Founded in St Petersburg by Catherine the Great in 1764 to provide "educated women, good mothers, useful family and society members":
The post at English Russia doesn't give a date for this or the rest of the photos, but a visit to the original (Russian) site confirms what, from my detailed knowledge of Russian history, I had already surmised: that this dates from before 1917. From 1901, to be precise.
From the Google translation:
In the Smolny Institute on the Constitution adopted in 1856 only daughter of the noble hereditary nobles and high-ranking officials. Parenting was court and aristocratic character. The entire educational system was aimed at to form a girls respect for elders, a sense of gratitude, kindness, cleanliness, frugality, courtesy, patience, diligence, and other virtues. Special attention has been given to the religious, moral, physical, artistic, labor education of girls. Daily life here is simple and monotonous, strict order and discipline. It is appropriate to pay particular attention to the appearance smolyanok [?], which is characterized by simplicity and modesty and do their hair, dressed strictly in form, no variations allowed.
The building itself, the Smolny Institute, was chosen by Lenin as Bolshevik headquarters during the October Revolution in 1917. I imagine the noble maidens were lined up against the wall and shot.
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