Sophie Stepanovna Chtcherbatova

Princess Sofiya Stepanovna Shcherbatova was a prominent Russian philanthropist, the Dame Chevalier of the Order of Saint Catherine (1822). Princess Shcherbatova was the founder of The Grand Dames Helping the Poor charity which she remained the chairman of till 1876, the Nikolskaya Community, many orphanages and shelters for homeless and elderly people. An heir to the famous Apraksin family, she was greatly interested in literature and arts, kept a fashionable Moscow salon and was a friend of Alexander Pushkin, Pyotr Vyazemsky and Mikhail Lermontov, among others.