Year: 1979

Postcard made in the Soviet Union with the site of the fatal duel of M. Lermontov. Mikhail Lermontov (1814-1841) was a famous Russsian writer. He was the second greatest writer of Russia after Alexander Pushkin. In his work there was often a dislike of the Tsar who was supressing the Russian population. This made him not very much loved by the Tsars.In 1837 Tsar Nicholas I banned Mikhail to the Kaukasus. It was in this time Mikhail wrote his masterpiece “A Hero Of Our Time” and he created paintings. Later he was allowed to return to St. Petersburg but in 1840 he was banned yet again after a duel with the son of the French Ambassador. In 1841 he stayed in Pyatigorsk. In Pyatigorsk he had yet another duel, with an officer called Nikolai Martynov.Lermontov allegedly made it known that he was going to shoot into the air. Martynov was the first to shoot and he aimed straight into the heart, killing his opponent on the spot. On July 30 Lermontov was buried, without military honours, thousands of people attending the ceremony.