Look Who it Was Random video

Благотворительность в Петербурге / Charity in St. Petersburg - 1900-1913

385 views · Published 10 December 2018 · 5:01 · Indexed 17 October 2026

Channel: Nigel Fowler Sutton · 2018 · Travel & Events

Watch on YouTube

Дореволюционная Россия в фотографиях
Благотворительность и милосердие в Петербурге
Фотографии К. К. Булла
1900-1913

Pre-revolutionary Russia in photographs
Charity and Mercy in St. Petersburg
Photographs by  К. К. Bulla
1900-1913

Music:
Slow Waltz (Adagio) from “Cinderella” by S. Prokofiev

In the history of Russia, as well as in that of other countries, poverty was one of the key problems of social and economic development. From the 11 to the 17th century, the major form of poor relief was almsgiving.
Starting from the final third of the 18th century, when Russian society came under the influence of the ideas of European Enlightenment, secular poor relief and charity also began to develop in Russia. By the 1763 decree of Empress Catherine the Great, foundling homes were created in Moscow in 1764 and St Petersburg in 1772. This, in turn, led to the  development of philanthropy in the Russian empire in the 19th- and early 20th century  and was determined by social, economic, and institutional changes.
Under the patronage of the imperial family and with the participation of the elite of the nobility, the largest charitable organisations - the Department of the Institutions of Empress Maria and the Imperial Philanthropic Society were founded…
By 1902, the Russian empire had more than 19 thousand charitable associations and institutions, including parish guardianships.  It is estimated that in the mid-1900s the number of persons receiving care at rural Zemstvo and urban municipal institutions probably amounted to 2.5 million..

Despite a substantial growth of charity funds, the level of development of philanthropy in Russia was assessed by experts as very low by comparison with the countries of  Western Europe.  In Russia in 1907, the per capita expenditures on charity amounted to 9 kopecks - or 33 times less than Great Britain, 21 times less than in Switzerland, 13 times less than in France, and 10 times less than in Germany.

More from this channel