Топография Симонаса Даукантаса в Санкт-Петербурге
Authors: Чарыкова Карина 
Published: January 2022

Simonas Daukantas’s Topography of St Petersburg

S u m m a r y

Simonas Daukantas spent 15 years (between 1834 and 1850) living in St Petersburg,
where he worked as an assistant registrar at the Senate. This article highlights the exact
addresses of where Daukantas lived and published books in St Petersburg.
The address of the place where Daukantas lived in 1837 is published for the first time;
the drawing of the building has been obtained, the landlord identified. Apparently, in 1837 Daukantas lived in the building owned by Marya Nelsen, the wife of chief (regiment) doctor Gavrila Nelsen, at the intersection of Kazanskaya street and Voznesensky prospect (or Voznesensky avenue; the exact address: Voznesensky Ave 15–17/Kazanskaya St 45). The article features the drawing of this building and contains information about its condition, which shows that in late 1830s and in 1840s the building was in an appalling state of repair. Marya Nelsen died in 1840, and the building was assigned to a care agency. Some of the tenants continued to live at the building for some time, only to move out later; apparently, Daukantas was among those who vacated this residence.
More details are provided about Daukantas’s place of residence in 1842 (address: Malaya Masterskaya 9, the building near the Church of St Stanislaus), providing the drawing of the building and publishing pictures of how it looks today, revealing the characteristics of the building’s architecture, including those from the time when Daukantas lived there. The building next to St Stanislaus Church at Malaya Masterskaya 9 was built in 1841–1842. In one letter of 1842 Daukantas claimed his residency at this address, so we suggest that he might have moved in right after the completion of construction.
The addresses of three printing houses where Daukantas published his books have been identified. On top of that, details of what the buildings looked like during Daukantas’s time there have been obtained.
Christian Hintze’s printing house was located at Durygina’s house at Nevsky prospect 8.
The building has survived to this date virtually intact. Ivanov’s lithograph based on Sadovnikov’s picture represents the view of the building in 1830s, the approximate time of Daukantas’s book publications at Hintze’s printing house. Later, the enterprise was acquired by Merkushev.
The printing house of Karl Kray was located in the corner of Frost’s building at Malaya
Morskaya 12/Gorokhovaya 9. Analysis of the archive drawings of the buildings has provided some insights into what the building’s appearance was during Daukantas’s time in St Petersburg.
Before 1850, Gretsch’s house (current address: Moika 92; the building was demolished
in early 1960s) was home to Eduard Pratz’s printing house. The blueprints of the building
that were found in the archives shed a light on what the building looked like in 1840s and 1850s, when Daukantas would publish his books there. Gretsch’s own publishing house was in the same building. The archives contain blueprints of Gretsch’s house on Moika riverfront, showing the appearance of the building at the time of Daukantas’s printing his books there: the façade off Moika, the courtyard, and the plan of the building.
Giedrius Subačius has noted that 1841–1845 were the years when Daukantas was the
most consistent in his orthography. Βetter living conditions in the new building constructed in 1842 most probably had allowed Daukantas to improve the quality and efficiency of his work.
It is also worth noting that the publishing houses were close to the places where Daukantas lived and worked. All these buildings are located in the Admiralteisky district of St Petersburg.