Sophie Lafont

Sophie Lafont

Sophie Lafont (Sophie de Lafont: 1717–1797) was a Russian pedagogue of French descent. She was the principal of the Smolny Institute in Saint Petersburg in 1764–1797. Lafont was the daughter of French Huguenot wine merchant Jean Dubuisson ^[1] who founded the first hotel in the Russian capital and was a poor widow when she was appointed principal in 1764. She was succeeded by Jelizaveta Palmenbach.

A street in Saint Petersburg, Lafonovskaya, was named after her.

References

1. {url=http://wwwfrance.net/vol12reviews/vol12no87brookes.pdf | dateassesed=2013-12-28}