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The portrait gallery of governors of Moscow is opened by the boyar Tikhon Nikitich Streshnyev, a close relative of the wife of Tsar Mikhail Fyodorovich, Tsaritsa Yevdokiya Lukyanovna. In 1666 he was made a stryapchy (majordomo), and two years later he became a stolnik (royal steward). Shortly after the birth of Pyotr Alexeyevich, Tikhon Streshnyev, was appointed to watch over the boy, and took an active part in the games and pranks of the young tsar.
Following the coronation of Peter the Great in 1682, Streshnyev was made an okolnichy (a second rank in the Boyar Duma) and in 1688 he attained the rank of boyar. Although he had been brought up in the old Moscow traditions, he adapted quite easily to Peter's reforms, thus winning the respect and trust of the Tsar.
In 1690 Streshnyev became the head of the highest organ of state military administration, the War Office. In 1697, when Peter the Great was about to depart on his journey through Europe, he entrusted the management of state affairs to F.Yu.Romodanovsky and T.N.Streshnyev. In 1698, Streshnyev was put in charge of the Palace Administrative Office, which managed the running of the palace.
The post of governor appeared with the division of the country into gubernias. Unfortunately, the decrees appointing the first governors have not been found. Their names are being retrieved on the basis of the Tsar's correspondence at the beginning of 1709. In a letter dated 18 February, we read: "We have now decided upon the gubernias, and having set our signature to the rescripts, have sent these to the governors...". Such a rescript was sent to Streshnyev on 3 February 1709. One year had been allotted to set up the gubernia institutions. In obedience to this strict royal rescript, Streshnyev hastily created a new apparatus of gubernia administration: the gubernia office and its departments.
In addition to setting up a new administrative apparatus, Streshnyev's duties included executing personal directives of the Tsar not directly linked with his new post.
In accord with a decree issued on 22 February 1711, Streshnyev was appointed to the Senate, and administration of the Moscow gubernia passed to V.S. Yershov.
Streshnyev was buried in the Alexander Nevsky Monastery in St Petersburg. Peter the Great attended the funeral and walked behind the coffin of the man who had supported his reforms.
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