Mariya Volkonskaya

Mariya Volkonskaya
Born	December 25, 1805(1805-12-25)
Died	August 10, 1863(1863-08-10) (aged 57)
Nationality	Russian
Other names	Mariya Raevskaya

Princess Mariya Nikolayevna Volkonskaya (née Raevskaya, Russian: Мария Николаевна Волконская (Раевская)) was the youngest daughter of Russian General Nikolay Raevsky and Sophia Konstantinov, granddaughter of Mikhail Lomonosov. In 1825 Maria married the future Decembrist Major General Prince Sergey Grigorievich Volkonsky.

When Volkonsky was arrested and exiled to Siberia, she followed him into exile on the condition that her children born after her departure to Siberia would be forever struck from the noble estate and become bonded laborers (Russian: заводские крестьяне); the threat, however, was not put into practice.

Life

Volkonskaya had a sister Sophia. At the age of eighteen Mariya married Prince Sergey Volkonsky, who was elder. Popularly known in Irkutsk as the Princess of Siberia, she founded a local hospital and opened a concert hall, in addition to hosting musical and cultural soirees in her home. In Irkutsk Mariya had a blue and white timber mansion.

The Volkonskys had four children; two died at early age in Siberia while Mikhail (1832–1909) and Yelena Molchanov-Kotchoubey-Rakhmanoff (1835–1916) survived into the 20th century and retained the style of prince and princess inherited from their father.

A number of literary works, including Alexander Pushkin's Eugene Onegin and Nikolay Nekrasov's poem Russian Women were dedicated to Volkonskaya. A passage in Eugene Onegin reads:

I recall some storm-brewing ocean:

Jealous, I watched its waves that beat

A path straight toward her in devotion,

To swirl in sequence at her feet.

To join those waves my soul was burning,

To touch those limbs with lips so yearning.^[1]

In 1922, it was proved that Volkonskaya was the subject of six poems by Pushkin (written in 1820, 1822, 1824, 1825, 1828 and 1829).^[2] Pushkin also dedicated a few lines to the sudden passing of Volkonskaya's little son, Nikolai. However, Pushkinist Mikhail Gershenzon rebutted the view that Pushkin was in love with Mariya.^[3] Volkonskaya herself died of heart problems on the Estate of her son in law Nikolay Arkadievich Kotchoubey (the Ukrainian village Voronki). Photos of the Decembrist Volkonsky family, their relatives and other Decembrists were ceremonially handed over by Signora Elena Cicognani (Princess Elena Vadimovna Volkonsky) of Rome to the Russian State Historical Museum in September 2001.

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