XIX Century in Kurakin's House
In 1836, the former building of the Kurakin estate was rebuilt to house the Konstantinovsky Land Surveying Institute. This higher engineering educational institution was founded back in 1779, and at first it was called the Konstantinovsky Land Surveying School - in honor of the grandson of Empress Catherine II.
By 1819 the school became a vocational school, and a year before moving into the former Kurakin properties it turned into an institute by decree of Nicholas I, becoming the first higher surveying school in Russia.
The institute was maintained at the expense of the government, had 200 students, most of whom studied at the state expense; the duration of training was four years. The remodeling of the building was supervised by the then famous architect Evgraf Tyurin. The premises were equipped with an astronomical observatory, chemical laboratory, lithography and even a pharmacy.
Sergei Aksakov, a theater critic, publicist and — in the future — a famous Russian writer, was appointed director of the institute. He started as an inspector at the school and did a lot for its development, actually preparing its complete reorganization, thanks to which he received the director's post. However, he did not stay there for long, but he made a bright color in the history of the Konstantinovsky Institute: being closely acquainted with the literary critic and publicist Vissarion Belinsky, Aksakov gave him a place to teach Russian language. Belinsky, however, soon resigned in order to devote himself entirely to literary activity.
Also among the faculty was physicist Alexander Ivanov, whose wife, Vera Mikhailovna, was a sister of the writer Fyodor Dostoevsky. The couple lived in the institute's building, in a government apartment, and when Dostoevsky came to Moscow, he usually stayed with his sister.
In 1849, Nicholas I by his decree transformed the institute into a paramilitary Corps of Land Survey Engineers, thus making the profession a military one, but after the reform of 1861, by decree of Alexander II, the paramilitary corps was abolished, and the former status and name were returned to the educational institution.
