Exercises in the private women’s gymnasium of Yevseeva. Gymnasium students in uniform with white collars and caps, as well as two teachers or class mistresses, perhaps, foreigners, can be seen in the photo.

In the early nineteenth century women’s education in private, chiefly closed institutions was spread in Dnieper Ukraine. The main idea was to provide a proper education and knowledge of general subjects for daughters of gentry, merchants, and military officers. The educational process was arranged so as to comprise elements of science, art, and ethics. In this photo one can see an element of a dancing lesson; this is clear due to a characteristic position of the feet, clothes and arrangement of the girls.

There is a ground, paved with split stone, in the yard of the gymnasium located on Oleksandrivska (now Hrushevskoho, Sahaidachnoho and Volodymyrsky Uzviz) street. Behind the group of gymnasium students, there is a wooden pergola, twined round with grape vines or some other climber like ivy or wisteria.

Olga Martyniuk