Nikolay Bestuzhev

Nikolay Alexandrovich Bestuzhev (Russian: Николай Александрович Бестужев; (13 April 1791, Saint Petersburg - 27 May 1855, Novoselenginsk) was a Russian Navy officer, writer, inventor and portrait artist; associated with the Decembrist revolt.

He was born to a noble family. His father, Alexander, was a writer and government councilor. His brothers, Alexander, Mikhail, Pyotr, and Pavel were also writers, military officers and Decembrists.

He entered the Sea Cadet Corps school in 1802 and graduated in 1809. While there, he audited classes taught by Andrey Voronikhin at the Imperial Academy of Arts. In 1810, he became a Lieutenant in the Corps. In 1815, he participated in naval actions in the Netherlands. He was appointed an Assistant Superintendent for the Baltic lighthouse in Kronstadt in 1820. Two years later, he reorganized the lithography department at the Admiralty, for which he was awarded the Order of Saint Vladimir, and began writing a history of the fleet.

In 1824, he was promoted to Lieutenant-Commander and, shortly after, was named Director of the Admiralty's museum, where he was known as "The Mummy". During this time he also contributed to the journals Polar Star (edited by his brother, Alexander) and Syn otechestva. He also served with the Bureau of Censorship and, in 1825, became a member of the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of the Arts.

These achievements were short-lived, however. Since 1824, he had been a member of "North", a secret society headed by Kondraty Ryleyev, and had written a "Manifesto to the Russian People". Following the Decembrist riot on Peter's Square, during which he led a unit of rebellious guardsmen, he went into hiding but was found and arrested. He was taken to the Peter and Paul Fortress and, on July 10, 1826, was convicted of engaging in subversive activities and mutiny. He was sentenced to katorga (hard labor) for life.

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