1737 births 1820 deaths Alsatian-German people Barons of Austria Eastern Orthodox Christians from Germany Converts to Eastern Orthodoxy from Protestantism German untitled nobility German poets Full members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Writers from Strasbourg Age of Enlightenment University of Strasbourg alumni Russian librarians Writers from Vyborg German male poets