Events from the year 1803 in Russia

• Monarch – Alexander I

• Demidov Lyceum founded in Jaroslavl.
• Mingrelia becomes a Russian subject.

• August 7 - Expedition to accomplish first Russian circumnavigation of the earth begins.
• November 22 - Siege of Ganja begins

• Benzion Judah Berkowitz (d. 1879), Hebrew scholar
• Miron Cherepanov (d. 1849), engineer and inventor
• Alexander Grigorievich Fischer von Waldheim (d. 1884), botanist
• Aleksander Gurilyov (d. 1858), pianist, violinist, and composer
• Gregor von Helmersen (d. 1885), Baltic German geologist
• Evgeniya Maykova (d. 1880), writer and poet
• Vladimir Odoyevsky (d. 1869), philosopher, writer, and music critic
• Nikolai Pavlov (d. 1864), writer, publisher, and editor
• Aleksander Pisarev (d. 1828), playwright and theatre critic
• Serge Poltoratzky (d. 1884), literary scholar and bibliophile
• Yevfimiy Putyatin (d. 1883), admiral
• Vassili Samarsky-Bykhovets (d. 1870), mining engineer
• Yuliya Samoylova (d. 1875), countess
• Gregory Shchurovsky (d. 1884), geologist
• Dmitri Sheremetev (d. 1871), aristocrat
• Dmitry Sontsov (d. 1875), numismatist
• Fyodor Tyutchev (d. 1873), poet and diplomat
• Stepan Vasiliyevich Voyevodsky (d. 1884), admiral, governor of Russian America and Astrakhan
• Nikolay Yazykov (d. 1846), poet

• Ippolit Bogdanovich (b. 1744), poet
• Alexander Dmitriev-Mamonov (b. 1758), lover of Catherine II of Russia
• Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna (b. 1784), daughter of Paul I of Russia
• Pavel Fonvizin (b. 1746), educator, scholar, and writer
• Dmitri Alekseyevich Golitsyn (b. 1728), diplomat, art agent, author, volcanologist, mineralogist
• Gavriil Kamenev (b. 1772), Romantic poet, writer, and translator
• Praskovia Kovalyova-Zhemchugova (b. 1768), opera singer and actress
• Nikolay Lvov (b. 1753), architect, ethnographer, polymath
• Maria Nesselrode (b. 1786), courtier
• Sophia Razumovskaya (b. 1746), courtier
• Kirill Razumovsky (b. 1728), stateman
• Vasily Rodchev (b. 1768), painter
• Xenia of Saint Petersburg, (born c. 1719-1730), Orthodox saint