Some New Aspects of Georges Frédéric Parrot's Visions about the Institutional and Architectural Establishment of the University of Tartu in the Early 19th Century.

High regard for the beneficial and transformational aspects of education with a modern curriculum where science would have a leading role constituted a major part of the Enlightenment ideology. The article observes several similarities in the visions of education and architecture of Georges Frédéric Parrot, the first rector of the University of Tartu (historically University of Dorpat), Estonia and those of Thomas Jefferson at the University of Virginia, U.S. Georges Frédéric Parrot worked out the principles of the University statute, essentially differing from those of other universities in the Russian Empire. The University statute demonstrated a radical change in the sphere of academic education with a goal of establishing modern university autonomy or so-called 'scholarly republic', non- existent in this part of Europe at that time. It was the American Thomas Jefferson, who first worded a similar conception of academic freedom and for all strata of the population equal opportunities to receive education. Both, Thomas Jefferson and Georges Frédéric Parrot emphasized the importance of natural science and medicine in university programs as well as the method of raising of the students' morals through their academic environment. The architectural concept of the Universities of Tartu and Virginia, built during the same period, reflects the messages of the Enlightenment era, those of secularization, humanity and intellectual freedom. In both cases the idea to build the University Churches was abandoned, however the main buildings were erected as Temples of Humanity. Likewise, the universities of Virginia and Tartu were under the protection of Minerva, this being also reflected in the symbols of the universities. Georges Frédéric Parrot's and Thomas Jefferson ~ activities serve as a splendid illustration of the potential power of Enlightenment educational ideas to yield similar results while widely separated by space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]