In 1744, Prince Prozorovsky graduated from the Shlyakhetny Infantry Cadet Corps. Having risen through the ranks, he was given the rank of lieutenant-colonel in 1773. He fought in the Seven Years' War and the Russo-Turkish war of 1768-1774.
In 1780, Prince Prozorovsky began his administrative career as governor-general of the Orel and Kursk gubernias.
In 1783, Prince Prozorovsky was given the rank of general-in-chief "with exclusion from the army", and this was followed in 1784 by dismissal from service with retention of salary.
After a break of six years, Prince Prozorovsky returned to administrative work on 19 February 1790, in the post of commander-in-chief "in the capital city of Moscow and its gubernia".
During the five years in which Prozorovsky held this post, he did a great deal to improve and enhance the city, and in testimony to this the order of St Andrew soon appeared on his uniform. Fearing the destructive power of floods, the commander-in-chief continued to strengthen the embankments of the Moskva River with "rough-hewn stone". He also turned his attention to the social sphere of city life, and demonstrated "particular zeal" in the organisation of a public hospital using funds bequeathed by the former Russian ambassador to Vienna, Prince D.M. Golitsyn. In 1793, the university building on Mokhovaya Street was completed.
Prince Prozorovsky was particularly concerned about the state of town planning in Moscow, which still left a great deal to be desired. On his insistence, streets were laid along the wall of Kitai-Gorod on the territory of the Orphanage (now Kitaisky Proyezd). In 1792, the architect M.F. Kazakov designed Tverskaya Square in front of the residence of the commander-in-chief.
However, possibly the most important contribution made by Prince Prozorovsky to the improvement of the city was the creation in 1791 of a Moscow City Planning Commission, in which Kazakov played a very active role. The Moscow commander-in-chief sought to elaborate a technically sound approach to city planning, and believed that "it is necessary to consider those lanes which have such inelegant twists and turns that to see such a network of streets evokes shame for the ancient capital..." Although preparatory work to number and survey residential property had begun in 1790, this was a very exacting task and progress was slow.
On 21 March 1795, Prince Prozorovsky was relieved of his "chief position" at his own request. Alexander I returned him to army service, raised him to the rank of fieldmarshal-general and appointed him commander-in-chief of the Russian troops in Moldavia during the Russo-Turkish war of 1806-1812. This was the last entry in his record of state service.
Prince Prozorovsky was buried in the Kievo-Pechersky Monastery in Kiev. Later his remains were transferred to the Church of St Alexander Nevsky in the Pechersky district of Kiev.
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