Awareness of the magnitude and invaluable importance of our compatriot General Oleksii Dmytrov Butovskyi’s creative heritage has led to in-depth studies of his life and activities. In the field of physical education O. D. Butovskyi proved himself as a multifaceted figure, scientist and practitioner: historian, theorist, methodologist, organizer and head of training centers for preparation of specialists in the field of physical education. His works contributed to the formation of scientific foundations of education and his name is rightly among the first national historians, theorists, sociologists of sport. The publication thoroughly highlights and analyzes the most important stages and events of the many-sided life and creative activity of General Oleksii Dmytrovich Butovskyi (1838-1917), not only as a prominent expert in the field of physical education, but as an outstanding figure in the international Olympic movement. Various works of O. D. Butovskyi, including previously unknown to the specialists of physical education and sport, served as a material for these fundamental studies and were published in a 4-volume collection of works. Tremendous contribution of this researcher to the theory and practice of physical education in the troops of the Russian Empire and its military educational institutions, made by him using both his own applied developments and best foreign experience of that time, among which various aspects of physical education systems of Sweden, France and England has been considered and generalized. Oleksii Butovskyi’s contribution to the development of the education and training system in the country’s civic schools was not overlooked as well. The active participation of O. D. Butovskyi in the revival of the Olympic Games in modern conditions and the creation of the international Olympic movement by Pierre de Coubertin and his associates in 1890s have been analyzed. That way, scientific evaluation of the ideas, works and accomplishments of the first member of the International Olympic Committee, O. D. Butovskyi, many of which have been unduly neglected for years was complemented.

В статье всесторонне освещены многогранная жизнь и деятельность нашего выдающегося соотечественника (уроженца Полтавщины) Алексея Дмитриевича Бутовского (1838-1917 гг.), который внес весомый вклад в развитие теории, методики и практики физического воспитания, становление современного олимпийского движения.