in the service until 1824. That same year he became a member of the Governing Senate and a member of the General Board of Educational Institutions (Главное училищ правление). In the 1820s, Ivan Muravyov-Apostol's liberal views on certain issues received much public attention and gained him prominence. For example, he made a stand for Vasili Popov, the director of the Department of Public Education, who had taken part in the translation of a mystical book by Johannes Gossner banned in Russia. Also, Ivan Muravyov-Apostol asserted the right of universities and professors to make use of books disregarding the official censorship. He stood for the teaching of philosophy at the universities, contravening the official stance of a powerful statesman, Mikhail Magnitsky, who had been overseeing the educational affairs at that time. In 1826, the family of Ivan Muravyov-Apostol suffered through an immense tragedy. After the suppression of the Decembrist Revolt, his youngest son Ippolit Muravyov-Apostol shot himself, not wanting to surrender to the authorities. His older son Sergey Muravyov-Apostol was hanged with four other leading Decembrists. His oldest son Matvey Muravyov-Apostol was sentenced to 15 years of katorga, which would later be changed to exile in Siberia. Ivan Muravyov-Apostol left the service after the revolt and was then officially discharged in May 1826. He was registered as an "absent" senator up until 1847, all that time living mainly in Vienna and Florence. Ivan Muravyov-Apostol's name completely disappeared from the mainstream Russian press from 1826 until the late 1850s (even though he returned to Russia in the 1840s). Ivan Muravyov-Apostol died in Saint Petersburg in March 1851 and was interred at the Georgiyevskoye Cemetery. Ivan Muravyov-Apostol is also known to have been a litterateur. He participated in the proceedings of a literary club called Conversations of the Admirers of the Russian Language ("Беседы любителей русского слова"). Also, Ivan Muravyov-Apostol was a member of the Free Society of the Admirers of the Russian Literature (Вольное общество любителей российской словесности). He was an active member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (since 1811) and honorary member of Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Ivan Muravyov-Apostol's most significant work was a book called Journey Across the Tauride in 1820. It contains valuable information on archaeology, flora and fauna of the Crimea, unique features of urban, rural and monastic life of this region, and colorful depictions of its customs. According to testimonies of Ivan Muravyov-Apostol's contemporaries (such