Emperor Alexander I was famous not only for his military exploits. You know, he is called one of the most amorous Russian rulers. He had a beautiful wife and several mistresses. His love affair with Maria Naryshkina was the longest and most serious. They spent together 15 years, Maria gave birth to three his children. In some sources she is described as a modest, silent beauty, in others – as a self-confident and impudent femme fatale.
Alexander I was the grandson of Catherine II and the eldest son of Paul I. His grandmother chose a wife for him – Princess Louise of Baden, later known as Elizabeth Alexeievna. The girl was meek, delicate, and very beautiful.
Masha Naryshkina (nee Princess Sviatopolk-Chetvertinskaya) was not the first favorite of the emperor, but many called her the only strong passion of Alexander I. All of his previous love affairs were short-lived, and this lasted for 15 years. By the way, her elder sister Jeanette had “a shadow family” with the younger brother of the emperor, Konstantin.
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Countess Elena Zavadovskaya (nee Vlodek) was the daughter of the Polish general (her mother was Russian). She was the wife of the chief prosecutor of the Senate V.P. Zavadovskiy (1798-1855). Charming lady of St. Petersburg was called Star of the North. Elena was one of the brightest beauties of her time. Great poets including Alexander Pushkin, Ivan Kozlov, Vyazemsky dedicated their poems to her. She was a friend of Russian poet Mikhail Lermontov.
Pretty girl was born on December 2, 1807. She was the daughter of Polish nobleman Mikhail Fyodorovich Vlodek (1780-1849) from his marriage to the Countess Alexandra Dmitrievna Tolstaya’s lady-in-waiting (1788-1847).
On October 31, 1824, Elena married the chief procurator of the Senate, Count Vasily Petrovich Zavadovsky (1798-1855). About their marriage Vyazemsky wrote that “one of the northern flowers, and the most beautiful one, yesterday was picked by Zavadovsky”. They were considered to be the most charming and fashionable couple in St. Petersburg. However, everything changed when Count Zavadovsky began to drink. In the marriage there was only one child son Peter. The boy was born in 1828. On December 20, 1842 Peter died in Naples from a nervous fever and was buried in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra cemetery.
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Nadezhda Khodasevitch Leger was a Russian muse, student and wife of French artist Fernand Leger. Very often talented, successful women are forced to remain in the shadow of the great men. Despite the fact that Nadezhda dedicated her life to the work of her beloved husband, she remained as an independent personality in history who was appreciated by her contemporaries.
Talented girl was born on October 4, 1904 in the village near Vitebsk. Her family was large and poor. They had to wander from one village to another because of the First World War. Since the early childhood she had a passion for painting. At the age of 15 the girl left home and entered the state artist workshop in Smolensk. There she had a chance to meet Russian artist Kazimir Malevich.
Later Nadezhda was in Warsaw, where she entered the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts. The girl lived in a convent orphanage. At the Academy Nadia met artist Stanislaw Grabowski, the son of a wealthy Polish official. Stanislaw and Nadia got married despite the protests of the groom’s parents. The young couple decided to continue their studies in Paris.
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Olga Korbut is a Soviet gymnast, four-time Olympic champion, absolute champion of the USSR (1975), three-time world champion, Merited Master of Sports of the USSR (1972). The legendary Soviet gymnast became the first girl to perform a dangerous somersault on a log at the Olympic Games (Korbut Loop). She is famous for unique tricks and bright achievements in sports.
Pretty girl was born on May 16, 1955 in Grodno, Belorussian SSR, USSR. Her parents were simple people: the father was an engineer, and the mother was a cook. The girl has three sisters.
In 1963, little Olga was engaged in gymnastic and by the end of the 1960s was among the best Soviet gymnasts.
When Korbut was 10 years old, she entered the sports school. Olympic champion Elena Volchetskaya was her coach. A year later, in 1965, Olga was in the group of Honored Coach of the USSR Renald Knish. He wanted to create something new, unknown to the sports community. The coach invented special elements and actively introduced them with the help of the young gymnast. It was a hard cooperation full of tears. But as a result there were success, popularity and fame.
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A brilliant scientist, a charming Russian spy and a passionate affair during the Second World War…
Margarita Konenkova (1895 – 1980, nee Vorontsova) was a Soviet spy. She was Einstein’s last love. In 1998 love letters written to Margarita by Albert Einstein (physicist who formulated the theory of relativity, grandfather of the atomic bomb) were consigned for sale at Sotheby’s auction house. The letters, written in elegant German script and preserved in blue envelopes, reveal a sensitive man who writes with humor, warmth and love. Einstein was 66 years old, and she was 51.
Margarita was born in 1895 into the family of a lawyer. She graduated from female school in Sarapul, and then studied law at Madame Poltoratsky courses in Moscow.
Margarita was familiar with many famous people of that time: Fyodor Chaliapin, Sergei Yesenin, Anatoly Mariengof, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Vsevolod Meyerhold and many others.
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Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin is a Soviet pilot, the man who made the first flight into space. The cosmonaut became a legend not only for the inhabitants of the USSR. You know, he is an honorary citizen of foreign cities and an international public figure. Yuri Alekseyevich opened a new page in the study of outer space and became a symbol of the development of Soviet science and aviation. Gagarin became an international celebrity, and was awarded many medals and titles, including Hero of the Soviet Union, the nation’s highest honor.
The boy was born on March 9, 1934 in the village of Klushino, the Western region of the USSR, into a family of well-to-do peasants. He was the third of four children. Yura’s childhood was peaceful and joyful.
At the age of 6 Yura went to school. But he had finished only the first grade, before the Great Patriotic War began. German troops captured part of the territory of the USSR. They reached Klushino. Becoming a famous person, Yuri preferred never to remember the dark times of the occupation. It is known that German soldiers drove his family out of the house and took young people with them as prisoners of war. So his brother and sister were taken away.
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Lydia Delectorskaya was a Russian translator, model, studio assistant and secretary of the great French artist Henri Matisse (1869 – 1954). She translated all works by Konstantin Paustovsky from Russian into French.
Pretty girl was born on June 23, 1910 in Tomsk. When she was 13 years old, Lydia became an orphan, because her parents died during the Civil War. Her relative took her to Harbin and then Lydia came to France. At the age of 19 she married a Russian emigrant. But their marriage was short-lived.
In the autumn of 1932 she got a job in the Henri Matisse household. To tell the truth, Lydia took care of seriously ill Madame Matisse. In October 1933, Delectorskaya moved into Matisse’s house and lived there for almost 22 years before the last breath of the great master. Somehow unnoticed, Madame Lydia became irreplaceable for the artist: a nurse, a punctual and careful secretary, she even scraped paints from the canvas.
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