The Павловский институт (благородных девиц) - the Pavlovskiy Institute (for wellborn* maidens) or Павловский женский сиротский институт (Pavlovskiy female orphans' institute) was one of ten "female institutes" in St. Petersburg before the Revolution. It was originally founded by Emperor Paul as a military orphanage for both sexes, but the boys were separated in 1829 into the Pavlovskiy Cadet Corps. In 1851 it was housed in a specially built impressive building on Znamenskaya ulitsa 8 (8 Street of the Sign). Today the building houses Гимназия № 209 or Павловская гимназия, Gymnasium or High School nr. 209 or Pavlovskiy Gymnasium with the adress ulitsa Vosstaniya 8A (8A Street of the Uprising) two blocks north of the east end of Nevsky Prospekt.
The secluded life of the павлушки (
pavlushki, i.e. more or less "paulines", the институтки or institute girls at this particular institution) is well documented in the books (like "Записки институтки" - Notes of an institutka, published in 1901) of actress and author Lidiya Alekseyevna Charskaya, who attended the Pavlovskiy Institute from 1886 to 1893.
Historical picturesThe building today.* The girls were daughters of military officers in the Table of Ranks who were technically noble (service nobility), but often poor compared to the landed and titled nobility. The girls were educated with the goal of preparing them to earn a living as governesses.
I translated these titbits (with Google Translate) from this site, which has much more information on the institution:
http://www.grad-petrov.ru/broadcast/pavlovskij-institut-blagorodnyh-dev/
