Nikolay Petrovich, Count Rumyantsev

Nikolay Petrovich, Count Rumyantsev (born April 3 [April 14, New Style], 1754—died Jan. 13 [Jan. 15], 1826, St. Petersburg, Russia) was a Russian statesman and diplomat who was also a bibliophile and a patron of historiography and voyages of exploration. The Rumyantsev Museum in St. Petersburg, founded to house his collection of books, rare manuscripts, and maps, became the heart of the present Russian State Library, one of the world’s largest such collections.

Rumyantsev was the son of the field marshal Pyotr Aleksandrovich Rumyantsev. Under Emperor Paul I, Nikolay became a senator; under Alexander I, he was director of water communications (1801–09), minister of commerce (1802–11), and president of the state council (from 1810). In diplomatic affairs he served Russia as envoy to the elector of the Rhenish Palatinate (1781–95) and to the German Diet (appointed 1799). As foreign minister (appointed 1808), he worked for closer relations with France; he was so dismayed by Napoleon I’s invasion of Russia (1812) that he suffered an apoplectic stroke and lost his hearing. Subsequently, his influence in the government declined, and he retired in 1814. The Rumyantsev Museum was founded in 1831, five years after his death.