Nikolai Putyatin

Nikolai Abramovich Prince Putyatin (also: Putiatin, Puttiatin and Poutiatine, Russian Николай Абрамович Путятин; born May 16, 1749 Kiev, † January 13, 1830 in Dresden ) was a philanthropist and philosopher of the dynasty of Rurik, who worked in Dresden.

Life

Prince Putyatin occurred early in the Russian army. After he had to supervise an officer a terrible Knut execution ( flogging ), he left them, however. He dealt with the building and garden art, and participated in the gardens of Tsarskoe Selo with. His talent and technical education helped him to make an imperial upper Bauintendanten in Saint Petersburg. He was chamberlain and privy councilor at the imperial court.

There he met the unhappily married Countess Elisabeth von Sievers, the daughter of Oberhof Marshal Karl von Sievers. Her husband was Johann Jakob Sievers, a relative and protégé of her father, an important and powerful Russian statesman, who for years lived separately from his wife, also due to its shops. The long-lasting love affair led in 1778 to the " Affaire Poutiatine " a scandal at court. The cuckolded husband wrote on November 29, 1778 Empress Catherine II: " ... I have not made ​​the shame of the daughter of my benefactor open knowledgeable. I have carefully hidden, a curtain preferable during seven, or rather eleven years .., I'm going to an honest decent, complete divorce in the form of law demand ... my wife can marry her lovers, and bring the scandal to silence, I would be delighted with it. "

Countess Elisabeth von Sievers had three daughters: Cathinca (born 1770), Benedicta (born 1773) and Elizabeth (born 1776). In her divorce, she was only allowed to keep Benedicta with him. Putyatin married the divorced Countess (probably 1778). Very likely he undertook the marriage to keep " childless " because (recognized ) Descendants would have jeopardized the legacy of the two remaining Johann Jakob Sievers daughters. The couple left the Russian court and went abroad.

Together with Elisabeth Benedicta of Sievers, the second daughter of the Countess, the couple moved through Europe and settled in 1797 in Kleinzschachwitz near Dresden. There the prince built his own plans " Stork's Nest ", an extravagant villa with 16 balconies, minarettartigem tower, many swings and a cable car in the garden. The property with its, with caves and ruins decorated, the park was open to the public and nationally known.

He is buried with his wife († 1818) and his stepdaughter († 1799) in a mausoleum designed by him on the "new burial ground " (today: " Historical Cemetery " ) in Dessau. Given the dates of their birth and of the intimate verses could be at the " step-daughter " act to his ( secret ) biological daughter.

As an heir, he used Gottlob Wassily von Freymann ( born October 18, 1780 in St. Petersburg). This grew up without a father and mother, and was sponsored by the Prince. Among other things, gave him the manor Großzschachwitz Putyatin lifetime. - The legacy was considerably reduced by an earlier transfer of goods mother to daughters and bequests (including the servants ). In reviewing the legacy learned by Freymann, that he was the son of the royal couple. Putyatin he did not let this inform his lifetime. The prince suffered greatly from this prohibition, however, felt bound by his word of honor. ( "A man! A word! " ) Among other things, he asked his ( step) daughters to the support of the son who was "sacrificed" in the divorce of Princess for the happiness of daughters.

Prince Putyatin remained as a generous, free-thinking, lovable nerd in memory and is now considered Dresdner "original". 1997 was erected to him in Kleinzschachwitz a monument.

Peculiarities

Prince Putyatin brimming with inventions. So he paid his carriage with Blasebalgen out to gain in summer cooling, his sleigh with a furnace for the winter. He invented a Zuckersäge, used wooden face masks as a windbreak and extended his umbrella to a "walking sentry " ( William of Kügelgen ). He was an early advocate of nudism and refused to wear pants on. He was creatively active in music and poetry, and is known as stubborn philosopher.

Buildings and foundations

  • Country house and park Kleinzschachwitz
  • Schoolhouse in Kleinzschachwitz (today: " Putjatinhaus " )
  • Spieltempel
  • Mausoleum in Dessau

Philosophical works

  • Words from the Book of Books, ed. August Wilhelm Tappe, Dresden 1824

Archival

  • Book of princes and words of the Book of books in the SLUB Dresden
  • Some family letters in the State Archives in Detmold ( discount Stietencron from Schötmar )
  • Probate control of the monarch in Dresden City Archives ( microfilm )
  • People folder in the city archives Dessau (among newspaper article )

Swell

  • William of Kügelgen: memoirs of an old man among celebrities and The Return of the King
  • Johann Peter Eckermann: Conversations with Goethe
  • Karl Ludwig Blum: A Russian statesman, Memoirs of Count Sievers, Leipzig 1857-58, four volumes
  • Karl Ludwig Blum: Count Johann Jacob Sievers and Russia for its time. Leipzig; Heidelberg: Winter, 1864.
  • Erhard Hexelschneider. Cultural Encounters between Saxony and Russia 1790 - 1849, Böhlau Verlag, Cologne, 2000 (p. 72-81 )
  • Kai Wenzel and Marius Winzler (ed.): Franz Gareis ( 1775-1803 ). Born to a painter. Paintings, drawings and prints a pioneer of German Romanticism, publishing Gunter Oettel, Görlitz 2003, ISBN 3-932693-81-7 ( with portraits)
  • Jürgen- Detlev Freiherr von Uexküll: armies and amours - A Diary from Napoleonic times of Boris Uexküll, Random House, 1965 Reinbek
  • Friedrich Kummer: Dresden and its theater world. Dresden 1938 ( p. 21)
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