220 Years Since the Birth of Andrey Lishin
On May 26, SPbGASU marks the 220th anniversary of the birth of Andrey Fedorovich Lishin (1801–1898). Andrey Lishin was the Director of our university (at that time – the School of Civil Engineering) in 1849–1873.
Andrey Lishin
A. F. Lishin came from an old noble Russian family. He was born in Velzhichi estate situated in Mglinsky district of the Chernigov province. His father Fyodor Andreevich Lishen (Lishin) served as a collegiate assessor, a judge of the Mglinsky district court. Fyodor Andreevich and his wife Praskovya Vladimirovna Lishen had five sons: Grigory, Nikolay, Pyotr, Vladimir and Andrey. All the brothers became military men.
Andrey Lishin was brought up at the Moscow University’s Noble Boarding School.
✔ His military career began in the 49th Jaeger regiment. Promoted to a warrant officer, in 1821 he became a second lieutenant of the Zhitomir regiment. In the same year, Emperor Alexander I passed through the town of Vladimir-Volynsky, where the regiment was stationed, and Andrey Lishin was appointed his orderly officer. From 1821 to 1827, Andrey Fedorovich served as battalion adjutant of the head of the 25th Infantry Division, General F. G. Gogel.
✔ Later he was engaged in secret assignments to monitor the Decembrists, missionaries, freemasons, players and eminent Poles. In 1826, he received a secret assignment to collect information about the uprising of the Chernigov regiment and the mood in the 2nd Army. Andrey Lishin personally reported on the information received to Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich.
✔ In 1827, Andrey Fedorovich Lishin became adjutant to the chief of the General Staff of Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich, General of the Infantry D. D. Kurute. In 1829, he was appointed head of the Warsaw branch of the cantonist school and the cantonist battalion. Two years later, when the Polish uprising took place, he was taken prisoner by the rebels and remained imprisoned for ten months.
✔ Later, A. F. Lishin was transferred to St. Petersburg and appointed a company officer of the School of Guards Ensigns and Cavalry Junkers (later renamed the Nikolaev Cavalry School). In 1841 he received the rank of colonel and the post of company commander of guards ensigns.
✔ On November 19, 1849 Andrey Fedorovich Lishin took the high post of Director of the Civil Engineering School of the Main Directorate of Transport Routes and Public Buildings. In 1866, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General.
Under Andrey Lishin, significant changes took place in the activities of the School. On December 27, 1851, it was transferred to the first category of educational institutions of the Russian Empire. The new Regulation of the School came into force. It remained a closed educational institution, the admission terms, age criteria and pre-education requirements were preserved. The number of pupils increased to 160, the six-year study period was divided into two three-year periods. The composition of the disciplines has changed. Instead of a 20-point grading system, a 12-point scale was introduced.
✔ In 1859, a new provision was released, according to which the title of Engineer-Architect was awarded only to the graduates appointed for civil service with a rank of the 12th class. A silver badge for architectural engineers in the form of a laurel wreath with a crown was approved, inside it there was a ring containing the letters EA.
✔ In 1865, all civil construction in the country fell under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the School became affiliated to the ministry. The school’s University Charter had been adopted two years earlier.
The transformations started by A.F. Lishin were later completed by the new director of the Civil Engineering School, R. B. Bernhard.
Text: Elena Shulgina
Photos provided by the University’s History Museum
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