Petr
Andreevich Cretan

born in the city of Nizhniy Novgorod, Kostroma province in 1865 . After graduating from the Moscow pedagogical Institute, he in 1890 . arrived in Uglich.

Immediately upon arrival, entered the city school as a teacher of history and Russian literature. Petr Andreevich was an amazing teacher with a unique teaching talent students adored him. In each he could see his own abilities and tried to develop them. The lessons of Crete was extremely interesting, they reigned different atmosphere, remaining in the memory of his pupils for life. Well-known artist-academics P. D. Buchkin, many years later, wrote about his teacher:

"There are people whose memory remains for life. This man was a teacher of history and Russian literature in the Uglich city school Peter A. Cretan. He not only expounded the subject that was being taught but also been able to instill a love for knowledge and study of the subject. The emergence of Petr Andreevich in the class always met with enthusiastic greetings, and the lesson he spent with a special inherent appeal. Pyotr Andreevich was not bad students. All were engaged in with great interest. Don't know the subject, not to prepare the task was considered unacceptable. In addition to classroom studies, he arranged trips to historical places of the city and its surroundings. It is interesting to tell about the town's past, its history, special events, skillfully resurrecting them in vivid images. In our imagination the scenes of the past rose as the living."

In Uglich Pyotr Andreyevich became familiar with the city's philanthropists and public figures and merchants Evreinova and became a frequent and welcome guest in their home.

Not only common interests bound him to Evreinova was here and the reason is of a personal nature. The Cretan was fascinated by the daughter of the house of eighteen, Anna. The passage of time has made a proposal and got consent. May 21, 18 93, at Christ Church took place the wedding of Peter A. and Anna N. Evreinova. In Uglich at the Cretan had three children – the daughter of Zinaida and two sons.

In the house of his new relatives often gathered those who are seriously into the historical past of their region who are worried about the current state of Uglich and its future. Local historians introduced him to the long history of his native city and awakened interest in Uglich antiquities.

Once in the center of public and cultural life of the city at the time, Peter A. was one of the initiators of the mother's cultural circle, which was organized at the house of Evreinov. Its members, and among them was Evreinov, M. P. Chekhov, L. F. Soloviev, the first priority considered opening in the city free library. Cretan very zealous and actively approached this endeavor, he convinced city officials to entrust him with the superintendence of the new "temple of enlightenment".

In September 1896 . he has been given an official appeal signed by mayor N. D. Evreinov. Response Peter A. was as follows: "I Have the honour to inform you that I willingly accept responsibility for Uglich open public library".

The proposal of the municipal authorities was supported by the Yaroslavl Governor is a town Council of 21 November 1896: "...allowed to access in Uglich... the public library... the responsibility... Peter A. Cretan..."

For three years Peter A. with special diligence in fulfilling duties of the Manager, as evidenced by a report to city Council dated September 30, 18 ' 99, which stated: "...brilliant as it is (library – V. K.), in which it is located, owes much to the living part in its activities, Peter A., on his initiative, instituted a petition for readings." Rights their implementation had to achieve three years, they opened in March 1900 ., when the Cretan was not in Uglich.

It is noteworthy that Peter Andreevich was among those who created the Uglich Museum of antiquities. He was a regular participant in all cultural events (performances, musical evenings, concerts), which were held for charitable purposes.

In the summer of 1899 . P. A. Cretan received an offer to join the service in Yaroslavl. On 11 September, it submitted a letter of resignation in which he wrote: "Leaving the city of Uglich for the transition to service in Yaroslavl, I have the honor to request the transfer of responsibility for urban public library."

The eight years of the Cretan in Florida proved very fruitful, as evidenced by the extract from the report of the city Council: "City Council cannot remain silent, that the city of Crete during his more than eight years of teaching service in the city of Uglich enjoyed the special sympathy between the students of urban schools and parents, and mentors them, as a man eminently sociable, active, adventurous... the City Council felt would be quite fair in the case of abandonment of Uglich Peter Cretan to Express to him on behalf of the Duma, a certificate of appreciation for his participation in educational endeavors in the city."

The Uglich people are reluctant to let go of Cretan, and Pyotr Andreevich to leave the city was hard, there were his relatives, disciples, friends, associates. It was in Uglich it had reached a certain artistic maturity, when fully revealed the originality of his talent as a teacher, historian and organizer.

The future life of P. I. of Crete took place in Yaroslavl, where he taught at the commercial College, trade school and other educational institutions. He took an active part in the establishment of Sunday schools for the workers and people's homes.

Upon arrival to Yaroslavl he immediately joined in the work on preparation of celebrating of century of Pushkin, becoming one of the organizers of the city Pushkin library, which subsequently led. Have done a lot of Crete for the formation and development of excursion business in the province, as a member of the Tour and one of the editors of the magazine "Russian tripper".

As a member of the Yaroslavl natural history society and other scientific societies, Peter A. seriously, professionally engaged in history, wrote a lot and published in various publications, including Uglich. Among them should be called "North edge", "Voice", "Yaroslavl lightning", "Bulletin of the Yaroslavl Zemstvo". Last for several years edited by the Cretan.

With regard to the scientific heritage of Pyotr Andreyevich, it should be noted that he is the author of many local history articles, several travel guides-guides to the towns of the Yaroslavl region and one of the best regional monographs published in 1907 . called "Our land. Yaroslavl province. Experience rodinovedenie".

Dead P. A. of Crete in 1922 . in Yaroslavl, where he is buried.

(the author of the Cretan Peter A. (1865-1922) - a teacher, a local historian" - V. A. Kolganova)