Russian Empire Research Articles

Social-Economic and Political Contexts of Georgian Romanticism

The given article explains Georgian Romanticism, its period of origin, and its influence not only on various directions of art (painting, music, architecture, etc.) but also on the socio-economic and political situation of the country. The article discusses the forms of Romanticism's manifestation in Georgia, which were conditioned by several processes, including geopolitical occasions and socio-economic determinants. Specific preconditions that influenced the formation of Georgian Romanticism are analyzed. In particular, the abolition of Georgia's statehood in 1801; the 1804 rebellion in Mtiuleti; the 1812 peasant uprising in Kakheti; the 1819 uprising in Imereti; the abolition of the autocephaly of the Georgian Church and others The article discusses the socio-economic and political situation of Georgia in the first half of the XIX century when the Georgian society was composed of the nobility, urban population, merchants, small entrepreneurs, and peasants. Their unbearable economic situation and the desire to fight for the country's freedom somewhat determined the emergence of outstanding representatives of Georgian Romantics, who used their creativity as a weapon against the governance of the Russian Empire, which served to restore Georgia's political independence and improve the socio-economic situation of the country. Keywords: Romanticism, statehood, rebellion, independence, social life,nobility, small entrepreneurs, economic condition, taxes.

A Visit to the Exhibition of All Nations: The Chicago World’s Fair and the United States in Vasily Sidorov’s Travel Writing

The Chicago World’s Fair represented a continuity of the World’s Fairs as key international events of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries which were widely covered, including in travelogues for home readership. The Russian Empire showed considerable interest in participating, especially after Americans organized a relief campaign during its famine a year ago. While the Russian government supervised the exhibits and sent specialists to study the American economy and society, many Russians visited the Fair individually, and some published travel accounts. This article explores the account titled America. Travel Notes and Impressions (1895) written by novelist and botanist Vasily Sidorov. Traveling with a group of European tourists, he admires American nature and praises American technological progress, mobility, and freedoms that could be potentially borrowed but shows uncertainty about major cities and excesses of industrialization and technological development, to a degree repeating what was pointed out by earlier Russian visitors. He evaluated the Fair and most of what he saw through the image of Europe which was also employed to emphasize his sense of cultural superiority.

The Faculty of Sociology in the Russian sociological education system: 35 years of leadership.

This article reflects the achievements of the Sociology Faculty of Moscow State University, which has been a recognized leader in the Russian sociological education system for over 35 years and trains professional sociologists who are in great demand in the modern labor market. Over the past 5 years, 1,287 Russian students (816 bachelors and 471 masters), as well as 368 foreign students, whose influx is constantly growing, have received a start in professional life. The author notes that the feature of learning is a harmonious combination of fundamental and applied knowledge, theoretical and empirical skills, which is typical for classical university education. In its educational and scientific activities, the Faculty of Sociology of Moscow State University relies on a combination of fundamental scientific knowledge and empirical skills that allow students to be not only practitioners capable of processing and analyzing data, but also theorists who understand deep social processes. The education system of the Faculty of Sociology is constantly being modernized to meet the challenges and requirements of modernity. In this regard, special attention is paid at the Faculty of Sociology to the introduction of new educational technologies, including the network form of educational programs, project-based learning, distance learning technologies, and e-learning. The article presents in a systematic form the achievements of the departments of the Faculty of Sociology, as well as the results of the scientific activities of the entire faculty, which are reflected in numerous monographic publications, publications of articles, as well as in reports at international and all-Russian conferences. Many monographs published by faculty members have become bestsellers. Among them: a monograph by N.G. Osipova and S.O. Elishev “Revolutions and coups d’etat: theory, history and practice”, a monograph by N.G. Osipova and S.O. Elishev “Historical Russia: territories and prospects”, monographs by S.O. Elisheva “Sociology of Religion in Imperial Russia” and “Imperial Statehood — the fate and mission of Russia”, a collective monograph by the staff of the Department of Modern Sociology “Social inequality in the modern world: new forms and features of their manifestation in Russia”, collective monographs of the Department of Economic Sociology and Management “The older generation in post-industrial realities” and “Artifacts of organizational culture”. The Faculty of Sociology of Lomonosov Moscow State University takes an active part in the joint development of the Innovative Scientific and Technological Center of Moscow State University “Vorobyovy Gory”, contributed to the launch of negotiations between the INTC of Moscow State University and major representatives of the real sector of the economy. He pays great attention to the preservation of the cultural and historical heritage of Russia, the popularization of traditional values for the Russian mentality. A landmark platform for the implementation of this direction was the Vvedensky Stavropol Monastery “Optina Pustyn”, in the spiritual and educational center of which professors of the faculty N.G. Osipova and S.O. Elishev gave public lectures. The author highlights in detail the directions of international cooperation of the Faculty of Sociology and activities that help attract applicants.

North Africa in the Foreign Policy of Catherine II

The 18th century represented a transformative era for the Russian Empire, characterized by substantial internal reforms and notable foreign policy achievements. Amidst sweeping modernization efforts, Russia secured significant victories on the international stage. Under Peter I, Russia "opened a window" to Europe, while Catherine II's reign expanded Russia's geopolitical reach to the Black Sea, facilitating access to fertile southern territories and establishing crucial maritime routes for international trade. These strategic advancements considerably enhanced Russia's influence and strategic capacities. During Catherine II’s reign, Russia also initiated its first forays into North Africa, a region previously beyond the empire's strategic horizon. Prior to gaining maritime access to the Black and Mediterranean Seas, Russian interaction with North African territories was negligible. However, the geopolitical landscape of Catherine's era prompted the necessity of engaging with Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and Tripoli.This article investigates the principal foreign policy initiatives of Russia toward North Africa during the latter half of the 18th century. These efforts served as ancillary operations to Russia's overarching conflict with the Ottoman Empire. Throughout the Russo-Turkish Wars, Russia exploited separatist movements within the Ottoman periphery to weaken its adversary strategically. In times of peace, Russian priorities shifted to safeguarding merchant vessels in the Mediterranean from attacks by Barbary corsairs—specifically from Tunisia, Algeria, and Tripoli. To mitigate these threats, Russia employed diplomatic pressure on the Sublime Porte and sought to negotiate peace agreements with North African states. Nevertheless, these early Russian engagements in North Africa were tentative and often marked by limited success and instances of diplomatic adventurism, leaving several initiatives unrealized.Utilizing archival documents from the Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire (AVPRI) and the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts (RGADA), this article provides a detailed examination of Russia’s diplomatic decision-making and negotiations with North African states. While prior Russian and foreign scholarship has analyzed specific events and countries in this context, this study seeks to offer a more holistic understanding of Russia’s foreign policy objectives and actions in North Africa during the 18th century.

Ukrainian Nationalism in the Propaganda of the bolshevik’s and modern Ideology of the russian Imperialism

The study compares how “Ukrainian nationalism” was interpreted in the Soviet press and the texts of contemporary ideologues of Russian imperialism. The way in which Ukrainian nationalism and its alleged followers were dehumanized during the trial of the Union for the Liberation of Ukraine in 1930 (using the example of the texts of Andrii Khvylia, Mykola Skrypnyk and publications of the magazine “Bolshevik of Ukraine”) was examined. The image of Ukrainian nationalism presented in public statements that preceded and accompanied the full-scale war from 2022 was analyzed (texts of Timofey Sergeytsev, the address of the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin). In the widely circulated texts, the authors accused the “nationalists” of espionage, treason, moral degeneration and the preparation of a coup d’état, which can be defined as hate speech. Communists and contemporary ideologues construct the image of the enemy, using accusations in a mirror that Ukrainian nationalists commit terror or genocide. They depict their victims as aggressors and themselves as victims, justifying violence against Ukrainians as preventive measures. Contemporary Russian ideologues, in particular Timofey Sergeytsev, claim that Ukrainians, hiding behind the rhetoric of independence, profess fascist, racist and Russophobic ideology. Putin and Sergeitsev rejected the Soviet style of hate speech according to which Ukrainian nationalism was bourgeois and therefore criminal. They repeat the pre-Bolshevik imperialist interpretation of the “Ukrainian question”, according to which Ukraine is an integral part of Russia. Therefore Ukrainian nationalism is criminal because it wants to destroy Russian-Ukrainian unity. For Sergeytsev, Ukrainian nationalists are criminals because they pursue a racial policy against Russians, introduced discriminatory laws, committed genocide in the Donbass, commit mass violence and murder of Russians, and established a dictatorship unrestricted by law. The accusations made at the SVU trial were repeated during the Holodomor in the party’s official documents and Joseph Stalin’s correspondence with his supporters, and were directed at Ukrainian peasants and members of the Communist Party (bolshevik) of Ukraine. These accusations can be considered evidence of the desire to eradicate Ukrainian nationalists through artificial hunger and terror, which was facilitated by the cultivation of the image of the enemy in the previous years. The texts of modern Russian ideologues not only construct the image of the enemy, but also outline a consistent program of murders and Russification of Ukrainians and, according to the assessments of jurists and historians, indicate the intention to commit genocide. Keywords: Bourgeois nationalism, Union for the Freedom of Ukraine trial, Andrii Khvylia, hate speech, image of the enemy, de-Nazification, Russophobia, Timofey Sergeytsev.

Забутий геноцид: як шведські шкільні підручники історії розповідають про Голодомор

This article explores how Swedish school history textbooks address the famine-genocide of 1932–1933 in Ukraine. By analyzing how this historical event is represented in educational materials, the article aims to determine the extent to which the Holodomor is acknowledged, contextualized, and explained within the broader narrative of Soviet interwar history presented to Swedish students. The source material consists of textbooks used in Swedish schools, ranging from lower secondary to upper secondary education. 20 textbooks were reviewed, and interviews were conducted with six teachers and one author. It underscores the practical importance of accurately representing the Holodomor within history education, particularly in terms of the consequences of insufficient education about past genocides and crimes against humanity. The article highlights challenges within the Swedish education system, including curricular limitations, limited resources, and the prioritization of events like the Holocaust and the Gulag over the Holodomor, shedding light on how these factors could influence students’ understanding of historical events and the broader context of past atrocities. The article reveals that, while the Holodomor is mentioned in some literature, it is only briefly addressed, with the Gulag instead becoming symbolic of communism’s crimes against humanity. As one teacher suggested, there may be a geographical perspective at play, prompting more focus on events closer to home. A noticeable trend over time also emerges in school literature, with more recent publications being more likely to address the Holodomor using accurate terminology, while older works tend to avoid it. Additionally, there is a tendency to explain the Holodomor, when mentioned, as a result of poor economic planning (i.e., communism) rather than as a deliberate act driven by ethnic hatred toward Ukrainians within the framework of Russian imperialism. In fact, no Swedish schoolbooks clearly present the Holodomor as a genocide. Consequently, this report identifies three possible outcomes: 1) the Holodomor is not mentioned at all, 2) mass starvation is referenced but not as the Holodomor, or 3) the Holodomor is acknowledged but explained primarily as a result of forced collectivization in Soviet agriculture rather than an outcome of Russian imperialism or ethnic hatred aimed at eliminating Ukrainians as a people. Thus, a portrayal of the Holodomor as both an event in its own right and as genocide could not be demonstrated, nor was any such literature found. Keywords: History, Holodomor, Genocide Education, History Didactics, Soviet History, Ukraine, Sweden

Understanding the concept of the nation by Georgian Marxists and their influence on the process of Georgian nation-building in the Years 1893–1917

ABSTRACT During the period from 1893 to 1917, Georgia was part of the Russian Tsarist Empire. The process of shaping the modern Georgian nation was far more complex than a mere shift from feudalism to industrialism. While the ideas of the Marxist proletarian revolution captivated the Georgian people, they also remained deeply committed to the pursuit of national independence. This era, spanning from 1893 to 1917, can be regarded as the political phase of Georgian nation-building. Significant political developments took place during this time, with the emergence of various parties in Georgia, including the “Third Generation,” the first Social-Democratic group in Georgia, and Transcaucasia, established in 1893. Despite the prominence of national concerns, the notion of societal division into classes remained relevant in Georgian society. This study primarily relies on the analysis of secondary sources and examines how the Georgian nation navigated the process of modernization while coexisting with two distinct and contrasting ideologies and political perspectives from 1893 to 1917 and how the popular Marxist ideology at the turn of the twentieth century was reflected on Georgian thinkers, as well as the impact it had on Georgian political reality.

THE HISTORY OF CREATION OF MINING AND INDUSTRIAL SUPERVISION IN RUSSIA: WAY FROM BERG COLLEGIUM TO ROSTEKHNADZOR

The history of creation of mining and industrial supervision in Russia raises main stages of its formation: Russian Tsardom (1547–1721), Russian Empire (1721–1917), Soviet period (1922–1991) and post-Soviet period (1991 – present day). The article describes а timeline of mining and industrial supervision in each of indicated stages: description of key regulatory documents, functions of organs, responsible for managing in field a safe conduct of work, associated with use of subsoil.

THE ROLE OF THE RUSSIAN ANIMAL PROTECTION SOCIETY IN IMPROVING THE LEGISLATION OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE IN THE FIELD OF HUMANE TREATMENT OF ANIMALS IN THE 2ND HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY

The article analyses one of the key law-making initiatives of the Russian Animal Protection Society, which arose in 1865. This law-making initiative of Society was launched in the 2nd half of the 19th century and thanks to it, a norm establishing legal responsibility, appeared in the criminal law act of the Russian Empire – the «Statute on Punishments Imposed by Justices of the Peace». For the first time in the history of the development of Russian law a norm that establishes legal liability for intentionally inflicting torment on pets has appeared. The different law-making practice of protecting animals from cruel treatment, which at the said time did exist in foreign countries, is given. It was taken into account by the Society when developing the draught law. Starting with the introduction of administrative measures to protect animals in the form of «Rules for the treatment of animals» approved by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Society faced with the ineffectiveness of their application in practice after some time. Then the Society came to the conclusion that it was necessary to establish in legislation legal liability for causing animals to suffer. The draught law prepared by the Society, found a response from the supreme authorityas a result of which, Russian criminal law was supplemented with a fundamentally new norm that puts animal rights under the state protection of.

CHAIRMEN OF KOSTROMA DISTRICT COURT: THEIR ROLE AND PLACE IN THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM RUSSIAN EMPIRE (1871-1917)

Based on archival and historical materials, the article examines in detail the personalities of the chairmen of the Kostroma District Court for the period 1871–1917. Based on the study of the personnel of Kostroma District Court, the purpose of the study is to analyse the personalities of its chairmen as a special social group and their place in the system of judicial authorities of the Russian Empire. The main stages of their life path, formation and professional development as judicial figures are revealed. Topicality is due to insufficient research of the scientific biographies of the chairmen of the courts of post-reform Russia, as well as the expansion of the source base of research on their personalities. The author introduced new facts about the activities of the chairmen of Kostroma District Court into scientific circulation, which made it possible to recreate the portrait of judicial officials of the second half of the 19th – the early 20th century. Their estate origin, education, well-being, marital status, and official status are investigated. Their role and place in the activities of the judicial bodies of the Russian Empire are noted, including through effective public administration in the field of justice in the context of an increasing crisis of power. The conclusion is made about their personal contribution to the management of the judicial branch of government in Kostroma Province, their professionalism.

The Orthodox parish as a mirror of post-Reform Russia

The article is a review of the monograph by A.L. Beglov, dedicated to the history of the Orthodox parish in pre-revolutionary Russia. The article reveals the place of the monograph’s topics in historiography dedicated to the history of the Orthodox Church, features of the study of this topic at different stages of the development of historical studies. The main aspects of the content of the monograph are elucidated, the features of the theoretical, methodological and source base of the study, its advantages and disadvantages are revealed.

On the eve of the parish revolution

The article is devoted to the characteristics of parish life and discussions about the fate and structure of Orthodox parishes in the Russian Empire in the XVIII – early XX centuries, as well as the coverage of these subjects in the latest monograph by A.L. Beglov.

Who’s Afraid of Jadidism?: Reckoning with the Legacy of a Cold War Paradigm

Abstract Since the 1990s, scholars in the fields of Central Asian, Volga-Ural, North and South Caucasian, and Crimean history have debated the role of Jadidism in the study of the history of Muslim societies under Russia imperial rule. The concept of Jadidism – variously described as a program for teaching literacy in Turkic languages, a set of educational reforms, and a movement advocating a broad range of cultural, social, and legal reforms designed to “modernize” Muslim communities – made its first appearances in Soviet historiography in the 1920s–1930s. In the 1960s, as the Cold War reached new heights, the Jadid paradigm made its way into English- and French-language historical studies, whence it became the primary lens through which Western audiences encountered and interpreted the histories of Muslims in late imperial Russia. The opening of archival and library collections following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the embrace of new theories and paradigms in Russian studies broke the hold of the Jadid paradigm over Western scholarship. At the same time, a series of heated disputes began over the legacy of the Jadid paradigm and how best to research the intellectual history of Russia’s Muslims in a post-Cold War context. In this essay, I will present a history of the rise and fall of the old Jadid paradigm in European and American scholarship. I will consider how the study of Central Asian intellectual history has evolved since the paradigm’s decline and what this evolution and the contributions to this journal issue suggest about how historians can continue to examine the nature, extent, and meaning of Muslim reform movements without reviving the old Jadid paradigm.

The Labor movement and Revolutionary Social Democracy in the borderlands of late Imperial Russia

A review of a new monograph by Professor Eric Blanc of Rutgers University (USA) is presented. The book is devoted to the history of the labor movement and the development of revolutionary social democracy on the outskirts of the Russian Empire from 1882 (the year of the creation of the first social democratic organization in Poland) to the revolutionary 1917. Blanc focuses specifically on the "non-Russian" socialist parties in the territory of modern Poland, Ukraine, the Baltic States, Georgia and Armenia. The author concludes that the development of the socialist and labor movement in the border areas of late Imperial Russia was characterized by greater radicalism, a more developed structure and popularity among the local working class. At the same time, the situation in Finland with its autonomy and legalized party struggle, which could include socialists, differed from the virtually illegal life of social democracy in Poland and the Caucasus.

Conflict and Context: Jadidism, Pan-Islamism, and the Muslims of Akmolinsk at the Beginning of the 20th Century

Abstract This article analyzes a conflict between the imam of Akmolinsk’s Second Congregational Mosque Hujjat Mahmudov and the Tatar merchant Nur-Muhammad Zabirov. The conflict took place in 1912–1913, and attracted the attention of the public at large, editorial boards of Muslim newspapers, and the Russian colonial administration. The depictions of the conflict were contradictory and depended on who was telling the story: the immediate participants, residents of Akmolinsk, or external observers. When the imam accused the Tatar merchant of ignorance and a grossly over-extravagant lifestyle, the merchant’s defenders immediately accused the imam of spreading forbidden innovations and selling banned literature, i.e., the works by the Kazakh writer Mir-Zhaqïp Dulatov and the editor of the newspaper Waqït, Fatih Karimi. These works were regarded by imperial officials as politically dangerous on account of containing false information about the Romanov Dynasty, as well as Pan-Turkic and Pan-Islamic ideas. At first glance, the Akmolinsk story appears to illustrate how Muslims themselves made use of the imperial discourse about the threat of jadidism and Pan-Islamism to eliminate their enemies; but it also exhibits a series of distinct peculiarities. My aim is to show that it is not so much the conflict as such that is important, but rather the context in which it arose. A careful study of this context allows us to understand the principles by which the local society functioned. Focusing on specific representations of the conflict (newspaper accounts, the point of view of imperial bureaucrats, the petitions of the immediate participants), we ignore the epistemic value of other sources – for example, the opinions of local Muslims who do not necessarily describe what happened through the prism of fundamental contradictions and imply, among other things, the confrontation between so-called reformers and traditionalists. The Muslims of Akmolinsk, like those of other regions of the Russian Empire, were aware of the nature of external threats and challenges; however, they could also perceive them based on their own rationality as expressed in their prevailing cultural and everyday life. In some cases, that rationality was draped in pragmatism; in others, it stemmed from an attempt to protect cultural self-sufficiency – that is, a specific world of ideas and values; in yet others, it was justified by the need to carry out those small reforms and changes that could fit organically into the customary course of things.

In the vicious circle of bureaucratization and reform of parish life

The paper discusses the main points and conclusions of A. L. Beglov's monograph "The Orthodox Parish at the Decline of the Russian Empire". It notes contribution of this research to the study of the history of the Russian Orthodox Church in general and the parish in particular.

Matvei Nikolaevich Khangalov: an intellectual biography of a distinguished ethnographer

In this article, we attempt to present an intellectual biography of the prominent Buryat ethnographer and public educator Matvei Khangalov (1858–1918). He remains an important figure in the Buryat public community, yet little attention has been paid to his life and work in anthropological studies. Drawing on archival and literary sources, as well as various recollections of his contemporaries, we explore his family background, pedagogical activities, public engagement, scholarly legacy and publications, tracing the chronology of his academic career and the scope of his field research and academic collaborations. The new findings shed light on the historical circumstances, shaped by the specific development of Mongol studies and ethnography within the Russian Empire, that provided the scholar with the opportunity to fully realize his creative potential.

Decolonizing Ukrainian Art History

Abstract In this article, we analyze the influence of the colonial policy of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union on Ukrainian art-historical writing. As we shall reveal, the mechanisms of knowledge production created during that period continued to operate after the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine in 1991. The limitations that were imposed on the art-historical community, which can be regarded as colonial, shaped the crucial narratives (of the “triune nation”) and dictated the thematic scope of Ukrainian scholarship. The new notion of “mysteztvoznavstvo,” introduced in 1937 instead of the previously established Theory and History of Art, eventually led to a profound rift between Soviet Russian and Ukrainian scholarship and the Western world more generally. “Mysteztvoznavstvo” was supposed to be an umbrella term for art history, theory, and art criticism but ended up doing a disservice to each domain. Art theory in Ukraine was virtually nonexistent, whereas art history was mixed with art criticism, resulting in writing that did not meet widely accepted academic standards. This led to the isolation of Ukrainian scholars, who were confined to the Russian-speaking community and had very limited access to foreign scholarship. We also analyze the decolonization processes in the history of Ukrainian art prompted by the invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine after 2013, such as The Revolution of Dignity and “decommunization.” We argue that horizontal art history and decolonial approaches cannot adequately be applied if colonial tools are still used by the discipline. Epistemic decolonization can only be achieved after challenging the standards of “mysteztvoznavstvo” and, thus, by dividing art studies into three separate domains: art history, art theory, and art criticism, as each discipline has its own goals and methods.

EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION OD SADRIDDIN AYNIY

Sadriddin Ayni (1878–1954) was a prominent Tajik writer, intellectual, and cultural figure, often considered one of the founding fathers of modern Tajik literature and an advocate for the cultural and national identity of the Tajik people. His life and work reflect a deep commitment to education, language, and the modernization of Central Asia in the context of both Russian imperialism and the Soviet regime.

I. I. von Felbiger and the creation of the European school education system

Introduction. One of the most important conditions for the success of any type of activity is its systematic nature. This statement fully applies to such an important area of the spiritual life of society as education. The creation of the educational system in Europe is associated with the name of the outstanding teacher-reformer Johann Ignaz von Felbiger (1724-1788), who vividly proved himself as a scientist, founder of educational institutions, author of important documents and textbooks that for many decades determined the content and nature of schooling in European countries and in Russia. Materials and methods. The author uses the following research methods: analysis of historical and pedagogical literature, biographical and historical methods, an axiological scientific approach to the study of the value content in the activities of I. I. von Felbiger. The work uses publications by foreign and Russian authors. Results. The period of I. I. von Felbiger's life and his organizational activities coincided with the age of Enlightenment, which led to an increase in interest among a significant part of the population of many European countries in science and its practical use in the interests of society, as well as to the problems of educational development. I. I. von Felbiger acted as the organizer of educational institutions designed for various groups the population and the levels of training of students. He substantiated the idea of the first public school system in history and partially implemented it into practice. Over time, this system, which in some countries was called Sagan, became generally accepted in Europe. His ideas were developed in the process of creating a school education system in the Russian Empire. Discussion. Von Felbiger's activities in the field of education were multifaceted. He carried out the practical management of the educational institution, was a teacher, the general commissioner for education of the whole country, and finally, he created valuable legislative acts that received approval from the monarchs and ordinary teachers. He also authored methodological and educational manuals for teachers that corresponded to the current needs of society. Conclusion. The famous educational reformer von Felbiger left a vivid mark on the history of European science and culture. He went down in the history of pedagogy as the creator of the Sagan school system. The history of his life and work, as well as the genesis of the first education system he created in Europe, deserve further comprehensive study.