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| Maria Pavlovna of Russia | |
|---|---|
| Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach | |
.jpg) Portrait byVladimir Borovikovsky, 1804 | |
| Grand Duchess consort of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach | |
| Tenure | 14 June 1828 – 8 July 1853 |
| Born | Maria Pavlovna Romanova (1786-02-16)16 February 1786 Saint Petersburg,Empire of Russia |
| Died | 23 June 1859(1859-06-23) (aged 73) Belvedere Palace,Weimar,Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach,Imperial Confederate of Germany |
| Spouse | |
| Issue | |
| House | Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov |
| Father | Paul I of Russia |
| Mother | Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg |
| Religion | Russian Orthodoxy |
Maria Pavlovna (Russian:Мария Павловна; 16 February [O.S. 5 February] 1786 – 23 June [O.S. 11 June] 1859) was agrand duchess ofRussia as the daughter ofPaul I,Emperor of all the Russias andEmpress Maria Feodorovna and later became theGrand Duchess ofSaxe-Weimar-Eisenach by her marriage toCharles Frederick of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1783–1853).
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Grand Duchess Maria PavlovnaRomanova ofRussia was born on 16 February 1786 inSaint Petersburg as the fifth child and third daughter ofTsesarevichPaul Petrovich of Russia and his second wife,TsesarevnaMaria Feodorovna (1754–1801), bornDuchess Sophie Dorothea ofWürttemberg (1759–1828). She was named after her mother.
Maria Pavlovna spent her childhood in thePavlovsk Palace and theGreat Gatchina Palace. As a child, she was not considered pretty as her face had been disfigured as a result of beingvariolated. She was a talented pianist, for which her paternal grandmother,Catherine the Great (1729–1796) admired her, even though she thought that Maria Pavlovna would have been better off had she been born a boy. Her music instructor wasGiuseppe Sarti, an Italian composer and thekapellmeister of the Russian court. From 1798, she was taught music byLudwig-Wilhelm Tepper de Ferguson.
On 3 August 1804, Maria Pavlovna marriedCharles Frederick, Hereditary Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1783–1853). The couple stayed in Saint Petersburg for nine months before departing forWeimar. There, Maria Pavlovna was greeted with festivities as described byChristoph Martin Wieland: "The most festive part of all the magnificence of balls, fireworks, promenades, comedies, illuminations was the widespread and genuine joy at the arrival of our new princess".
As grand duchess, she took care of the poor of the country. She last visited Russia at the occasion of the coronation of her nephew,Alexander II of Russia in 1855.
Maria Pavlovna was interested in bothart andscience. She maintained a lifelong correspondence withVasily Zhukovsky, andFriedrich Schiller dedicated one of his last poems to her. Schiller praised her "talents in music and painting and genuine love of reading", whileJohann Wolfgang von Goethe hailed her as one of the worthiest women of his time.
According toMary Leveson-Gower, the duchess by the 1820s had grown "very deaf, but had delightful manners".[1]
Most famously, she held "literary evenings"("Literarische Abende") where scholars both from and outside of the neighbouringUniversity of Jena were invited to give lectures on various topics. The grand duchess herself attended ten courses at the university, some delivered byAlexander von Humboldt (1769–1859). Several collections of the institution benefitted of her patronage, among them theGrandducal Oriental Coin Cabinet founded in 1840 by theorientalistJohann Gustav Stickel (1805–1896). She also played an instrumental role in establishing theFalk Institute in Weimar.
In her later years, Maria Pavlovna invitedFranz Liszt to her court and appointed him"Kapellmeister extraordinaire" in 1842. In 1850,Richard Wagner's operaLohengrin premiered in Weimar, but her growingdeafness prevented the grand duchess from enjoying it.
Maria Pavlovna had four children by her husband,Charles Frederick of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1783–1853), three of whom survived to adulthood:
Maria Pavlovna's letters to her maternal grandfather,Frederick II Eugene, Duke of Württemberg written between 1795 and 1797 are preserved in the State Archive of Stuttgart.[2] Her letters from between 1800 and 1859 are preserved in the"Maria Paulowna letters" collection of theHoover Institution Library and Archives ofStanford University.[3]
| Ancestors of Maria Pavlovna, Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach |
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{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
Maria Pavlovna, Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach Cadet branch of theHouse of Oldenburg Born: 16 February 1786 Died: 23 June 1859 | ||
| German royalty | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Grand Duchess consort of Saxe-Weimar 14 June 1828 – 8 July 1853 | Succeeded by |
