The napkin from the collection of the estate museum was embroidered by Elizaveta Semyonova-Tyan-Shanskaya, the wife of the scientist and geographer. In 19th century noble society considered a woman as a rightful mistress of the house. She not only ran the household and brought up children, but also formed the inner world of the family. For women, needlework was a way of self-expression, as well as a sign of love and gratitude to their loved ones. At that time, embroidery was a useful fashionable hobby: it was used to decorate clothing and interiors.
Embroidery was one of the main hobbies of Elizaveta Semyonova-Tyan-Shanskaya. The family archive holds pictures of her embroidering. Also, the Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky family still keeps samples of various products created by her. One of the napkins was presented to the museum-estate by her great-granddaughter, Nadezhda Korolkova.
Peter Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky’s second marriage was very successful. His first wife, Vera Chulkova, died soon after her first childbirth; she was quite young. It happened in 1853. Semyonov fell seriously ill because of this stress. It was not until 1861 that he decided to marry again. The elder daughter of Andrei Zablotsky-Desiatovsky, a colleague of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society, Elizaveta became Peter Semyonov’s bride. By that time, he was 34 years old and his wife was only 18. But despite the age difference, the couple turned out to be perfect.
Pyotr Semyonov settled in the house of his father-in-law in St. Petersburg, where he lived till the end of his days. He adored his wife and always invited her to all his trips abroad. Elizaveta, on the other hand, was very modest, she did not like a great company and preferred to do household chores. She persuaded her husband to bring home his son from his first marriage, Dmitriy, and loved the boy as her own child. She was richly endowed with abilities for music and tried to develop the same interests in her children.
She managed to build a friendly and happy family. Pyotr Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky and Elizaveta had 6 children: Olga, Andrei, Veniamin, Valeriy, Izmail i Rostislav. The seventh child named Manuil died in infancy. Each of the children inherited some part of their father’s and mother’s talents, and many became scientists.
Embroidery was one of the main hobbies of Elizaveta Semyonova-Tyan-Shanskaya. The family archive holds pictures of her embroidering. Also, the Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky family still keeps samples of various products created by her. One of the napkins was presented to the museum-estate by her great-granddaughter, Nadezhda Korolkova.
Peter Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky’s second marriage was very successful. His first wife, Vera Chulkova, died soon after her first childbirth; she was quite young. It happened in 1853. Semyonov fell seriously ill because of this stress. It was not until 1861 that he decided to marry again. The elder daughter of Andrei Zablotsky-Desiatovsky, a colleague of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society, Elizaveta became Peter Semyonov’s bride. By that time, he was 34 years old and his wife was only 18. But despite the age difference, the couple turned out to be perfect.
Pyotr Semyonov settled in the house of his father-in-law in St. Petersburg, where he lived till the end of his days. He adored his wife and always invited her to all his trips abroad. Elizaveta, on the other hand, was very modest, she did not like a great company and preferred to do household chores. She persuaded her husband to bring home his son from his first marriage, Dmitriy, and loved the boy as her own child. She was richly endowed with abilities for music and tried to develop the same interests in her children.
She managed to build a friendly and happy family. Pyotr Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky and Elizaveta had 6 children: Olga, Andrei, Veniamin, Valeriy, Izmail i Rostislav. The seventh child named Manuil died in infancy. Each of the children inherited some part of their father’s and mother’s talents, and many became scientists.
