Ivan Shuvalov and Mikhail Lomonosov promoted the idea of a university in Moscow, and Russian Empress Elizabeth decreed its establishment on 23 January [O.S. 12 January] 1755.
The first lectures were given on 7 May [O.S. 26 April] 1755.
Russians still celebrate 25 January as Students' Day. (
Foundation of the University is traditionally associated with the feast of Saint Tatiana, celebrated by the Russian Orthodox Church on 12 January Julian, which corresponds to 25 January Gregorian in the 20th–21st centuries.)

The present Moscow State University originally occupied the «Aptekarskij dom» on Red Square from 1755 to 1787.

Catherine the Great transferred the University to a Neoclassical building on the other side of Mokhovaya Street; that main building was constructed between 1782 and 1793 in the Neo-Palladian style, to a design by Matvei Kazakov, and rebuilt by Domenico Giliardi after the fire consumed much of Moscow in 1812.

In the 18th century, the University had three departments:  philosophy, medicine, and law.
A preparatory college was affiliated with the University until its abolition in 1812.
In 1779, Mikhail Kheraskov founded a boarding school for noblemen (Благородный пансион) which in 1830 became a gymnasium for the Russian nobility.
 The university press, run by Nikolay Novikov in the 1780s, published the most popular newspaper in Imperial Russia:  Moskovskie Vedomosti.
Ivan Shuvalov and Mikhail Lomonosov promoted the idea of a university in Moscow, and Russian Empress Elizabeth decreed its establishment on 23 January [O.S. 12 January] 1755. The first lectures were given on 7 May [O.S. 26 April] 1755. Russians still celebrate 25 January as Students' Day. (Foundation of the University is traditionally associated with the feast of Saint Tatiana, celebrated by the Russian Orthodox Church on 12 January Julian, which corresponds to 25 January Gregorian in the 20th–21st centuries.)
The present Moscow State University originally occupied the «Aptekarskij dom» on Red Square from 1755 to 1787.
Catherine the Great transferred the University to a Neoclassical building on the other side of Mokhovaya Street; that main building was constructed between 1782 and 1793 in the Neo-Palladian style, to a design by Matvei Kazakov, and rebuilt by Domenico Giliardi after the fire consumed much of Moscow in 1812.
In the 18th century, the University had three departments:  philosophy, medicine, and law. A preparatory college was affiliated with the University until its abolition in 1812. In 1779, Mikhail Kheraskov founded a boarding school for noblemen (Благородный пансион) which in 1830 became a gymnasium for the Russian nobility.  The university press, run by Nikolay Novikov in the 1780s, published the most popular newspaper in Imperial Russia:  Moskovskie Vedomosti.
Imperial Moscow University