Antonina Bludova

Antonina Bludova was the eldest child of Count Dmitry Bludov, one of Nicholas I's trusted ministers and advisors.

From an early age, she met Alexander Pushkin, Vasily Zhukovsky, Nikolai Gogol, Mikhail Lermontov, Aleksey Khomyakov and other successful authors.

Her salon was one of the most fashionable in Saint Petersburg, serving as a vital link between the imperial court and the Slavophile (or Pan-Slavist) circles.

[1] After her father's death in 1864, this influential spinster decided to leave the capital in order to devote herself to Christian causes.

[2] She founded an Orthodox bratstvo in Ostrog which included an elementary school, a school for girls, a public library, a hospital, a drug store and a home for pilgrims travelling to the Pochayev Monastery.