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History of the Moscow City authorities >> Heads of the Moscow City administration before 1917 >> Prince Vassily Mikhailovich DOLGORUKOV-KRYMSKY - Commander-in-Chief of Moscow (11 April 1780 – 30 January 1782)

Prince

Vassily Mikhailovich

DOLGORUKOV-KRYMSKY

1722–1782

Commander-in-Chief of Moscow

11 April 1780 – 30 January 1782

Prince Dolgorukov-Krymsky took part in the storming of the Pere-kop fortress during the Russo-Turkish campaign in 1736, and fought in a number of battles during the Seven Years' War. During the Russo-Turkish war of 1768-1774, troops under Prince Dolgorukov won victory in the Crimea. On 10 July 1775, during celebrations to mark the signing of the peace treaty, Catherine II awarded him the title "Krymsky".

Prince Dolgorukov-Krymsky began his civil service in Moscow in the spring of 1780, the year which saw the completion of the Petrovsky Theatre, which stood on the site of the present Bolshoi theatre. In his efforts to prevent "harmful and seductive works" appearing on the stage, the commander-in-chief set up a theatrical censorship, this responsible task being entrusted to the professors of Moscow University. Much was also achieved in city management, including cleaning the river Neglinnaya, and the construction in 1781 of the first stone bridge, called Dvortsovy, across the Yauza.

However, Prince Dolgorukov-Krymsky concentrated his attention on resolving administrative issues and fulfilling an imperial decree dated 4 January 1780 on preparations for "the opening of the Moscow gubernia". A special commission was set up to determine the boundaries between the Moscow gubernia and adjoining territories. On 20 October 1781, the commander-in-chief received instructions "to deliver a list of persons of worthy conduct accepted for state service and assigned to their posts", since he had been responsible for selecting civil servants for new posts in accord with the Law on Institutions for the Administration of Gubernias of the Russian Empire (1775).

Prince Dolgorukov-Krymsky lived mainly in his residence outside Moscow, in the village of Vasilyevskoye, near Vorobyevy hills, where the people of Moscow liked to come to stroll in the countryside. In 1784, Dolgorukov's town house on the corner of Okhotny Ryad and Bolshaya Drnitrovka was acquired by the Noble Assembly of the Aristocracy. After renovation by M.E Kazakov, it became one of the most beautiful buildings in the capital.