Mickiewicz A. (1798-1855), poet

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MICKIEWICZ Adam (1798-1855), Polish poet. Graduated from Philological Department of University of Vilnius (1819). He came to St. Petersburg on 7 November 1824, the day after the famous flood. His impressions of the city destroyed by Nature were described in the work Oleshkevich. He became acquainted with K.F. Ryleev and A.A. Bestuzhev, at the flat of the latter (18 Seventh Line of Vasilievsky Island) he celebrated the New Year. In the spring of 1825 he was appointed a teacher in Odessa Gymnasium and left the capital. Lived in St. Petersburg from late 1827 to April 1829 (with minor break). It was this period in which the poet achieved his greatest fame. The poem Konrad Wallenrod and the collection Poetry were issued by the Printing-House of K.Kray (the site of building 11 Gorokhovaya Street), which Mickiewicz often visited on business; many of his poems were translated into Russian, French, English and were published in Petersburg journals. Mickiewicz regularly visited the salons of A.A. Delwig, Smirnova-Rosset, Wednesdays, the salon of Karamzina and others, stayed in the summer residence of A.N. Olenin in Priyutino. Mickiewicz made a name for himself as a talented improvisor: his improvisation on the subject The brotherhood of nations at the dinner in honour of A.S.Pushkin in Demutov's Tavern is mentioned in many memoirs. Petersburg figures in many Mickiewicz's works: Petergofskaya Road is depicted in the poem Suburbs of the Capital, the Bronze Horseman - in the poem The Monument to Peter the Great, a parade on the Field of Mars - in the poem Troops Review. The extract Petersburg from the third part of the poem Dzyady is devoted to Petersburg friends. In St. Petersburg he moved repeatedly; the last address is 39 Bolshaya Meshchanskaya (today Kazanskaya) Street (memorial plaque). In 1998 the monument to Mickiewicz was placed in Grafsky Lane (sculptor G.D. Yastrebenetsky, architect S.P. Odnovalov).

References: Беккер И. И. Мицкевич в Петербурге. Л., 1955; Ивинский Д. П. Пушкин и Мицкевич: Материалы к истории лит. отношений, 1826-1829. М., 1999.

I. E. Vasilyeva. Bestuzhev Alexander Alexandrovich
Delwig Anton Antonovich
Karamzina Ekaterina Andreevna
Kray K.K.
Mickiewicz Adam
Odnovalov Stanislav Pavlovich
Olenin Alexey Nikolaevich
Pushkin Alexander Sergeevich
Ryleev Kondraty Fedorovich
Smirnova-Rosset Alexandra Osipovna
Yastrebenetsky Grigory Danilovich
7th Line of Vasilievsky Island/Saint Petersburg, city, house 18
Gorokhovaya St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 11
Grafsky Lane/Saint Petersburg, city
Kazanskaya Street/Saint Petersburg, city, house 39
The Field of Mars/Saint Petersburg, city
Беккер И. И. Мицкевич в Петербурге. Л., 1955
Ивинский Д. П. Пушкин и Мицкевич: Материалы к истории лит. отношений, 1826-1829. М., 1999 Wednesdays of Smirnova-Rosset
Salon of Karamzina