Count Zakhar Grigoryevich Chernyshev was the son of G.P. Chernyshev, governor-general of Moscow. He took part in the Seven Years' War, and troops under his command captured Berlin in 1760.
Between 1772 and 1781, Count Chernyshev acquired considerable administrative experience as the imperial representative in the reannexed Mogilev and Polotsk gubernias.
The name of Count Zakhar Chernyshev is linked to the creation and development of that administrative system in Moscow, which was established by the Law on Institutions for the Administration of Gubernias of the Russian Empire passed on 7 November 1775. This included the selection of civil servants, inspection of buildings housing state offices, clear demarcation of gubernia boundaries, etc. The solemn ceremony of the "opening" of the Moscow gubernia was held on 5 October 1782.
The firing of the cannon at seven o'clock in the morning heralded the start of the celebrations. State officials, the city fathers, representatives of the nobility and the merchant class, gathered in the Faceted Hall in the Kremlin. The commander-in-chief delivered a speech, after which those present went to the Cathedral of the Dormition, where a service was held, and the imperial manifesto was read; "...thereafter certain officials took their oath of office, while the nobility swore to uphold the system for electing leaders and judges".
Established in 1783 in accord with the Statutes of Propriety (1782), the Moscow police further confirmed the system of the territorial-administrative division of the city and the organisation within it of a police service.
Given the importance of his position, Count Zakhar Chernyshev was able to do a great deal to improve and enhance the capital: in the Kremlin work was continuing on the building to house the administrative offices; fifteen sentry posts manned by the corps de garde were set up along the Kamer-Kollezhsky Rampart, and the walls of Kitai-Gorod were repaired.
The count's residence on Tverskaya, later purchased by the treasury, became the official residence of top officials of the Moscow and gubernia administration. At the end of the 18th century, the lane running alongside the right side of the building was named Chernyshevsky, a name which has only recently reappeared on maps of Moscow.
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