Larin Gymnasium, the fourth gymnasium of St. Petersburg, was opened in 1836. The initiator of its creation was Count S. S. Uvarov, head of the Ministry of Public Education, who noticed that the three existing gymnasiums were insufficient for the capital. The gymnasium was named in honor of merchant Pyotr Danilovich Larin, as the funds for its organization and partial maintenance were allocated from the capital donated by him during Catherine II's reign and were under the ministry's control. According to the 'Regulation on Larin Gymnasium with a Boarding School', approved on February 6, 1836, the right to enroll was granted to the children of Russian merchants and foreign traders alongside the children of nobles and officials. Among the gymnasium's alumni were chemist Boris Menshutkin, novelist Pyotr Polevoy, architect Nikolai Gakkel, the founder of virology D. I. Ivanovsky, and football coach B. A. Arkadyev.