GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF THE GRAND DUCHY OF FINLAND NIKOLAI ADLERBERG AS THE REPRESENTATIVE OF RUSSIAN ELITE IN HELSINGFORS (1866–81)

Abstract

: Based on diverse primary material from the archives of Moscow, Saint-Petersburg and Helsinki, the article touches upon Nikolai Adlerberg’s life in Helsingfors. He was the Governor-General of the Grand Duchy of Finland from 1866 to 1881. By describing Adlerberg’s background and several episodes of his career, the article examines his role of a public person, the emperor’s honourable representative in this special part of the Empire, and a member of Russian elite in Helsingfors (as the city was usually called then in Russian). For this purpose, Nikolai Adlerberg successfully used the fact that he had powerful relatives among officials and good connections in Saint Petersburg. He demonstrated his status in different possible ways, for instance, by actively contributing to establishing the Russian theatre in Helsingfors and by thoroughly preparing the Emperor’s visit to the capital of the Grand Duchy in 1876.