The prime minister laid flowers at the monument to the most famous of the lyceum’s alumni, Alexander Pushkin, and addressed the museum’s staff and guests.

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Vladimir Putin’s address:

Ladies and gentlemen, friends, I am happy to welcome all of you who have gathered here at the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum.

October 19, 1811 went down in our country’s history, in the history of our culture and literature, because it was the day that the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum opened here 200 years ago. Among its students were the most talented young people from noble families who were raised in the spirit of camaraderie, loyalty and love for their homeland, for the glory and strength of which they accomplished a great deal.

Graduates of the lyceum have become outstanding statesmen, ministers and diplomats, famous researchers, scientists, military leaders and, of course, writers and poets. There is a reason that the motto of the school -- which employed the most modern ideas of the enlightenment and of pedagogical science under the guidance of Mikhail Speransky, an eminent statesman in the government of Emperor Alexander I -- was that famous expression, “A common cause for the common good.”

All Russians, and the representatives of all the peoples of Russia who love the Russian language and culture and feel inseparably bound to them, as well as people across the world who love Russian culture -- they all know about the lyceum above all else because among its students was our brilliant poet and distinguished son of the nation, Alexander Pushkin.

The government has always had a special attitude towards this place and the memory of Alexander Pushkin. It is no coincidence that the first Pushkin Museum was opened here, at the initiative of lyceum graduates and professors. But it is primarily to the many generations of museum workers that we should be grateful for preserving the memory of Pushkin. I would like to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to the current museum stuff. Congratulations on your anniversary! Thank you.