The Architectural Image of Moscow University: A Temple of the Enlightenment or a City Manor?

The first ideas for creating a university in Russia came from Tsar Peter the Great, who discussed this with Leibniz. The great German philosopher suggested that the Tsar open universities in several cities, that is, in Moscow, St Petersburg, Astrakhan and Kiev, to include the important regions of the vast territory of Russian Empire1. One year before his death, on the 12 January 1724, Peter the Great founded the Academy of Sciences in St Petersburg, which should have included a university. But, actually, the latter did not operate properly. It was not until the mid-18th century, at the very beginning of the Enlightenment in Russia, that the first university was founded in Moscow. It was established at the initiative of, and according to the programme of, two prominent figures in Russian history – the scientist Mikhail Lomonosov and statesman Count Ivan Shuvalov, who both undoubtedly had the models of European universities in mind. Lomonosov had spent three years in Germany at Marburg University, where he studied under the guidance of the famous Christian Wolf. Count Shuvalov had A Description of Oxford University in his library, which had been published in 1675 and included 65