Albert Etienne de Montémont: Voyages Nouveaux par mer et par terre effectués ou publiés de 1837 a 1847 dans le diverses parties du monde, contenant la description de ces contrées, les moeurs, coutumes, gouvernements, cultes, productions, industrie, commerce, 5 vols., Paris: René 1847, vol. 5 (1847)
Signature: FF 182 4470 raro IV
Figures: Frontispiece; p. 178 (chapter about Prosper Thomas); pp. 242-243 (first pages about Kiev)
Albert Etienne de Montémont (1788–1861), a geographer and a teacher of the general arts, started to travel through Europe upon moving to Britain after the War of the Seventh Coalition (also known as Les Cent-Jours, 1815). He lived and worked there for 15 years as a tutor for a wealthy family.
In 1830, the Ministry of Finance hired him to carry out statistical studies. He was also a freemason and nominated knight of Légion d’Honneur in 1850.
Noteworthy among his widely read works are Universal History of Travels in 47 volumes (1833–1836) and Voyages Nouveaux, characterizing travels he had undertaken or travel accounts he had published between 1837 and 1847.
In the fifth volume, he describes the journeys in Little Russia, from 1838 to 1843, tracing the history of those territories from the 9th century to his own day.
Kyiv’s description derives from Voyage en Russie (or Souvenirs de Russie, 1844) by M. Prosper Thomas (Charles Auguste Prosper, mayor of Remiremont, who died after 1877). He described in detail the city’s districts of Petchersk, Khreshchatyk and Podil, considered small towns. The author delves into a description of the church of St. Nicholas the Traumaturge, but the place of main interest was Lavra Cathedral, a common object of veneration among all Russians. [VC]
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