On the occasion of the celebration and commemoration of the 300th anniversary of the founding of St. Petersburg State University, visitors were able to see the bust of Tomas Garrigue Masaryk, the first Czechoslovak president, who was appointed honorary professor in 1916 Saint Petersburg State universities. He came here to further his education in the Russian language and to meet important personalities of the time, such as Leo Tolstoy, with whom he had a critical dialogue about the attitude of the common man to social and especially political events and processes. While in St. Petersburg in March 1910, Masaryk stayed with General Vladimir Mikhailovich Volodimirov, a retired professor of the military law academy, with whom he then visited the families and Received by into society, where he got to know Russian life in all its aspects. He was interested in the development of Russian philosophical thought and then described and analysed his findings in his most comprehensive German-language work, Russia and Europe, published in 1913. Masaryk's relationship with Russia culminated in the period from World War I to the November Revolution in 1917. It was during this period and just after the "Great October Socialist Revolution" that T. G. Masaryk played his most important role.
The monument to Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk was unveiled in St Petersburg on 3 November 2003. A bust designed by sculptor Josef Vajce commemorates our first president at St. Petersburg State University. Masaryk's monument was unveiled by the wife of the then Czech President Livia Klausová. On this occasion, Milena Štráfeldová asked her about the details and Klausová said, among other things:
"I think that the fact that a monument to Masaryk was unveiled at St Petersburg University shows that not only Masaryk knew Russia, but that there are people in Russia who do not forget Masaryk. They want this monument to commemorate not only Masaryk but, of course, also his democratic and humanitarian ideals. I was there on the anniversary of 28 October, the 85th anniversary of the state, and I must say that I was surprised that, even though it was at a time when students are not at university, how many young people attended the event."
The monument was donated by the Czech side, namely the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute, together with other sponsors. How do the people of St. Petersburg feel about the monument? Do they like it?
"I think he liked it very much. It's very sober and I think it's successful. It has a nice motto that refers to the connection between Masaryk and Russia (ed. note: on the base of the bust is a quote from Masaryk's book Russia and Europe: I know a good part of the world, but I must confess that Russia was and is the most interesting country to me.) And when you mentioned that the monument was prepared by sponsors, I would add that the idea originated in the Society of the Čapek Brothers, the Czechoslovak Institute of Foreign Affairs made it all happen, but what pleased me was that not only big sponsors contributed, but many individuals, many people from all over the Czech Republic."
And how was your stay in Russia? What do you remember?
"It's definitely St. Petersburg, and this is the second time I've been there, the first time for the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg, but now I finally had a chance to see what the city looks like, not just the ceremonial halls from the inside. Then Moscow, where I was last in the 1980s, and I have to say that I was surprised by the great leap forward that this city has made. It was a completely different Moscow than the one I remember from the early 1980s."
About Tomáš G. Masaryk is known to have visited St. Petersburg twice before 1914, in 1887 and 1910 during his first and third trips to Russia. He first arrived in the capital of Tsarist Russia on 1 April 1887 by train from Warsaw. He stayed in St. Petersburg for about a month and then travelled on to Moscow a Kiev. During his stay, he lived near the university library at 16 Malaya Morskaya Street. Masaryk's friend, the philosopher Ernst L. Radlov, helped him arrange the stay.
In the spring of 1887, T. G. Masaryk arrived in Russia after a protracted struggle in a society-wide affair concerning the authenticity of Manuscript of the Kralove Dvory and Zelenogory manuscripts, during which he found himself isolated in part of his home environment in Prague and at university. His journey can thus be seen as a form of escape and an attempt to make new contacts. Masaryk concentrated on his studies in St Petersburg and met many Russian intellectuals and politicians. In April 1887 it was the Russian historian and Slavist Vladimir Ivanovich Lamansky who was well acquainted with Czech conditions and politics. He shared Masaryk's view of the Manuscripts, but was much more critical of the political integrity of the Czechs within the Slavic world. Lamansky saw the Czech future in closer ties with Germany. Masaryk subsequently contradicted him in an article The Slavic Western Question and in a discussion in Time magazine in 1888.
We have more precise information about the visit to St. Petersburg in 1910. Warsaw and stayed at the Hotel Dagmar near the library. He met Radlov, the historian and sociologist N. I. Kareev and many other university professors, students and journalists. Moscow.
Vratislav Doubek/Milena Štráfeldová/Daria Elokhina/gnews.cz
https://cesky.radio.cz/tomas-g-masaryk-ma-v-petrohrade-novy-pomnik-8079845
http://tg-masaryk.cz/mapa/index.jsp?id=295&misto=Navstevy-T.-G.-Masaryka-pred-prvni-svetovou-valkou
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