Ekaterina Pavlovna Bakunina was the sister of Alexander Bakunin, a lyceum friend of Pushkin. In the summer she lived for a long time in Tsarskoye Selo, and the poet looked for traces left by “her beautiful foot” in Tsarskoye Selo groves and forests.
In those days... in those days when for the first time
I noticed living features
A lovely maiden and love
The young one was excited by the blood...
“I was happy!.. No, I was not happy yesterday in the morning, I was tormented by anticipation, standing under the window with indescribable excitement, looking at the snowy road - it was not visible!
Finally, I lost hope; Suddenly I accidentally meet her on the stairs - a sweet moment!.. How sweet she was! How the black dress stuck to dear Bakunina!” – Pushkin exclaimed in his lyceum diary.
His friend S. D. Komovsky recalled this passion of the poet
“But the first platonic, truly spiritual love was aroused in Pushkin by the sister of one of his Lyceum comrades... She often visited her brother and always came to Lyceum balls. Her lovely face, marvelous figure and charming manner created a general delight among all the youth of the Lyceum. Pushkin, with the fiery feeling of a young poet, depicted her magical beauty with living colors in his poem entitled “To the Painter.” These poems were very successfully set to music by his Lyceum friend Yakovlev and were constantly sung not only in the Lyceum, but also for a long time after leaving it.”
Other lyceum students were also interested in Bakunina, including I. I. Pushchin, future Decembrist. But rivalry did not cause a chill between friends.
Pushkin languished in love with Bakunina all winter, as well as spring and most summer of 1816. During this time, a number of elegies came out from his pen, which bear the stamp of deep melancholy. No definite conclusions about the relationship that existed between the poet and his beloved girl can be drawn on the basis of these poems; the elegiac stencil obscures the living features of reality. Probably, all this typically youthful romance entailed only a few fleeting meetings on the porch or in the park.
“Ekaterina Bakunina, of course, could not reciprocate any of the lyceum students in love,” says literary critic Nina Zababurova. – They were 17, and she was 21. At this age, such a gap constitutes an abyss, especially since girls, as we know, grow up faster. Bakunina had younger brother, the same age as the poet in love, and this situation was doubly disadvantageous for the ardent admirer. That's why she had to look at him like a child. According to the scant information shared by contemporaries, Ekaterina Pavlovna was a rather strict, serious girl and absolutely alien to playful coquetry.”
In the fall, the Bakunins moved to St. Petersburg, and Pushkin, judging by the poems, for a long time was completely inconsolable. But youth took its toll, every day brought new impressions, the first literary successes began and even real triumphs, which turned out to be public reading at the exam in the presence of the aging Derzhavin. The heart wound has healed...
In 1817, Ekaterina Bakunina became a maid of honor, and Pushkin graduated from the Lyceum. There is no information that they met in St. Petersburg. Many years later, Ekaterina Pavlovna met Pushkin in Priyutino in 1828, at the celebration of the birthday of Ekaterina Markovna Olenina. But then, most likely, he was too busy with Anna Olenina to remember his lyceum love...
The charming Ekaterina Bakunina got married already in a very mature age. Nadezhda Osipovna Pushkina, the poet’s mother, told her daughter in 1834
“...as news, I’ll tell you that Bakunina is marrying Mr. Poltoratsky, Mrs. Kern’s cousin. The wedding will take place after Easter. She is forty years old and he is not young. Widows, without children and with a fortune. They say he’s been in love for two years...”
Apparently, Pushkin, already a married man at that time, was present at Ekaterina Pavlovna’s wedding. According to established custom, Empress Elizaveta Alekseevna blessed her beloved maid of honor and gave the young couple an icon, which Bakunina kept all her life.
After leaving elite, she lived with her husband for twenty-one years full agreement. She willingly corresponded with friends, raised children - son Alexander and daughter Ekaterina, enjoyed family happiness...
“...Ekaterina Pavlovna meanwhile became a wonderful artist,” says Lev Anisov. – I had exhibitions and many orders. However, she became famous and remained in the memory of posterity precisely because the great poet fell in love with her. Fully aware of this, she treasured as a relic until the end of her days his madrigal for her name day, written in Pushkin’s hand on a yellowish piece of landscape paper.”
Many artists tried to capture the beauty of this woman. A drawing by O. Kiprensky and two watercolor portraits by P. Sokolov are known. There is reason to believe that Ekaterina Pavlovna is also depicted in one of K. Bryullov’s watercolors. In all these portraits, her eyes look tenderly and meekly, and her entire appearance is filled with the charm of femininity. “How sweet she is” - these Pushkin words convey the quality of her beauty as accurately as possible.
Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin is a singer of love and freedom, a man who went down in history as the greatest. Judging by the stories of those around him, the genius could be seen in completely different roles. He became famous among his contemporaries as a reveler, a gambler, a duelist... But the most important thing that is attributed to Pushkin is, of course, winning women's hearts.
How sweet she is...
It must be said that his homely appearance did not prevent him from captivating beautiful ladies. Pushkin's lyceum comrades, for example, S. Komovsky, tell in their memoirs that even in adolescence Alexander was characterized by truly African voluptuousness and incredible love of women. They say that at lyceum balls during dances, his gaze literally glowed from just one touch of the girl’s fingers, the poet began to tremble and breathe intermittently. It is quite difficult to say today how many women Pushkin had. His Don Juan list is quite large - so much so that biographers sometimes found it very difficult to decide. But only a few were able to leave a mark on the life and work of the poet. And one of them was Ekaterina Pavlovna Bakunina - his elder sister Lyceum friend. It was she who inspired him to write a whole series of poems. So what was Pushkin's first love really like? In this article we will talk about Bakunina, her acquaintance with the great poet, and how her fate turned out.
short biography
Ekaterina Pavlovna Bakunina was born on February 20, 1795. She was the daughter of an actual chamberlain. For a long time, her father Pavel Petrovich was the manager of the Academy of Sciences. Her mother, Ekaterina Aleksandrovna Sablukova, was from a noble family, dating back to Polish nobles. On her father’s side, Ekaterina Pavlovna Bakunina was the cousin-niece of the famous diplomat D.P. Tatishchev, and on her mother’s side, she was the granddaughter of a senator.
The girl got an excellent home education. Beginning in 1798, she and her parents lived abroad: first in Germany, then in Switzerland, and then in England. In 1804, due to a lack of funds, the Bakunin family returned to Russia. In December 1805, her father Pavel Petrovich died. After the death of her father, the girl and brothers Alexander and Semyon were raised together with their mother by their grandfather A. Sablukov. It was he who was appointed the official guardian of the children. The Bakunins lived in a rented apartment on the Neva embankment, in Tairov’s house.
Meeting Pushkin
They would hardly have met if in 1811 her brother Alexander Bakunin’s grandfather had not been assigned to the newly opened Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum. As you know, Pushkin also studied here. Ekaterina Pavlovna Bakunina and her mother visited her brother quite often, and in the summer their family lived permanently in Tsarskoe Selo. In the surviving Gazette of the Lyceum, their visits were noted: in 1811, Catherine came to her brother four times, in 1814 - thirty-one, in 1815 - seventeen, etc.
The sixteen-year-old girl immediately became the object of attention from many lyceum students. Among them were Pushchin, Pushkin, Ivan Malinovsky. Her lovely face, marvelous figure, her charm created universal delight. The lyceum youth, as S. Komovsky recalled, were crazy about her. But most of all she hit the heart to the young poet. Her acquaintance with Pushkin occurred at a lyceum ball. She, according to contemporaries, awakened the poet’s first true platonic love. It was thanks to this feeling that a completely different Pushkin appeared - the singer of love. The poet, with fiery delight, depicted her beauty in living colors in one of his works. He dedicated his poem “To the Painter” to Ekaterina Bakunina. Her name was included in the poet's "Don Juan list".
Life at court
In October 1817, Ekaterina Pavlovna Bakunina, having become the Empress's maid of honor, moved to live with royal court. There were various rumors in society about her appointment. Many perceived Bakunin ambiguously. In a letter to his mother, N. Muravyov wrote to his mother that he was incredibly surprised by this appointment. was surprised that she was promoted to maid of honor, and found this circumstance very strange.
Gradually, Catherine Bakunina became comfortable at court and soon became one of the empress’s favorites. In 1818, she accompanied the royal person on a trip to Darmstadt, Weimar, Munich and Karlsruhe. Judging by the testimony of contemporaries, the beautiful maid of honor Bakunina was distinguished by special grace while dancing at court balls. This was noted by everyone who has ever seen her.
It must be said that many lyceum students were also fond of Katenka, as they called her. In particular, Zhannot, Pushkin’s closest friend, Pushchin, fell in love with her. The same Komovsky, who later so naturalistically described Pushkin’s ardor towards Ekaterina Bakunina, secretly “breathed unevenly towards her.” However, it was he who wrote in a letter to Annenkov about the first feeling famous poet. Moreover, he spoke with a great sense of humor about how he was looking for traces left by “her beautiful foot” in the Tsarskoye Selo forests and groves.
Distance
Everyone at the Lyceum knew that Pushkin was passionately in love with Bakunina. The poet languished with this feeling all winter. It did not leave him in the spring and summer of 1816. It is difficult to say whether Ekaterina Pavlovna Bakunina reciprocated the poet’s feelings. Pushkin's poems during this period, in particular his elegies, are full of deep melancholy. Therefore, biographers are unable to draw any definite conclusions about their relationship. The feelings that existed between Pushkin and his beloved girl are hidden behind an elegiac stencil that obscures reality. Moreover, it is quite possible to conclude that this youthful romance was just a couple of fleeting meetings in the park, at a ball or on the porch of the lyceum.
In the fall, the Bakunin family moved to St. Petersburg. Pushkin, judging by the poems he wrote at that time, remained completely inconsolable for a long time. However, youth took its toll, especially since every day brought new impressions into his life. Soon his first literary successes began, and after a public reading in the presence of the already aging Derzhavin, real triumph came. Gradually, the poet’s heart wound healed...
Novels
Of course, Katenka Bakunina could not reciprocate any of the lyceum students who were in love with her. Each of them was seventeen, while she was twenty-one. Moreover, Bakunina’s younger brother was the same age as the poet in love, and similar situation was extremely unprofitable for an ardent admirer. The girl looked at the seventeen-year-old boy as if he were a child.
In general, according to contemporaries, Catherine was a rather strict and serious girl, to whom playful coquetry was absolutely alien. It must be said that biographers were unable to collect much information about her. personal life. Nevertheless, during her life at court, Bakunina had serious affairs. One of his contemporaries recalled this. He wrote that “Ekaterina Bakunina’s adventure” is incredibly romantic! Ekaterina Pavlovna, according to him, is charming and quite worthy of a good party.
She took painting lessons from A.P. Bryullov, a court artist. It was even rumored that they had a short affair. Being a very talented artist, Bakunina did a lot of copying in her favorite genre - portraiture. She herself has been portrayed by many quite famous artists. Kiprensky, Sokolov and A. Bryullov - this is not the entire list of portrait painters who were admired by her beauty. Works, Peruvian Bakunina herself, were kept in their family, passed down from generation to generation. Many of them later ended up in museum collections.
Marriage
However, Bakunina walked down the aisle already at a fairly mature age. In March 1834, Natalya Pushkina wrote to her daughter about this. She said that Mademoiselle Bakunina would soon marry Madame Kern's cousin. Alexander Poltoratsky was a middle-aged widower without children and with great fortune. They said that he had been in love with his bride for two years. There was a lot of talk at court about the upcoming wedding of retired captain Bakunina. Sheremetyeva's maid of honor said that the bride was incredibly happy and was even crying with great joy. The wedding took place in St. Petersburg on April thirtieth, 1834. Empress Alexandra Feodorovna herself blessed this marriage. Soon Ekaterina Pavlovna Poltoratskaya, together with her husband and mother, left the capital.
Married life
The newlyweds settled on their husband's estate in Rasskazovo. As her friend Baron M. Korff later recalled, Catherine buried herself in a village in the Tambov district. And although her marriage deprived her of a fairly large salary as a maid of honor - 3,900 rubles in banknotes, Bakunina, according to her relatives, did not need anything and was happy. In 1837, A. Poltoratsky was elected leader of the nobility in the Tambov district, and very soon Ekaterina Pavlovna began to act as the hostess of balls and evenings in the Assembly of the Nobility.
Old age
Her mother died in 1846, and her husband died in March 1855. Poltoratsky was buried in the Novodevichy Convent in St. Petersburg. In 1859, Ekaterina Pavlovna moved to live with her married daughter in Kostroma, and for the summer she went to Zatishye, the Bakunin family estate. And only occasionally she visited Rasskazovo. Pushkin's first love died on December 7, 1869. She was buried in St. Petersburg, in a monastery next to her husband.
Afterword about poetry
Even the cynic Komovsky admitted that Pushkin’s first platonic love was Katenka Bakunina. The poet's biographers admit that he dedicated a huge cycle of his poems to her. There is an opinion that no other woman, either before or after her, managed to inspire a genius to create so many works from which an entire collection could be created. Of course, they were not as perfect as subsequent masterpieces; traces of imitation can be seen in them. However, in these poems one can invisibly feel that real feeling of first love that Pushkin carried through life. In 1815, the poet in love deeply depicted the beauty of a girl in the poem “To the Painter,” the words of which were later set to music by lyceum student Korsakov. According to most researchers of Pushkin’s work, the poet wrote about two dozen lyrical works under the impression of his love for Bakunina. Moreover, her image was repeatedly visible in his poems until 1825.
Many years later, Ekaterina Bakunina and Pushkin met again. It was in 1828 in Priyutino at the birthday party of Ekaterina Markovna Olenina. But, according to biographers, at that time the poet was too absorbed in his affair with the birthday girl’s daughter Anna to remember his first lyceum love...
Ekaterina Pavlovna Bakunina
In those days... in those days when for the first time
I noticed living features
A lovely maiden and love
The young one was excited by the blood,
And I, hopelessly sad,
Tormented by the deception of ardent dreams,
I looked for her traces everywhere,
I thought about her tenderly,
I've been waiting all day for a minute meeting
And I learned the happiness of secret torment. . .
Ekaterina Pavlovna was the sister of Alexander Bakunin, Pushkin’s lyceum friend. In the summer she lived for a long time in Tsarskoye Selo, and the poet looked for traces left by “her beautiful foot” in Tsarskoye Selo groves and forests.
Ekaterina Pavlovna Bakunina “I was happy!.. No, I was not happy yesterday, in the morning I was tormented by anticipation, standing under the window with indescribable excitement, looking at the snowy road - it was not visible! Finally, I lost hope; Suddenly I accidentally meet her on the stairs - a sweet moment!.. How sweet she was! How the black dress stuck to dear Bakunina!” – Pushkin exclaimed in his lyceum diary.
Pushkin languished in love with Bakunina all winter, as well as the spring and most of the summer of 1816. During this time, a number of elegies came out from his pen, which bear the stamp of deep melancholy. No definite conclusions about the relationship that existed between the poet and his beloved girl can be drawn on the basis of these poems; the elegiac stencil obscures the living features of reality. Probably, all this typically youthful romance entailed only a few fleeting meetings on the porch or in the park.
Ekaterina Pavlovna Bakunina In the fall, the Bakunins moved to St. Petersburg, and Pushkin, judging by the poems, was completely inconsolable for a long time. But youth took its toll, every day brought new impressions, the first literary successes began and even real triumphs, which turned out to be public reading at the exam in the presence of the aging Derzhavin. The heart wound has healed...
Ekaterina Pavlovna Bakunina
In 1817, Ekaterina Bakunina became a maid of honor, and Pushkin graduated from the Lyceum. There is no information that they met in St. Petersburg. Many years later, Ekaterina Pavlovna met Pushkin in Priyutino in 1828, at the celebration of the birthday of Ekaterina Markovna Olenina. But then, most likely, he was too busy with Anna Olenina to remember his lyceum love...
The charming Ekaterina Bakunina got married at a very mature age. Nadezhda Osipovna Pushkina, the poet’s mother, told her daughter in 1834: “...as news, I’ll tell you that Bakunina is marrying Mr. Poltoratsky, Mrs. Kern’s cousin. The wedding will take place after Easter. She is forty years old and he is not young. Widows, without children and with a fortune. They say he's been in love for two years..."
Apparently, Pushkin, already a married man at that time, was present at Ekaterina Pavlovna’s wedding. According to established custom, Empress Elizaveta Alekseevna blessed her beloved maid of honor and gave the young couple an icon, which Bakunina kept all her life.
Having left high society, she lived with her husband in complete harmony for twenty-one years. She readily corresponded with friends, raised her children - son Alexander and daughter Ekaterina, enjoyed family happiness...
Ekaterina Pavlovna was a wonderful artist, she had exhibitions and many orders. However, she became famous and remained in the memory of posterity precisely because the great poet fell in love with her. Fully aware of this, she treasured as a relic until the end of her days his madrigal for her name day, written in Pushkin’s hand on a yellowish piece of landscape paper.
Many artists tried to capture the beauty of this woman. A drawing by O. Kiprensky and two watercolor portraits by P. Sokolov are known. There is reason to believe that Ekaterina Pavlovna is also depicted in one of K. Bryullov’s watercolors. In all these portraits, her eyes look tenderly and meekly, and her entire appearance is filled with the charm of femininity. “How sweet she is” - these Pushkin words convey the quality of her beauty as accurately as possible.
NURSE OF CHARITY EKATERINA BAKUNINA AND THE BIRTH OF THE PROFESSION OF NURSE IN BESIED SEVASTOPOL
N.I. Pirogov, E.M. Bakunina and the birth of the nursing profession in Sevastopol
During the Crimean War, where the Russian nurses of the Holy Cross community worked under the leadership of A. Stakhovich, E. Khitrovo, E. Kartseva and E. Bakunina, one lady worked in enemy hospitals - the Englishwoman Florence Nightingale, who later became a European symbol of women's medical service.
Nurses' Day itself, which is an International Day, was established in memory of Florence Nightingale, and is dedicated to her birthday on May 12. When we celebrate this day in Russia, we truly become those Ivans who do not remember or do not want to remember their kinship.
In 1921 By order of the People's Commissar of Health of the RSFSR N.A. Semashko, all societies of sisters of mercy were abolished, and also, as it was said in the decree, “the word mercy itself is abolished.”
Subsequently, in search of moral guidelines in medicine, when the entire experience of the pre-revolutionary service of Russian sisters of mercy was consigned to complete and deliberate oblivion, it was decided to celebrate the day of the nurse according to the international model.
This is how N.I. Pirogov wrote: former leader Holy Cross community of sisters of mercy during Crimean War, about Florence Nightingale's primacy in nursing.
“There may, of course, be rumors in Western Europe as if Miss Neutingel with 37 sisters, “ladies of high souls,” was the first to at will, came to the Crimean War to take care of all the sick and wounded in the outpatient clinic with her sisters.
We Russians should not allow anyone to alter historical truth to such an extent. We have a duty to claim the palm in a matter so blessed, beneficial and now accepted by all...
In October 1854, the Holy Cross community received the highest permission, and in November of the same year it was already at the theater of war in full activity. We first heard about Miss Neutingel and her “high-souled ladies” only at the beginning of 1855.”
Let us note only one historical fact. While English sisters worked in the relatively calm environment of the deep rear, in the safe hospitals of Scutari near Istanbul - Florence herself only came to Balaklava for a short time with an inspection - then our sisters of mercy went through a harsh school of helping wounded soldiers in besieged Sevastopol, under daily shelling and bombing, as well as advanced.
Out of 30 - 40 English women Of those who arrived at the hospital in Scutari, half were forced to leave the community and return to England, unable to withstand the difficulties of personal relationships with Florence Nightingale, who was a very difficult person.
As reported in a review of the actions of the Holy Cross community during the Crimean War, “seventeen sisters, faithful to their calling, died in the line of duty.” Several sisters, unable to withstand the bloody horrors and psychologically tense situation in the hospitals of Sevastopol, went crazy. As they say, comments are unnecessary.
But it is precisely this tense situation, when large quantities There was a catastrophic shortage of doctors and paramedics among the wounded, which contributed to the fact that our nurses, unlike nurses in allied hospitals, stood next to the doctors at the operating tables and assisted during operations.
It was here, in Sevastopol, in the atmosphere of the forced participation of the sisters of the Holy Cross community directly in the operational process, that the profession of nursing itself was born, the birth time of which can be considered 1855, and its founder was N.I. Pirogov, the leader of nursing activities in besieged Sevastopol.
Thanks to the high authority and influence of the founder of the Holy Cross community, Vl. Book Elena Pavlovna Romanova and N.I. Pirogov, women were allowed not only to serve in hospitals, which had never happened before, but also to serve in hospitals directly at the theater of military operations.
Sisters of Mercy, etc. There were compassionate widows in Russia even before the establishment in 1854. Holy Cross community. Women who labored in the field of merciful service to their neighbors occasionally and privately engaged in patronage care and care for orphans, the elderly, and the disabled in various charitable institutions and societies, as well as in some hospitals; never before have sisters of mercy been allowed to engage in direct professional medical service to the sick and especially the wounded.
It is not surprising that some of the sisters, having gone through school in Sevastopol hospitals under the leadership of N.I. Pirogov, subsequently independently organized medical institutions different levels, as, for example, did E.M. Bakunina, who opened the first free hospital for peasants, where she independently provided them with professional primary medical care.
Remembering his work in Sevastopol, N.I. Pirogov wrote:
“The building where we were located (the Assembly of the Nobles) itself more than once received bombs from enemy ships. Almost all of the wounds represented terrible ruptures of the limbs from large-caliber bombs. From 150 to 200 amputations in other difficult operations happened to be performed every day, with only nurses as assistants.”
“The eldest sister of the second and third departments, Ekaterina Mikhailovna Bakunina, was distinguished by her zeal. Every day, day and night, one could find her in the operating room, assisting in operations; at this time, when bombs and rockets either flew over or did not reach and lay around the entire Assembly, she revealed with her accomplices a presence of mind that was hardly combined with female nature and distinguished the sisters until the very end of the siege. It is difficult to decide what should be more surprising, the composure of these sisters or their selflessness in the performance of their duties.”
“The huge dance hall was constantly filling and emptying; the wounded brought in were piled up along with the stretchers in whole rows on the parquet floor, soaked with half an inch of dried blood; the groans and cries of the sufferers, the last breaths of the dying, the orders of those in charge were heard loudly in the hall.”
“The doors of the hall opened and closed every minute; brought in and taken out on command... On three tables, blood flowed during operations; the amputated members lay in piles... Bakunina was constantly present in this room with a bunch of ligatures in her hand, ready to follow the call of the doctors.”
“In this difficult time, without the tirelessness of doctors, without the zealous assistance of sisters... there would be no way to provide immediate assistance to those who suffered for the Fatherland.”
Military doctor G. Ulrikhson recalled that experienced sisters of the Holy Cross community, such as E. Bakunina and some others, were so “ looked closely at the various operations that any of them could have performed amputation on its own if it had been allowed to do so.”
Immediately after the end of the Crimean War, the sisters of the Holy Cross community, who had earned high prestige in Sevastopol, were allowed to work with patients in hospitals and clinics in St. Petersburg, and their own hospital was opened in the building of the community itself on Fontanka, where professional services were provided. health care, both nursing and medical in nature.
The sisters of the community worked in the 2nd Land Hospital, in two labor hospitals (at the Sugar Bridge and in the Sinebryukhov house), the Marine Hospital near the Kalinkin Bridge, and also in the Kronstadt military hospital.
It was E.M. Bakunina, and after her departure from the community, the next abbess of the community, E.P. Kartseva, who ensured that permanent nursing care was officially introduced in hospitals.
In 1863 Minister of War D.A. Milyutin issued a decree on the introduction of permanent nursing care for patients from among the sisters of the Holy Cross community in the hospitals of the military department.
Some researchers believe that this date should be considered the time of birth of the nursing profession in Russia.
Thus, the Exaltation of the Cross community of sisters of mercy, created by Vl.Kn. Elena Pavlovna and led by N.I. Pirogov, played a huge creative role in the history of domestic healthcare, since it was the professional and dedicated activities of the community sisters that gave birth to the profession of nursing.
Of all the community sisters, N.I. Pirogov always singled out E.M. Bakunina. He called her, Ekaterina Khitrovo and Elizaveta Kartseva the three pillars of the community.
E. Kartseva. E. Bakunina. E. Khitrovo.
Unlike E. Bakunina, E. Khitrovo and E. Kartseva worked in Simferopol, where they brought the wounded who had already been operated on in Sevastopol, and the sisters did not directly provide professional medical and surgical care for the wounded in the hospitals of Simferopol.
Unfortunately, E. Khitrovo, who arrived in Crimea in September 1855. and appointed abbess of the community at the end of November, she remained in this position for too little time, as she died suddenly of typhus on February 2, 1856.
E.M. Bakunina herself had great respect for E. Khitrovo, calling her an unattainable ideal and example of a sister of mercy.
About E.M. Bakunina herself, N.I. Pirogov wrote this:
“Bakunina enthusiastically devoted herself entirely to serving the sick and carried out this difficult service with complete dedication. She became an example of patience and tireless work for all the sisters of the community.
Her whole personality breathed truth, complete harmony reigned between her feelings and her actions. She truly was an ingot of all that was sublime. The more obstacles she encountered on her path of self-forgetfulness, the more jealousy and energy she showed.”
“The sisters continued to work vigilantly. Sister Budberg, wanting to give at least a little rest to the tired and exhausted sisters, wanted to stop night shifts; but the tireless Bakunina did not want to rest and continued to watch at night, with some other sisters, until the very end of the siege.”
In all this it appeared characteristic personality that distinguished many representatives of the Bakunin family, and the inherent noble family. If any of the Bakunins turned to any business, then he devoted himself to it with complete selflessness and self-forgetfulness, devoting himself entirely to his chosen service.
E.M. Bakunina had not only enviable health for such service - let's say that during the defense of Sevastopol she suffered from typhus, but immediately after recovery she again began to care for the wounded - but also a strong, stable psyche, without which it was impossible to survive all the horrors and hardships of daily life under shelling and the bloody situation at the dressing stations themselves.
The situation at the dressing stations was colorfully described in M. Filippov’s novel “Besieged Sevastopol,” where, along with fictional characters, real heroes Defense of Sevastopol:
“In the Engineering Building, where the main dressing station was at that time, work was in full swing. The wards were full of wounded. Moans, screams and lamentations were heard, but other wounded lay calmly and only clenched their teeth in pain... Two nurses...prepared instruments, bandages, lint and water. One of them, Bakunina, looked at her surroundings completely calmly, the other was somewhat agitated, but remained strong...
The operator bends over the wounded man and, in two steps, exposes the bone, separating the meat. Blood flows in a stream from the ligated arteries into the copper basin that Bakunina set up; another doctor and a paramedic apply pressure to the arteries and the blood stops. The operator quickly saws the bone. Every sound of the saw reverberates throughout Sister Glebova’s entire body, but she overpowers herself and hands over silk, with which the operator quickly ties up the arteries. The operation is over, only the paramedic finishes it by covering the trimmed meat with lint and covering the wound with a plaster.”
N.I. Pirogov recalled:
“In the annals of science, wounds of this kind, with which we have constantly dealt during this time, are almost unprecedented.
Thousands of cannonballs and bombs showed their destructive force above human body. It was necessary to act without the slightest delay in order to save life, which was being carried away by the rapid flow of blood. A terrible shock for everyone nervous system, in very many cases, made the use of chloroform useless, even harmful.
Surgical care was provided almost continuously on surgical tables, with the assistance of nurses. The large dance hall of the Noble Assembly...was filled with hundreds of people who had undergone operations and...was again cleared to make room for new sufferers.”
Taking into account all of the above, we can safely say that if the Tver nobleman N.I. Pirogov should rightfully be considered the founder of nursing in Russia, then the first professional nurse, without any exaggeration, can safely be considered one of the most active sisters of the Holy Cross community, faithful Pirogov’s assistant and associate, Tver noblewoman Ekaterina Mikhailovna Bakunina.
N.I. Pirogov formulated the basic moral principle professional ministry of women in medicine. Speaking about the activities of one of the senior sisters of the Holy Cross community, Elizaveta Petrovna Kartseva, Nikolai Ivanovich spoke about the essence of sisterhood:
“Only one who can transform her formal duties as a sister of mercy into a spiritual calling in life can be called a true sister of mercy.”
Without any doubt, we can say that these high words applicable to the nursing profession.
Priest Roman Manilov – Director of the Catherine Bakunina Foundation
References:
1. Pirogov N.I. Sevastopol letters and memories. – M., 1950.
2. Golikova L. “Everything I could do for Sevastopol, I did...” To the 200th anniversary of the birth of N.I. Pirogov // Sevastopol Annual Visit Almanac. – Sevastopol, 2010.
3. Sysoev V.I. Sister of Mercy Ekaterina Bakunina. – Tver, 2012.
BIOGRAPHY.
Ekaterina Mikhailovna Bakunina was born on August 19 (31), 1810 in the village of Kozitsino near Torzhok (Tver province) into a noble family. Her father, Mikhail Mikhailovich Bakunin, was a senator and governor of St. Petersburg.
Ekaterina received an excellent, comprehensive education. In her youth she was, according to her own confession, a “muslin young lady”: she studied music, dancing, drawing, loved sea swimming in the Crimea and home balls.
By the time the Crimean War began, Ekaterina Mikhailovna was 40 years old. She was among the first volunteers to immediately go to the front. But getting there turned out to be difficult. Relatives did not even want to hear about her intentions. Written requests to the office Grand Duchess about enrollment in the Holy Cross community of sisters of mercy, which was established in St. Petersburg at the beginning of the Crimean War on the initiative of Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, remained unanswered. And yet, thanks to perseverance, Ekaterina Mikhailovna achieved her goal. In the Holy Cross community she passed the initial medical training. Cousin, officer Alexander, who knew her character and will, telling her about the Crimea, about the accumulations of the wounded and typhus, said: “After all, I know you, now you want to go there even more.” Then, wanting to test herself, Ekaterina Mikhailovna began to visit the “most vile” of Moscow hospitals every day.
On January 21, 1855, Bakunina, among the sisters of the Holy Cross community, began work in the barracks of besieged Sevastopol. The famous surgeon Nikolai Pirogov, in his memoirs, wrote with admiration and respect about the rare hard work and courage of Sister Catherine. Pirogov, as well as Vice Admiral P. S. Nakhimov and the generals who visited the hospitals, considered the nurses to be irreplaceable helpers. On behalf of Pirogov, Ekaterina Mikhailovna at the end of 1855 headed a new department of nurses for transporting the wounded to Perekop. Later she received an offer to lead the Holy Cross community itself. On this occasion, Pirogov wrote to her: “Don’t make excuses and don’t object, modesty is inappropriate here... I guarantee you, you are now necessary for the community as an abbess. You know its meaning, sisters, the course of affairs, you have good intentions and energy... This is not the time to talk too much - act!” Bakunina remained in this post until 1860.
In 1856 the war was over, and the sisters returned to St. Petersburg, where the community continued its charitable activities. In the summer of 1860, Ekaterina Mikhailovna left the community and went to the village. In the village of Kozitsino, Novotorzhsky district, Tver province, a new, no less bright stage of her life began.
There were few doctors in the province. The population of the county (about 136 thousand people) was served by a single doctor. In a specially built wooden building, Bakunina opened a small hospital with eight beds, received and provided medical care at her own expense and paid the doctor’s allowance. By the end of the year, the number of people receiving assistance exceeded two thousand, and a year later it doubled. Bakunina received her in the morning. During the day, she traveled around the sick in a peasant cart, bandaged them, and gave medicines, which she prepared herself. She also took on the duties of trustee of all zemstvo hospitals in the county, which were distinguished in the province in that they did not charge fees for medical care.
When in 1877 Russia entered into Russian-Turkish war. Bakunina, as one of the most experienced organizers of the hospital business, was in demand by the management Russian society Red Cross. Despite her 65-year-old age, she travels to the Caucasus as the head of nurses in temporary hospitals. Its activities here were even more extensive than during the Crimean War. This time Ekaterina Mikhailovna spent more than a year at the front.
Ekaterina Mikhailovna died in 1894 in the village of Kozitsino and was buried in the village of Pryamukhino, Tver province, in the Bakunin family crypt.
