Alexander Radishev (1749-1802)

The author of a revolutionary book ‘A Journey from St.-Petersburg to Moscow’ published in 1790 spent six months in Tobolsk on his way to the Ilyim burg for his exile.

First Radishev was sentenced to death, but later was exiled for ten years to Siberia. In December 1790 Radishev arrived in Tobolsk. His initial impression of the town devastated by the fire was distressing. He wrote: ‘Hardly having arrived here, I seemed to read on the faces of the inhabitants the words of Dante ‘leave hope those entering here’.

Though he got in close contacts with progressive minded local people, his state of mind was gloomy. In March 1791 the sister of his late wife Elizaveta Rubanovskaya with his children arrived in Tobolsk and stayed with Radishev till the end of his exile. She was a well-educated woman, and anticipated for 50 years the deed of the Decembrists’ wives who followed their husbands to Siberia. Radishev got interested in the history and establishment of Tobolsk, and would attend the Tobolsk theatre. Travel notes and stories written by Radishev contained a lot of precious data on the life in Tobolsk at that time.

After the death of Ekaterina II Radishev was allowed to come back to live in the European part of Russia. In 1797, on his return trip from Ilyimsk, Elizaveta Rubanovskaya, who was the civil wife of Radishev, died in Tobolsk. Later Radishev wrote: ‘This town will for ever have attraction for me.’