Memorial Museum-Lyceum

The Lyceum was housed in a wing of the Catherine Palace that had first been prepared for the daughters of Paul I. Classrooms occupied the third floor, and bedrooms were arranged above, so the pupils lived here permanently and rarely left Tsarskoye Selo. The Great Hall was restored according to archival plans, while one floor above, a narrow bed, writing desk, wash pitcher, and low partitions show what daily life was like for the thirty Lyceum students.

On January eighth, eighteen fifteen, a promotion examination was held in the Great Hall on the third floor. Fifteen-year-old Alexander Pushkin had already been studying here for his fourth year. His poems had appeared in print under an abbreviated signature, but he himself remained a state-supported Lyceum student being prepared for government service.

It was for this purpose that Emperor Alexander I opened the Imperial Lyceum in Tsarskoye Selo. A wing of the Catherine Palace, originally intended for the daughters of Paul I, was given over to the school. The architect Vasily Stasov placed the classrooms on the third floor and the bedrooms one floor above. The pupils lived here permanently, rarely leaving Tsarskoye Selo. At the examination, they were to show what they had learned over their first three years.

The examination was made public. The dates were announced in advance in the newspapers, guests were allowed to ask questions, and the program listed eleven subjects. Among the invited guests sat Gavrila Derzhavin, the most famous Russian poet of the older generation. He had come to assess the students; for Pushkin, Derzhavin's presence offered a chance to go beyond the Lyceum circle.

According to Pushkin's own later account, the long examination tired Derzhavin. He came to life when Russian literature began. Pushkin stood two steps away from him and recited Recollections in Tsarskoye Selo, a poem about the war and the monuments surrounding the Lyceum student here, at the imperial residence. When Derzhavin's name sounded in the text, Pushkin's voice trembled. When he finished reading, he ran out of the hall.

Derzhavin rose and demanded that the author be found: the old poet wanted to embrace the boy. They searched the entire building, but Pushkin hid. They never met again. A few months later, Recollections in Tsarskoye Selo was printed with the full signature “Alexander Pushkin”—the first time readers saw his name in full. Derzhavin died the following year, and Pushkin later described this single meeting as the blessing of a departing poet.

Today, the Great Hall has been restored in the same part of the building according to archival plans. One floor above, Room Number Fourteen, where Pushkin lived, has been recreated: a narrow bed, a desk, a wash pitcher, and partitions that do not reach the ceiling. In the hall, he performed for the first time under Derzhavin's gaze; upstairs, he was still one of thirty pupils whose names fit on a small plaque above the door.