Vissarion Belinsky

Writer, critic, philosopher. Born at the Russian naval fortress of Sveaborg outside Helsinki (1811) in the family of naval physician Grigory Belynsky (1784–1835). Lived on Gryaznaya (now Marat) Street in St Petersburg (1839). Reviewed books and brochures for Notes of the Fatherland (1840–46). Described the lives of the citizens and the historical importance of the city in The Physiology of St Petersburg (1845). Edited The Contemporary (1846). Lived in various parts of St Petersburg, including Bolshoi Prospekt on the Petersburg Side, 11 Mokhovaya Street, 156/53 Maly Prospekt on Vasilyevsky Island, Lopatin House at 68/40 Nevsky Prospekt and the Fyodorov House at 14 River Fontanka Embankment. Spent the last months of his life in an apartment in an unsurviving house on Ligovsky Canal. Died of consumption in St Petersburg and buried at the Volkovo Cemetery (1848).