Office of the Institutions of Empress Maria

In 1880 it was renamed to His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery for Institutions of Empress Mary.

The work of the office began in 1796, when Empress Maria Feodorovna took over the Smolny Institute of Noble Maidens.

The Empress' Chancellery then consisted of six persons, headed by Grigory Ivanovich Villamov.

Two days after the death of the Empress, Nicholas I of Russia, by decree of 26 October 1828, took all the institutions under her jurisdiction under his patronage.

[1] To manage them, the Fourth Department of His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery was formed.