The Biographical Sketch for the 200th Anniversary of the Birth of the Russian Empress Maria Alexandrovna (1824–1880); Биографический очерк к 200-летию со дня рождения российской императрицы Марии Александровны (1824–1880 гг.)

The article is dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the birth of Empress Maria Alexandrovna, nee Maximiliana Wilhelmina Augusta Sophia Maria, Princess of Hesse and the Rhine, wife of Russian Emperor Alexander II the Liberator. The materials were biographical studies devoted to Empress Maria, as well as memoirs of her contemporaries. The research methods used are the historiographical method, the classification method, and the synthesis method. Maria Alexandrovna became famous as the creator of the state welfare system in the Russian Empire. With German pedantry, multiplied by the sense of generosity and justice characteristic of Russians, Maria Alexandrovna creates a network of women's educational institutions/gymnasiums named after her “Mariinsky”, which have become a model in terms of the quality of education, and the process of their organization has become the benchmark of the system of state charity in the educational sphere. The branch of the Red Cross in the Russian Empire, whose purpose was to provide medical assistance to those in need, had the largest budget of all charitable organizations during the lifetime of the Empress. One of the results of the Empress's work was the fact that charity and patronage became an honorable, widespread, popular and very widespread business in the Russian Empire, not only at the state level, but also, above all, at the level of ordinary subjects. Biographers note the poor health, but very strong and at that time complex character of the Empress, while invariably pointing out such traits as pedantry, thrift, kindness and altruism. Maria Alexandrovna found the meaning of her life at the Russian court precisely in helping those in need and was faithful to this principle until the last minutes of her life. © 2024 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.