For a long time, there was a legend that some ignorant young man from high society recognized himself in the main character of the play Young Ignoramus by Denis Fonvizin felt ashamed and started studying fervently. As a result, he achieved a high level of erudition and assumed several high positions in the Russian state. People claimed, with barely any hesitation, that the man was Alexei Olenin, but that is not true. Alexei Olenin studied diligently in Russia and abroad. At 22, he became member of the Russian Academy for creating The Dictionary of Ancient Russian Military Sayings. For 30 years, he was director of the Imperial Public Library, and for 25 years, he was president of the Imperial Academy of Arts. He was a historian, an archaeologist, an artist, the owner of a famous salon, a privy councilor, a state secretary and a member of State Council of Russia – and the father of Anna Olenina to whom Alexander Pushkin dedicated his famous verse: “I loved you, and that love to die refusing…”