Academy of Sciences, that was given annually till 1865. Abroad he donated notable sums to the Convent of Sankt Elizabeth in Linz, Austria, Comédie-Française in Paris, the poor of Berlin, the widows and orphans of French soldiers, who died in Africa. He provided the funds needed to complete the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence. The Demidov coat of arms is seen in the facade of the church. Life As the eldest son of Count Nikolai Nikitich Demidov and Baroness Elisabeta Alexandrovna Stroganova, he lived with his father, first in Vienna at the Russian embassy, ​​and then in Paris, where he studied at the presticious Lycée Napoléon, in a six-year course at the high school level. He returned to Russia with his family in 1812 at the age of fourteen. He fought as a young cadet in his father's own privately funded infantry regiment and received his baptism of fire at the battle of Borodino in 1812. After the war he entered the Chevalier Guards regiment. In 1828 he purchased the famous Sancy diamond. He received his regimental discharge in 1831 with the rank of captain, at which time he entered civil service as governor of the province of Kursk. As his illness got worse, in 1834 he entered service in the Ministry of the Exterior as Imperial Master of the Hunt, later State Councillor. He was ill and tired of life at the age of 38, suffering from rheumatism. He was capricious and nervous, demanding in nature like a spoiled child, those who knew him said. Pavel Nikolaievich's father and youngest brother Anatoly had already settled abroad. They gathered art treasures in their castles in France and Italy and set up nursing homes and hospitals. In Russia, this export of property to foreign countries was condemned. The general perception was that his bride Aurora Stjernvall was hoped to persuade her husband to return to Russia and manage his property wisely and for the benefit of his own country and emperor. The younger brother, Anatoly was already considered a hopeless case. He spent a princely life in Paris and in the castle of San Donato near Florence, and had, with his whims and outrage, expelled his wife, Princess Mathilde Bonaparte, and donated money recklessly wherever he choose. In Helsinki on 9 January 1836 Paul married the well-known society beauty and maid-of-honour to Her Majesty the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna,