Construction of the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg, begun in 1801, was completed by architect A. N. Voronikhin. On September 15 the cathedral was consecrated. In front of it, regiments of the St. Petersburg garrison marched past in ceremonial formation. Kutuzov held a solemn service “for the granting of victory over the enemies.”
Banknotes in circulation amounted to 577 million; external debt exceeded 100 million. State revenue for 1812 was calculated at 197 million; 66 million were lacking to cover current expenditures. The exchange rate of paper money continued to fall. Over the year it did not rise above 23 kopecks in silver, and at times fell below 20 kopecks.
V. M. Golovnin was tasked with mapping the Kuril and Shantar Islands as well as the Tatar Coast. Golovnin would describe the islands of Rasshua, Ushishir, Ketoy, Simushir, the Black Brothers, Broughton, Urup, and Iturup. On Iturup he would meet Japanese, who by that time had already seized the southern islands of the chain. While exploring Kunashir, Golovnin, together with six sailors who came ashore with him, would be captured by the Japanese. They would be transported to Hokkaido, then to Hakodate, and then to Matsumae, then the center of Hokkaido. This would be followed by two and a half years of imprisonment and interrogations, and an unsuccessful escape attempt.
Nadezhda Osipovna and Sergey Lvovich Pushkin pondered their son’s future. At first the idea arose to place him in a “Jesuit collegium”—a boarding school with very strict rules, where instruction was conducted in French. But it became known that a Lyceum was being established in Tsarskoye Selo. Sergey Lvovich submitted a petition, attaching a certificate from the heraldry office that the boy descended from an ancient noble family, and a document from the Minister of Justice stating that the “minor... is indeed the lawful son...” Getting in was difficult, but a close acquaintance, Alexander Ivanovich Turgenev, helped. In July, his uncle Vasily Lvovich brought his nephew to St. Petersburg. Soon Alexander passed a medical examination and sat for an exam with the following marks: “In grammatical knowledge of languages: Russian—very good, French—good, German—has not studied; in arithmetic—knows up to the rule of three; in knowledge of the general properties of bodies—good; in the basic foundations of geography—has some knowledge; in the basic foundations of history—has some knowledge.”
February 21 — Humphry Davy reports on the properties of the gas he discovered—chlorine.
March 15 — Austria is declared bankrupt.
May 10 — paper money is introduced in England.