Count N.P. Rumyantsev and the Fate of Peter the Great’s Unfinished Project

The activity of Count N.P. Rumyantsev as the head (chief director) of the Department of Water Communications (1801—1809) is considered. The functions of the institution are described. The content of the “Note on Water Communications” submitted by the director in 1801 to the State Council is characterized: it contains information about the history and condition of hydraulic engineering objects, about the purpose for which the project was created and, if it was not completed, about the expected result. The most important projects (including the Mariinsky Canal) implemented by the Department during the period of N.P. Rumyantsev’s administration are listed and selectively reviewed. Based on unpublished materials from the Russian State Historical Archive, the history of the “resumption” of the Ivanovsky Canal, the construction of which, begun under Peter the Great, was stopped before completion, is summarized. The contribution of prominent hydraulic engineers engaged by N.P. Rumyantsev to implement the project is highlighted, including F.P. de Wollant, who carried out a preliminary survey of the canal route, and the project developer Ch.I. Trousson. The key rescripts of Emperor Alexander I, given by him to N.P. Rumyantsev, are quoted for the fate of the project. It is shown what role in stopping the work on the project, carried out in 1806—1809, was played by the change of the Department’s leadership (removal of its head N.P. Rumyantsev and appointment of Prince George of Holstein-Oldenburg to the post of Director) and subsequent structural changes — replacement of the Department by the Water Communications Expedition under the Chief Director of Water Communications. The information presented in the article enriches the understanding of N.P. Rumyantsev’s activities in the civil service in the first decade of the 19th century and emphasizes the importance of studying his legacy.

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