The image of the monarch-mentor in the works of N. V. Gogol

The article explores the religious and political transformation of Gogol's ideas about the “enlightened sovereign”. For the first time, the real phenomena that contributed to the formation of Gogol's concept are covered, in particular, the pedagogical activity of one of Gogol's school teachers, director of the Grammar School of Sciences in Nezhin, I. S. Orlaya; mentorship for women's schools in Russia of their patrons, Empresses Maria Fyodorovna, Elizaveta Alekseevna and Alexandra Fyodorovna; a program of education set before contemporaries by S. S. Uvarov, Minister of Public Education; the article The Empress Maria by P. A. Pletnyov,, published in 1836 in the first issue of Pushkin's Sovremennik . Gogol's ideas about the monarch- teacher manifest themselves in his works. Gogol's reflections on education, on the role of pedagogy in government are compared with the views of A. S. Pushkin, N. V. Pomyalovsky, N. S. Leskov. The autobiographical principle in Gogol's works is revealed, in particular, the influence of the patriotic education in his alma mater - Grammar School of Sciences in Nizhyn - on the creation of the novel “Taras Bulba”.