Sophia Vladimirovna Stroganova was the youngest daughter of the “Princesse Moustache”, Natalia Golitsina, a lady-in-waiting of four imperial houses, who was the inspiration for the character of the countess in Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin’s “Queen of Spades”. Sophia Vladimirovna, like her mother, was a noble lady of St. Petersburg society, she was on friendly terms with the wife of Emperor Alexander I and hosted literary evenings attended by Ivan Krylov, Nikolai Karamzin and Vasily Zhukovsky. After the death of her husband, Count Pavel Stroganov, and the fall of her only son in a battle with Napoleon, Sophia devoted herself to the Stroganovs’ vast landed estates, which she managed for 27 years.
Sophia Stroganova divided her Perm estate into five okrugs. She paid special attention to the Invenskaya forest estate, with the village of Kudymkar as its center. During 15 years a special development plan was implemented in the village according to her order: she dispatched architects and craftsmen to Europe to be trained there at her expense. While schools were being built in Perm, the Countess arranged for the local children to attend classes in the suburbs of St. Petersburg.
Sophia Stroganova funded the construction of the Stroganov Administration building, a church, the Sophie-Invenskaya hospital, a pharmacy, dwelling houses, a parish school with outbuildings, a public bathhouse, a stone smithy and a locksmith’s shop in Kudymkar. A bridge across the Inva River was built and named after Countess Sophia. All the new buildings formed straight streets and regular blocks, which have been preserved until now. Today Kudymkar is a city of regional importance, the center of the Komi-Permyak District.
The portrait by an unknown artist depicts Sophia Vladimirovna at the beginning of her administrative career, she is about 40 years old. Dmitry Smyshlyaev, the 19th century historian of the Perm Region, wrote about Countess as follows:
Sophia Stroganova divided her Perm estate into five okrugs. She paid special attention to the Invenskaya forest estate, with the village of Kudymkar as its center. During 15 years a special development plan was implemented in the village according to her order: she dispatched architects and craftsmen to Europe to be trained there at her expense. While schools were being built in Perm, the Countess arranged for the local children to attend classes in the suburbs of St. Petersburg.
Sophia Stroganova funded the construction of the Stroganov Administration building, a church, the Sophie-Invenskaya hospital, a pharmacy, dwelling houses, a parish school with outbuildings, a public bathhouse, a stone smithy and a locksmith’s shop in Kudymkar. A bridge across the Inva River was built and named after Countess Sophia. All the new buildings formed straight streets and regular blocks, which have been preserved until now. Today Kudymkar is a city of regional importance, the center of the Komi-Permyak District.
The portrait by an unknown artist depicts Sophia Vladimirovna at the beginning of her administrative career, she is about 40 years old. Dmitry Smyshlyaev, the 19th century historian of the Perm Region, wrote about Countess as follows:
