Princess Smaranda Sturdza, born Princess Vogoride of Samos
Biography
A man of liberal education, he established in Iași, the Academia Mihăileană, the first University in Romania, a institution of higher education, and the precursor of the University of Iași. He brought scholars from foreign countries to act as teachers, and gave a very powerful stimulus to the educational development of the country.
In 1844 he decreed the emancipation of the Gypsies, which until then had been treated as slaves and owned by the Church or by private landowners; they had been bought and sold in the open market. Mihail also attempted the secularization of monastic establishments, which was carried out by Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza in 1864, and the utilization of their endowments for national purposes.
Mihail quelled the attempted Moldavian Revolution of 1848 without bloodshed by arresting all the few conspirators and expelling them from the country.
He vacationed with his family annually at Baden in Germany. When his and Vogoride's 16-year-old son was killed in Paris in 1863, he erected a Greek Orthodox church in Michaelsberg (Baden-Baden) to serve as his crypt.[3]
Gallery
Commemorative stamp
Bust of Mihail Sturdza in Baden-Baden
The Princely Court of Moldavia during the first half of the 19th century
↑Bica, Anca-Maria. "Mihail Sturza (24 aprilie 1794 – 8 mai 1884)". Radio Renașterea (in Romanian). Retrieved 15 November 2025. Mihail Sturdza vede lumina zilei la data de 24 aprilie 1794 în Iași, fiind fiul renumitului logofăt Grigore Sturdza și al Mariei Calimah.
↑"26 august – nume pe răbojul istoriei". Libertatea Cuvântului (Cernăuți) (in Romanian). 26 August 2025. Retrieved 15 November 2025. Mihail Sturdza (24 aprilie 1794, Iași, Moldova – 8 mai 1884, Paris, în Franța) a fost domnitor al Moldovei între aprilie 1834–iunie 1849.
