Before you is the life story of our compatriot, a sailor and patriot, scientist and naval commander, who from childhood connected his life with the Russian Navy. In 1774 he was sent to England for three years to improve his skills in maritime affairs. This determined his political and economic views. Liberal. A polyglot who speaks six languages. He was revered by the Russian Socrates, Cicero, Cato and Seneca, according to memoirist Philip Wiegel. By the time of his trip to the Mediterranean Sea, Mordvinov was already a great connoisseur of painting; in Livorno, where paintings from the collections of ruined noble families were sold, he collected a large collection, mainly of paintings from the 14th–15th centuries, which was recognized as one of the best of its time. Mordvinov was one of the largest landowners in Russia. Mordvinov’s estates included the entire Baydar Valley, one of the most productive regions of Crimea. Part of the Sudak and Yalta valleys. Nikolai Mordvinov introduced the latest agricultural technologies on his estates. machines and agricultural technologies production, engaged in winemaking. One of his most revolutionary ideas was the gradual elimination of serfdom by the peasants buying out personal freedom without land. Mordvinov intended to establish political freedoms in Russia by creating a wealthy aristocracy by distributing state-owned estates to the nobles and by granting this aristocracy political rights. Mordvinov enjoyed great respect among the Decembrists. In the event of a successful coup, the conspirators predicted Speransky to become the first president of the republic, and Mordvinov was to become a member of the highest governing body of the state. He was the only member of the Supreme Criminal Court in 1826 who refused to sign the death warrant for the Decembrists, although he condemned their methods. He took a personal part in the fate of Kondraty Ryleev, whom he hired to serve in the Russian-American company. The bay in the Sea of Okhotsk was named after Mordvinov by Ivan Kruzenshtern, in the organization of whose trip the admiral actively participated. Mordvinov's son Alexander (1798–1858) became a famous artist. His name and deeds are undeservedly forgotten by his descendants.