Spread of Russian culture abroad. Russian culture abroad. Creative work. All-Russian competition of high school students “Ideas of D.S. Likhachev and the present. history and modernity

Introduction

The main directions of Soviet power in the field of culture

Culture of the Russian Abroad

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

Russian culture itself is a complex and diverse phenomenon. Interacting with both the West and the East, it forms something like a bridge. Its uniqueness is determined by the diversity of geographical areas, political and economic development, centuries-old history.

It is all the more interesting to determine the specifics of Russian culture, which has gone through many difficult stages from the cultures of the East Slavic tribes, Russia as a European state, the period of autocracy, and, finally, entered the regime of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). The study of the culture of the Soviet period is relevant today for the reason that it was mixed and intertwined somewhere firmly, and somewhere not very much, a great many cultures both close to Russian culture and alien to it.

Of even greater interest is the culture of the Russian diaspora in the 1920s and 1930s. 20th century It was a unique occurrence. The Russian diaspora was a common drama and tragedy for the entire Soviet culture of that time. However, it also became the brightest and most impressive page of Soviet culture. A whole stratum of cultural workers who came from the Soviet Union formed abroad. According to the Rodina society, by the beginning of the 21st century. the number of our compatriots abroad was more than 30 million people. Only in the United States then lived about 10 million people.

The degree of development of this issue is sufficient to draw general conclusions and formulate possible trends for future interaction based on the available theoretical material.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the culture of the Russian diaspora.

To achieve this goal, it is necessary to solve the following tasks:

Consider the main directions of Soviet power in the field of culture;

Consider the culture of Russian abroad;

1. The main directions of Soviet power in the field of culture

In the first half of the XX century. there was a formation of a new culture for Russian history - the culture of the new Soviet state.

The first thing to note in this process is that Soviet power has penetrated literally into all areas and spheres of life of this very culture. Everything that was connected with culture was placed strictly "under the control of the party." Culture became both an object and a means of the policy of the Soviet state.

It was stated that there are only two cultures in the world - the proletarian and the bourgeois. At the same time, Marxism-Leninism became the worldview of proletarian culture, expressing the interest of the foundation of the Soviet leadership, namely the Communist Party and its international associations, the International.

The source of the new worldview was the works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels of the second half of the 19th century, which reflected the theoretical basis for such definitions as "scientific socialism" and "dialectical materialism". Here is what V. I. Lenin wrote on this subject: “Marx was the successor and ingenious completion of the three main ideological currents of the 19th century, belonging to the three most advanced countries of mankind: classical German philosophy, classical English political economy and French socialism in connection with the French revolutionary teachings in general."

From now on, everyone who was against the "progressive" proletarian culture became an enemy of the state. Art and culture were to serve the interests of the party and carry out its tasks.

November 1917, the State Commission for Public Education was established. Its function included "serving as a liaison and an assistant to organize sources of material, ideological and moral support for municipal and private, especially labor and class educational institutions on a state scale" .

In June 1918, the People's Commissariat for Education of the RSFSR (Narkompros) was created. After its creation, the commission on public education began to deal with the development of public education.

Since 1921, the Narkompros included the following bodies of education of the Soviet people:

Academic Center;

Organizational center;

Main Department of Social Education and Polytechnic Education of Children under 15 (Glavsotsvos);

Main Directorate of Vocational Polytechnic Schools (from the age of fifteen) and Higher Educational Institutions (Glavprofobr);

Main out-of-school department (Glavpolitprosvet);

Main Directorate of the State Publishing House (Gosizdat);

Council for Education of National Minorities;

Theater Department (TEO);

Film department (Goskino).

The first thing that the State Commission and the People's Commissariat for Education did was to begin the unification of schools and the process of centralizing the network of educational institutions. All schools, from primary to higher, from public to private, were transferred under the control of the People's Commissariat for Education.

In the localities, the departments of public education, which were formed under the executive committees of the Soviets of Workers' and Peasants' Deputies at various levels, began to deal with the affairs of education. Higher schools, however, were not affected.

In 1919, the State Academic Council (SUS) was formed. It became the leading scientific and methodological body of the People's Commissariat for Education, with the help of which the state policy was carried out in the field of everything related to culture.

Further, the Literary and Publishing Department of the People's Commissariat of Education (LITO) was created, which was engaged in publishing. The main goal was to publish Russian classical literature. Then the Fine Arts Department of the People's Commissariat of Education and the Theater Department (TEO) of the People's Commissariat of Education were formed. However, all these bodies were soon reorganized, but did not change the essence of their existence.

Thus, control went beyond all spheres of culture. All representatives of culture were placed under the rigid framework of party interests and control. The strictest censorship was introduced. Its violation was punishable by exile, torture, prisons and camps, thus death. There was a dossier for everyone.

It is logical that only those who praised the Soviet regime enjoyed support. As a rule, these were artists who emphasized their simple, "working" origin.

In 1925, a group was formed called the Russian Association of Proletarian Writers (RAPP), which included, for example, Furmanov, Libedinsky, Kirshon, Fadeev and others. Their goal was to strengthen the communist line, create a working class and working masses. Not without reason, in opposition to such proletarian groups, unions of so-called "free artists" were created, those who did not want control from the party for themselves, since true art and true culture cannot be controlled and artificially distorted.

The most difficult thing for the party was to work with philosophers. As you know, they criticize any government, and there were many questions to the Soviet government. They were not afraid to declare that socialism, built on bayonets, was doomed.

In 1922, many representatives of the creative intelligentsia were summoned to the People's Commissariat of Education, where A. Lunacharsky clearly explained to them the measures that would be applied to "dissenters." So the first to leave the country were N. Berdyaev, N. Losskoy, S. Frank, S. Bulgakov and other artists, scientists, and specialists.

The humanities were especially persecuted. A person as a person was not included in the plans of the new state, he had to remain just a cog in a huge mechanism, which was the Soviet state. Any deviations from the party line were suppressed.

Religion, in turn, was persecuted. Temples and icons were destroyed, representatives of the clergy were sent to prison or to execution. Many cultural monuments of high value were blown up.

At the same time, the Tretyakov Gallery, the Hermitage, Tsarskoe Selo and many cultural attractions of the now Soviet space were nationalized. One of the features of the new culture of the Soviet Union was the establishment of many mass festivities, in which athletes took part without fail, military equipment was used. Since 1922, a radio station began to work, which was designed to imbue the people with the spirit of communism.

So, the culture of the Soviet period was considered within the framework of an idea that can be expressed in the words of the Soviet party leader A. A. Zhdanov: "We must not forget that the USSR is<...>a bulwark of human civilization and culture against the bourgeois disintegration and decay of culture."

This was how the culture of the Soviet state was interpreted and highly appreciated by its leadership, and therefore its control among the masses was carried out literally in all directions, "on all fronts" a battle was fought to strengthen the new Soviet culture. It is not surprising that some of the cultural figures began to go abroad, creating a "culture of the Russian diaspora" there.

2. Culture of Russian Abroad

In the first chapter of our study, we noted the main directions of Soviet power in the field of culture and found out that such supervision and control of the Soviet leadership forced many cultural figures to leave their homeland and travel abroad.

This is how the concept of "Russian abroad" arose. Rather, it is not a geographical concept, as it seems at first glance, but a cultural and historical one. From here we will talk about the fate of Russian migrants, cultural figures, Russian intelligentsia.

In the 20th century, there are at least four main migration flows abroad. The country was leaving a huge cultural and scientific potential. Perhaps it was in this way that they managed to preserve Russian culture, by exporting it for some time abroad, where there was no censorship and strict control of the party?

The Russian diaspora was formed as a generalized image of the first wave from Russia after the 1917 revolution. Thus was formed the so-called "small" Russia, outside the new state. Despite everything, Russian migrants abroad preserved the values ​​of the national Russian culture, the Russian language, the peculiarities of everyday life, holidays and traditions that form Russian culture. In the first wave, about ten million people left the country.

The culture of the Russian diaspora became the basis and source of the new Silver Age. It was a time of creative innovation, raising the problems of the individual, a time of symbolism, the revival of moral ideals and the search for new artistic forms.

At the same time, it was a terrible period, a period in anticipation of some kind of threat and danger, which became quite real with the outbreak of the First World War. This duality left its mark on the further development of Russian culture.

Of course, among the emigrants, there was still hope for a return. Each of them wrote or spoke about the Motherland in his own way, each found something of his own in it. Their works were published abroad, lectures on Russian culture were held, exhibitions and concerts were organized. It should be noted that in the history of world culture, the Russian diaspora played its own, perhaps underestimated, role.

The Russian abroad was represented by I.A. Bunin, A.I. Kuprin, D.S. Merezhkovsky, V.V. Nabokov, G.V. Ivanov, 3.N. Gippius, I.V. Odoevtseva, V.F. Khodasevich, M.I. Tsvetaeva. Their fates were different, but they all wanted to go back to Russia.

Following the writers, philosophers and historians went abroad: N.A. Berdyaev, S.N. Bulgakov, V.A. Ilyin, L.P. Karsavin, N.O. Lossky, P.I. Novgorodtsev, P.A. Sorokin, S.L. Frank. Most of the works of these figures were published, just think, in the 90s of the XX century.

Left the country such artists, composers and artists as I.F. Stravinsky and S.V. Rachmaninov, F.I. Chaliapin, S.M. Lifar, T.P. Karsavina, M.F. Kshesinskaya, D. Balanchine, L.S. Bakst, A.N. Benois, N.S. Goncharova, 3.N. Serebryakova.

The Orthodox Church, banned in the new Soviet state, played its far from the last role abroad. Parishes were created, churches and theological seminaries were built. It seemed as if Russian culture was waiting for time to return to its original native land, from where it had grown.

Examples were the Russian Institute in Berlin, the Russian People's University in Prague, the Institute for Slavic Studies in Paris. Such periodicals as "Modern Notes", "Russian Thought", "New City" were issued abroad, which also contributed to the support of the Russian creative intelligentsia ..I. Kuprin, L. Andreev, I. Shmelev continued their creative activity, but abroad. More than 50 writers who were known in Russia and in other countries of the world ended up in exile. Life in exile was extremely difficult for many: the disorder of life, the lack of a permanent job, the difficulty of publishing works, nostalgia for the Motherland influenced the mood of the creative intelligentsia.

In the Motherland, at that time, the NEP thaw was replaced by a new stage in the struggle for the five-year plan. Writers were required to strictly fulfill party orders, which led to increased censorship of the works of many writers, for example, M. Bulgakov, I. Babel, E. Zamyatin. However, as the historian and publicist P.N. Milyukov, "under extremely difficult circumstances, Russian literature, taken as a whole, has not lost its vitality and internal strength of resistance."

The fate of fine arts is similar to the fate of literature. The most famous artists emigrated: F.A. Malyavin, K.A. Korovin, I.Ya. Bilibin, B.D. Grigoriev, K.A. Somov, A.N. Benois, N.S. Goncharova, N.K. Roerich, I.E. Repin. Those who corresponded to the revolutionary spirit carried out party orders, decorating mass holidays, drawing propaganda posters.

As a rule, these were such movements as futurists, cubists, suprematists. For example, K.S. Malevich, V.E. Tatlin and N. Altman. The art of form ("engineering") becomes the main direction of the new fine arts of the Soviet state.

At the same time, a trend appeared that sought to reconcile classics and modernity, to preserve the color scheme and freshness of landscapes, still lifes, and genre scenes. This, for example, is the work of P.P. Konchalovsky, I.I. Mashkova, A.V. Lentulov.

The new artists wanted to combine realism and impressionism, and this desire fully reflected the spirit of the times and the events that were happening to the country.

However, the ideological turning point of 1928 had a strong impact on all spheres of spiritual life, including the attitude towards the fine arts. It consisted in the demand for the introduction of art into life, the combination of art form and production. The state supported the publication of posters, graphics, applied art, ordered frescoes to decorate buildings.

The architecture is dominated by the style of constructivism, which combined realism (technology, engineering) with functional utilitarianism. The spirit of communism triumphed in residential buildings, and not the family's cozy life and comfort.

Despite everything, as P.N. Milyukov, the process of introducing the masses to creativity continued: "Regardless of the desires of this government, the process of introducing the masses to culture develops further, and its fruits will be felt when the external fetters that bind national life are removed" . Despite government orders, the suppression of creative freedom and self-expression, the historian expresses faith in the strength and spirit of Russian culture.

In the first years of life in emigration, the main task was to restore the normal physical and mental state of refugee children. Many of them lost their parents and families, during the years of civil war and flight abroad they managed to forget what a normal life is. Orphanages, schools with full board, and kindergartens were created in all major centers for the settlement of emigrants. The Zemstvo-City Committee (Zemgor) was engaged in guardianship and organization of a network of school institutions.

From the first days, Russian schools and other educational institutions began to be created in the places of the main resettlement of refugees. Emigration encountered the greatest difficulties in the states bordering Russia - Poland, Romania, and the Baltic countries.

Favorable conditions for the Russian foreign school were created in Yugoslavia. The basis of the emigrant school system was laid by the Kiev and Odessa cadet corps evacuated from Russia, which later united into the Russian cadet corps. The government took over the funding of two Russian gymnasiums. Students were given the opportunity to continue their education in the universities of the Kingdom of the SHS.

Of fundamental importance were the issues of education and upbringing of the younger generation for the Russian diaspora of Western European countries. A fairly wide network of Russian schools was created here, which retained the structure that existed in the educational institutions of pre-revolutionary Russia: an elementary school (parochial, zemstvo), a secondary school (gymnasiums and real schools), higher educational institutions (universities and institutes).

The school curricula included subjects of the local education system, which were usually taught in the language of the country of residence. Lessons were taught in Russian in history, literature, geography, and religion.

The higher school of Russian emigration in Europe was distinguished by a high level of teaching. There were many professors and experienced teachers abroad who sought to use their knowledge and experience. In the 1920s, 8 universities were opened in Paris.

According to the official status and level of education, the Russian departments at the Sorbonne were in the first place, where more than 40 famous professors from Russia taught. There were also Commercial, Russian Polytechnic, Higher Technical. Orthodox theological institutions. A special place among the emigrant universities in Paris was occupied by the Russian Conservatory. S. Rachmaninoff.

By the 30s, the hope of returning to their homeland had disappeared. And if the older generation of emigration still lived on past memories, then the youth, who did not share their illusions, who knew Russia poorly, were preparing for a permanent life abroad.

However, the fruits of upbringing and education could not disappear without a trace, so the new French, Americans, Germans of Russian origin could not become completely natural foreigners. Probably, in this duality lies the tragedy of the younger generation, which the émigré writer V. Varshavsky called "the unnoticed generation."

Once abroad, most scientists sought to continue their professional activities. Some of the Western institutions had traditional scientific ties with Russia since pre-revolutionary times, so the adaptation process for famous Russian scientists was less painful.

Back in 1917-1918. the most active emigre scientists began to form academic groups. The tasks of these groups were multilateral: financial support for scientists, assistance in continuing scientific work, dissemination of knowledge about Russian science and culture abroad, interaction and cooperation with local scientists and organizations.

All the exiles felt longing for old Russia and the old way of life, but this feeling was especially acute for writers, artists, artists, that is, people of a special emotional type.

After leaving Russia, they continued to recognize themselves as representatives of a great culture. The creative elite abroad were convinced that their main goal in exile was to preserve and develop Russian traditions and the Russian language.

In the early 1920s, Berlin was the cultural center of the Russian diaspora. Here, emigration created itself in the image and likeness of old Russia: they went to church, taught children, celebrated traditional holidays, and organized charity evenings.

There were Russian restaurants everywhere - "Strelnya" with the gypsy choir of Prince Golitsyn, "Rasputin", "Tsarevich", "Maxim". From the mid-1920s, a new life in exile began: with no hope of returning. But the desire to preserve the Russian national tradition and culture not only did not disappear, but became even stronger. A real cult of Pushkin developed in the Russian diaspora. Birthday of A.S. Pushkin began to be celebrated as the "Day of Russian Culture".

Well-known public figures took part in the Prague "Days of Russian Culture". Pushkin Days were held in all major cultural centers of emigration until the beginning of the Second World War. Literary almanacs, special editions of newspapers and magazines were published for this event, scientific conferences were held and performances were staged. The concerts featured the music of Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Mussorgsky.

Literary life was quite active until the Second World War. The war turned out to be the frontier through which few managed to pass. The older generation has passed away due to its age.

And the youth had so many material problems that it was not up to creative impulses. Most promising writers were forced to look for more reliable sources of livelihood. Only a few talented names from the post-revolutionary emigration remained in post-war literature.

The emigre press continued the cultural traditions of old Russia. From 1918 to 1932, 1005 periodicals were published in Russian - newspapers, magazines, thematic collections. The main means of disseminating works of fiction and culture in the broad sense of the word were "thick" literary magazines.

Only a few emigrants could buy new books, so most of the publications were purchased with donations from scientific institutions and reading rooms. Books by émigré authors and some Soviet periodicals were in Russian public libraries.

The creative traditions of Russian culture also sought to be preserved and developed by representatives of musical and visual arts. Composers and performing musicians, many opera, ballet and drama productions were widely known in the West. The art of emigrant Russia was easily integrated into the international artistic environment, as it was not limited by the language barrier.

In emigration, many famous artists of the "Silver Age" of Russian culture continued their creative biography. Long-term cooperation within the framework of the "Russian Seasons" helped the artists of the "World of Art" association to quickly adapt to the new conditions of existence.

However, despite the difficult conditions of existence, the culture of foreign countries (literature and music, visual and choreographic art) has become widely known in the West. Creative emigration was able to preserve and develop all the most significant traditions of Russian culture of the "Silver Age" era.

In the 1920s and 1930s, all those trends in the field of culture, science, and social thought continued to exist and enrich themselves in emigration, the development of which in Soviet Russia was artificially interrupted. Russian and world culture was replenished with new masterpieces, a powerful ideological potential was accumulated, which is beginning to be comprehended in modern Russia. Many bright representatives of culture and science of the post-war generation came from the Russian diaspora. Remaining Russians in spirit and language, they managed to contribute to the development of world civilization.

Let us cite as an example the most prominent representatives of the culture of the Russian diaspora. Ivan Alekseevich Bunin (1870-1953). "I come from an old noble family, which gave Russia many prominent figures, both in the field of state and in the field of art, where two poets of the beginning of the century are especially famous: Anna Bunina and Vasily Zhukovsky ... - Bunin wrote in the preface to the French edition of the story "The gentleman from San Francisco" - All my ancestors were connected with the people and with the land.

Bunin's sympathies were turned to the patriarchal past. At the time of the revolution, he entered the guardian of ancient foundations. Resolutely did not accept the Provisional Government, and then the Bolshevik leadership. He called his short stay in Moscow "Cursed Days". Having left Russia (from Russia), in February 1920, Bunin, through Constantinople, Sofia and Belgrade, ended up in Paris, where he settled.

In emigration, as before, Bunin shifts life and death, joy and horror, hope and despair. But nowhere before has the feeling of the frailty and doom of everything that exists - female beauty, happiness, glory, power, appeared with such acuteness in his works. Bunin could not tear himself away from the thought of Russia. No matter how far he lived, Russia was inseparable from him.

Konstantin Dmitrievich Balmont (1867-1942). The father of the future poet was a modest zemstvo figure. The mother, who had a great influence on her son, had broad intellectual interests. Balmont spent a happy childhood in his native estate in the Shuisky district of the Vladimir province. From 1876 to 1884 he studied at the gymnasium in Shuya. But he was expelled: the young man was characterized by populist hobbies.

Graduated from the Vladimir Gymnasium (1886). In the same year he entered the law faculty of Moscow University. However, he was again expelled for participating in student unrest. Twice he tried to continue his education (at the university and the Demidov Lyceum of Yaroslavl) and interrupted his studies himself. He lived an intense inner life, read German, Scandinavian literature, was engaged in translations (P.B. Shelley, E. Poe). In the period 1905-1920. Balmont created a cycle of poems "The Song of the Working Hammer", but did not accept the October Revolution and socialism.

In 1920, with the permission of the Soviet authorities, Balmont went to France for treatment and remained in exile (he died in the Russian House shelter near Paris). Balmont experienced his exile painfully. He wrote: "I live here ghostly, detached from my native. I have not stuck to anything here."

Marina Tsvetaeva (1892-1941) was born into a Moscow professorial family. As a child, due to her mother's illness, Tsvetaeva lived for a long time in Italy, Switzerland, and Germany. Breaks in gymnasium education were replenished by studying in boarding houses in Lausanne and Freiburg. Fluent in French and German. In 1909 she took a course in French literature at the Sorbonne. The beginning of Tsvetaeva's literary activity is connected with the circle of Moscow symbolists. She meets V. Bryusov, the poet Ellis. M. Voloshin had a great influence on her poetic and artistic world.

In 1918-1922. together with her young children, she is in Moscow, while her husband S.Ya. Efron fights in the white army. Since 1922, Tsvetaeva's emigrant existence began: Berlin, Prague, Paris. The constant lack of money, domestic disorder, difficult relations with the Russian emigration, the growing hostility of criticism.

Tsvetaeva suffered greatly from loneliness. “There is no place for me in modern times,” she wrote further: “Until the last minute and at the very last, I believe - and will continue to believe - in Russia!” According to Tsvetaeva, her husband Sergei Efron, daughter and son were eager to go home to Russia. To return, courage and readiness to accept in the Motherland the order that prevailed there was needed. In 1937, Sergei Efron, who became an NKVD agent abroad for the sake of returning to the USSR, being involved in a contract political assassination, fled from France to Moscow. In the summer of 1939, following her husband and daughter Ariadna, Tsvetaeva returned to her homeland with her son Georgy (Mur). In the same year, both the daughter and the husband were arrested (Efron was shot in 1941, Ariadna, after 15 years of repression, was rehabilitated only in 1955)

Tsvetaeva herself could not find housing or work. Her poems were not published. Being evacuated at the beginning of the war, she unsuccessfully tried to get support from writers, and committed suicide.

Russian culture abroad turned out to be the brightest and most impressive page of Soviet culture in the first half of the 20th century. Among those who make up a galaxy of major figures in world culture, our compatriots who lived far from Russia: singer F.I. Chaliapin; composers S. Rachmaninov, A. Glazunov, writers and poets I. Bunin, A. Kuprin, M. Tsvetaeva, K. Balmont, ballerina A. Pavlova, artist K. Korovin. Among the biographies of famous compatriots who lived abroad, an unusual life story of the famous artist N. Roerich stands out. Tragic was the fate of I. Bunin, who lived with memories of that Russia, which was close and understandable to him.

Living most of their lives abroad, many poets could not find peace and solitude in it. The motherland has always been relentless, before our eyes. This is evidenced by their poems, letters, memoirs. The name of Konstantin Balmont was widely known in the literary world. One of the most striking and tragic figures, never understood by the surrounding people, was the poetess Marina Tsvetaeva.

So, Russian culture in the Soviet period, especially at its initial stage, continued to develop, but mostly abroad. Its development was facilitated by Russian migrants - representatives of the creative intelligentsia. New books were written abroad, articles were published, scripts were published, lectures were given and pictures were drawn. All this work done by Russian migrants became possible only thanks to the belief that someday they will return to their native land.

Conclusion

In the course of the study, we completed a number of tasks, namely, we considered such points of our plan as:

The main directions of Soviet power in the field of culture;

Culture of the Russian Abroad;

Thus, the goal of the study was achieved - an analysis of the culture of the Russian abroad was carried out. The culture of the Soviet period is primarily considered within the framework of the system of the totalitarian regime, which was established in the 20-30s of the last century. It was a difficult time for creators accustomed to creating their works freely. Therefore, it was the Soviet period that was marked by such a large-scale departure from the country of the best representatives of all areas and fields of art: writers, philosophers, artists, scientists and public figures.

In the course of our research, we got acquainted with such concepts as "totalitarian culture", "Russian abroad", "philosophical" ships.

We found out that, even being outside the homeland, Russian migrants preserved the values ​​of the national Russian culture, the Russian language, the peculiarities of Russian life, holidays and traditions.

Many of those who opposed the totalitarian regime were expelled from the country, they were not printed, they were unknown to the broad masses. Only during the period of perestroika did people first learn about the work of Bulgakov, Solzhenitsyn, Pasternak, Akhmatova and many other figures and guardians of culture.

An analysis of the period of Soviet culture showed what the culture of the modern, but already post-Soviet, space was built on and where it continues to be rooted, from here you can study it more deeply and objectively.

culture migrant control literary

Bibliography

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Lenin V.I. Karl Marx / V.I. Lenin. - M.: Surf, 1914. - 389 p.

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Anthology on cultural studies. Ed. A.A. Radugin. M.: Center, 1999. - 586 p.

The revival of Russian culture is one of the most urgent problems of our time. It attracted the attention of scientists, publicists, cultural and art workers. A holistic view of the historical path of Russia is still waiting for its researchers. That is why it is so necessary to carefully treat those theoretical concepts that were developed, but undeservedly rejected or forgotten.

The Russian diaspora is not so much a geographical concept as a cultural-historical one, and it characterizes the life and fate of several waves of Russian emigration. During the XX century. there were at least four major emigration flows from Russia. Each wave carried away a huge cultural and scientific potential outside the country, necessitated the preservation of Russian culture and, at the same time, adaptation to a new social environment.

The Russian diaspora arose as a generalized image of the first wave of exodus from Russia after the revolution of 1917 and served as a designation for the “second” or “small” Russia, a set of diasporas of former Russian subjects who settled in different countries. Russians abroad considered it their duty to preserve the foundations and values ​​of national culture, the purity of the Russian language, the peculiarities of the way of life, everyday life, the Orthodox faith, traditional holidays, rituals, ceremonies, national symbols, forms of communication and hospitality, Russian art and literature, folklore and folk crafts , recipes of Russian cuisine.

Of course, each stream of emigration had individual features, differed in its attitude towards Russia, peculiarities of national self-consciousness, reasons for leaving, and the depth of ties with the culture of the abandoned Fatherland.

Especially numerous was the "first wave" of emigration from Russia in the post-revolutionary years. According to the most approximate data, during these years about two million former Russian citizens became exiles, and in total in 1920-1925. there were about 10 million Russians in different countries 1 . Thus, for the first time, the term “Russian abroad” arose. The culture of Russian abroad is the "living water" of the Silver Age. She kept the spiritual source clean, filling it with devoted and sincere love for the Motherland. The Silver Age is a rather arbitrary concept in chronological terms, it covers the period of the end of the 19th century and lasts until the beginning of the First World War.

But this time was so rich in creative innovation in artistic culture, so intense in the search for a new style, that it is quite deservedly called the Silver (following the Golden Age of Pushkin's time). It was the renaissance of lyric poetry, the flowering of symbolism in artistic life, the appeal to the problems of the individual in philosophy, the revival of the ideas of catholicity, the moral ideals of truth, goodness, beauty and wisdom. But along with optimistic faith in the future of Russia, critical moods and tragic premonitions of impending danger, the expectation of the death of culture, prophetic predictions of collapse and crisis were growing. This duality of the Silver Age left its mark on the work of many cultural figures and caused a negative attitude towards them in the Soviet era. Therefore, their works were almost unknown, were under the strict control of ideological censorship. There is still a lot of research work to be done to restore the cultural heritage of Russia in full.

But the Silver Age did not end in 1914-1917, but continued until the end of the 20th century, and thus justified its

1 See more: Doronchenkov A.I. Russian emigration of the "first wave" about the national problems of the abandoned fatherland. SPb., 1997; Russian Abroad. Golden book of emigration. The first third of the XX century: Encyclopedic biographical dictionary. M., 1997; Novikov A. I., Freikman-Khrustaleva N. Emigration and emigrants. SPb., 1995; Raev M. Culture of the Russian Abroad. M., 1995; Aronov A. A. Reproduction of Russian culture in the conditions of emigration (1917-1939): essence, background, results. M., 1999.

title of the century. It owes this century-long duration to the cultural figures of the Russian diaspora, who fulfilled their moral and patriotic duty, preserving and developing the national heritage.

However, this happened outside of Russia, in conditions of forced or voluntary emigration, exile or flight. Among the emigration, hopes for a return remained for a long time, and this was reflected in the mood of the temporary stay abroad, the disorder of life and the “suitcase” lifestyle.

The "first wave" of emigration is literally replete with brilliant talents, magnificent achievements in artistic culture, in the development of philosophy and history, and discoveries in science and technology.

Such a rise in creativity is difficult to rationalize. Meager material conditions, an unusual and sometimes alien social environment in terms of lifestyle and spiritual values, competition and limited opportunities for organizing exhibitions, publications and other forms of cultural activity, it seemed, should have a negative impact on creativity. But the opposite happened. Spiritual life was actively developing, interesting and innovative works of literature were published, exhibitions of artists were held, famous historians and philosophers gave lectures on Russian culture.

Despite all the hardships and trials, the Russian diaspora has played a unique and still underestimated role in the history of world culture.

Even a far from complete enumeration of figures of Russian culture who ended up in exile gives an idea of ​​the intensity of spiritual and intellectual life. World-famous writers found themselves outside of Russia: I. A. Bunin, M. A. Aldanov, B. K. Zaitsev, A. I. Kuprin, D. S. Merezhkovsky, V. V. Nabokov; poets 3. N. Gippius, G. V. Ivanov, I. V. Odoevtseva, V. F. Khodasevich, M. I. Tsvetaeva. Their fates were different. Some aspired to return to Russia, others did not think about it. But for each of them, the most important was creativity, which undoubtedly enriched the history of culture.

In 1922, by decision of the Main Political Directorate (GPU) and the Soviet government, many historians, philosophers, sociologists, and economists were exiled. Among them were N. A. Berdyaev, S. N. Bulgakov, V. A. Ilyin, L. P. Karsavin, N. O. Lossky, P. I. Novgorodtsev, P. A. Sorokin, P. B. Struve , F. A. Stepun, G. P. Fedotov,

S. L. Frank. The historians P. N. Milyukov and A. A. Kizevetter ended up in emigration.

Only in the 1990s. their works, already known throughout the world and translated into many languages, were published in Russia.

Composers I. F. Stravinsky and S. V. Rachmaninov continued their artistic activity in different countries; artists F. I. Chaliapin, S. M. Lifar, T. P. Karsavina, M. F. Kshesinskaya, D. Balanchine; artists L. S. Bakst, A. N. Benois, N. S. Goncharova, Z. N. Serebryakova, V. V. Kandinsky and many others.

The listing of these names makes it possible to imagine the fate of talents, to recreate a picture of the life and work of the Russian intelligentsia abroad, the difficulties and obstacles that they had to overcome, as well as contradictions and disputes, hopes and disappointments - mutual understanding and cooperation, friendly communication and participation in solving problems life and creativity.

Schools of all levels, courses and universities, scientific centers and publishing houses were organized to preserve the traditions of Russian culture, to familiarize the younger generations with the wealth of the Russian language, art and literature, the Orthodox religion, and history.

National traditions were maintained in various genres of art, ballet and art studios, theater and musical societies were created, films were made, literary evenings and philosophical debates were held. The Orthodox Church, which had its own parishes, churches, theological seminaries and theological institutes, played a significant role in the preservation of cultural heritage.

There were many political, military, sports, professional, scientific, educational, charitable societies and associations, Russian houses of arts, libraries; Days of Russian culture, holidays and anniversaries were held.

The Russian Institute was founded in Berlin, the Free Spiritual and Philosophical Academy continued its scientific activity, where N. A. Berdyaev, F. A. Stepun, S. L. Frank lectured.

Until 1938, the Russian People's University operated in Prague to train specialists in various fields of science. The Russian foreign historical archive contributed to the preservation of documents, manuscripts, and letters.

In Paris, in 1919, the Institute of Slavic Studies, the St. Sergius Theological Institute was established, with the support of the YMCA-Press, the journals Pravoslavnaya Mysl and The Way were published. The newspaper "Latest News" was very famous,

the editor-in-chief of which from 1921 to 1940 was the well-known historian P. N. Milyukov.

The magazines and newspapers Sovremennye Zapiski, Russkaya Mysl, Novy Grad also contributed to the support of the intelligentsia's creativity.

The culture of Russia organically includes this powerful intellectual and moral flow, uniting the "two Russias" into one whole. The revival of culture is inextricably linked with the preservation of the historical heritage in full.

Stages of the life path

The fate of the famous historian, publicist, public figure P. N. Milyukov (1859-1943) was complex and controversial. It is in many ways similar to the fate of those who ended up in emigration due to well-known political circumstances, and therefore his name was either not mentioned at all for many decades, or was accompanied by angry denunciations as the leader of the Cadets party, the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Provisional Government.

Under the new social conditions in Russia, one can objectively, and not from a limited class position, evaluate the contribution of P. N. Milyukov to the history of Russian culture.

Pavel Nikolayevich Milyukov was born in Moscow on January 27, 1859 in the family of an architect, teacher at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. The ancient Milyukov family was known in Russia since the 17th century, came from the Tver province, and had great services to the fatherland. Mother belonged to the noble family of the Sultanovs, owned an estate in the Yaroslavl province. Pavel and his younger brother Alexei had mutual friends.

A large home library influenced the interests of the future historian. Milyukov studied at the 1st Moscow gymnasium on Volkhonka, was fond of reading ancient literature, studied European and Russian classics well, composed poetry, played in the school theater. Back in the 7th grade, he wrote an essay on history "On the influence of agriculture on the development of civilization", which was highly appreciated. During these years, he began to study music, played the violin and achieved success.

In 1877, he entered the Faculty of Philology at Moscow University and became interested in a new science - comparative linguistics. This marked the beginning of his research on the history of the world

and national culture, which he was engaged in all his life. The history of the language was presented in close relationship with folklore, mythology, rituals and ceremonies of folk culture. At the seminar, he made a report "On the role of fire in the development of concepts of the afterlife among primitive peoples." This topic is very close to cultural studies.

During these years, Milyukov studied the history of philosophy, read the works of I. Kant, G. Spencer, O. Comte, which later influenced his theoretical views in the study of the history of Russian culture. In the third year, he prefers history studies. This was facilitated by the lectures of remarkable historians: the famous professor S. Solovyov, the young associate professor P. G. Vinogradov, who presented a new look at history. But the historian V. O. Klyuchevsky had a special influence on him, “who overshadowed everyone else with the brilliance of his lectures and the depth of the restructuring of the entire schematism of Russian history” 1 . He possessed an amazing historical intuition, read the meaning of Russian history, taught to experience the psychology of people. V. O. Klyuchevsky held seminaries at his home, introduced students to the library, archaeological excavations. All this determined the choice of Milyukov - to devote himself to the study of the history of Russia.

After graduating in 1882, he was left at the department of history and began to prepare his master's thesis. During these years, he was intensively engaged in self-education, preparing to pass exams in Russian and general history, political economy, prepared lectures and "happily crossed the border from a student to a scientist" 2 .

During these years, along with his scientific work, he taught history at a women's gymnasium (1883-1891), gave lessons at a private school and at the Agricultural College. The financial situation of the family after the death of his father deteriorated significantly, and private lessons had to be given - the money was badly needed. In 1885, he married Anna Sergeevna Smirnova, daughter of the rector of the Trinity-Sergius Theological Academy, a student of the Higher Women's Courses. She shared Milyukov's liberal views and was a devoted and loving friend. Together they lived for fifty years. Contemporaries recalled that their apartment on Zubovsky Boulevard resembled

1 Milyukov P. N. Memories. M., 1991. S. 71

2 Ibid. S. 99.

second-hand bookstore: it had a huge number of books. Milyukov became famous for his book collections. The house was hospitable, there were always many friends in it.

In 1886, he successfully defended his master's thesis on the topic “The State Economy of Russia in the 1st quarter of the 18th century. and reforms of Peter the Great. Milyukov argued that the Europeanization of Russia was not a product of borrowing, but was the inevitable result of the internal evolution of the country, going in line with world history, but delayed by the unfavorable conditions of Russian life. The conclusions were based on a huge archival material. It was during these years that the professional erudition and colossal work capacity of the scientist were formed.

In 1886 he became assistant professor in the department of history at Moscow University and taught special courses in historical geography and historiography. It should be noted Milyukov's amazing oratorical talent, broad education and historical erudition, and the ability to captivate a student audience.

But his influence on students, free-thinking and liberal views, the demand to limit the autocracy by the adoption of the constitution caused a negative reaction from the authorities. In 1895, the police department ordered that Milyukov be removed from any teaching activity due to extreme political unreliability and that the disgraced historian be sent to Ryazan. There he spent two years. At this time, he was intensively engaged in science, collaborated with the editors of the encyclopedic dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron, wrote the book The Main Currents of Russian Historical Thought (1898).

In 1895-1896 Milyukov prepared for publication Essays on the History of Russian Culture, in which he outlined his historical concept. (This work will be discussed in the following sections.)

In 1897, Milyukov received an invitation from Bulgaria with a proposal to head the Department of World History at Sofia University. The commission on the Milyukov case offered him a choice: a one-year prison term in Ufa or deportation abroad for two years. Milyukov preferred to leave and accepted the invitation from Bulgaria.

He lectured very successfully, studied Bulgarian, Modern Greek and Turkish, and became a specialist in Serbian-Bulgarian relations.

In 1899 he returned to Russia, settled near St. Petersburg and immediately found himself in a tense political atmosphere. In 1901, for participating in an illegal meeting dedicated to the memory of the famous

th theorist of revolutionary populism P. L. Lavrov (1823-1900), he was arrested.

During these years, Milyukov gained fame as a historian and received an invitation from the University of Chicago in the United States to lecture on the history of Russia. In 1903-1904. he lectured successfully in Chicago and Boston, and then in London. In 1905 he returned to Moscow, met with many political figures, collaborated with the editors of magazines, participated in the activities of the "Union of Liberation", developed a draft constitution.

In the autumn of 1905, a constitutional-democratic party (the Cadets) was created, led by Milyukov. Then he was elected to the State Duma from Petrograd. He became the leader of the people's freedom faction, a popular speaker.

Political temperament, the ability to analyze the situation broadly and responsibly, created Miliukov's authority in the Russian parliament. He had an exceptional capacity for work, wrote articles, was the editor-in-chief of the Rech newspaper, and gave lectures in the cities of Russia and other countries. He was still fond of playing the violin, loved to improve his dacha, enjoyed spending his free time with children.

In 1916, as part of a parliamentary delegation, he traveled to Sweden, Norway, England, France, Italy, met with the political leaders of these countries.

During the February Revolution of 1917, Milyukov became a member of the Provisional Government and was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs. These historical events were described by him in the book The History of the Second Russian Revolution (1918). He took the October Revolution of 1917 with hostility and left Petrograd for Rostov, and then for Novocherkassk; participated in the creation of the Volunteer Army on the Don. He was the author of a number of important documents that determined the goals and principles of the White movement, supported the rebellion of General Kornilov against the Bolsheviks. These events determined his future life. He went first to London, and then in January 1921 he moved to Paris, where he lived until his death.

In 1926, he published the book Russia at the Turning Point, in which he analyzed the results of the Civil War. He assessed the revolution as a tragic experiment, in the fire of which entire classes collapsed, centuries-old traditions of culture broke off. But he was opposed to armed intervention and violation of Russia's legal right to build a new society. During the years of Nazism, he sympathized

The Soviet army, rejoiced at the victory over fascism, was a supporter of the Resistance. He believed that the social system of Russia, which replaced the autocracy, should outlive itself from within.

In Paris, from March 1921, for 20 years, he was the editor-in-chief of the Latest News newspaper, published in Russian. He united the Russian emigration around her: the future Nobel Prize winner I. Bunin, M. Tsvetaeva, V. Nabokov (Sirin), M. Aldanov, Sasha Cherny, V. Khodasevich, N. Berberova, K. Balmont published their works on the pages of the newspaper , A. Remizov, N. Teffi, B. Zaitsev, G. Ivanov, I. Odoevtseva, A. Benois, S. Volkonsky and many other writers, poets, philosophers, historians.

The celebration of Milyukov's 70th birthday was a big event. More than four hundred people gathered in the hall of the Oceanographic Institute, among them were the ambassadors of the Slavic states, French senators, deputies of parliament, academicians, Russian friends and colleagues. Funds were raised for a new edition of the Essays.

During the years of the occupation of France, Milyukov could accept an invitation from many US universities, of which he was an honorary doctor, and move to America. But he believed in the victory over fascism, wanted to be a "witness to history" and remained in France.

Contemporaries noted that Milyukov was an unusually sincere, highly moral person, a real Russian intellectual.

Throughout his life, Milyukov kept a diary and kept archives. In 1991, his “Memoirs” were published, first published in Paris in 1955. Acquaintance with them helps to recreate the spiritual image of this man who lived a long life full of dramas and tragedies, world recognition and oblivion.

P. N. Milyukov died on March 31, 1943 in the small resort town of Aix-les-Bains near the border with Switzerland. After the war, the coffin was moved to the Batignolles cemetery in Paris and buried next to his wife.

These are just the main milestones of the unusually rich life path of the famous political figure and historian of Russian culture Pavel Nikolaevich Milyukov.

"Essays on the history of Russian culture"

Now let's turn to the concept of the history of Russian culture, set out in Milyukov's fundamental work "Essays on the History of Russian Culture".

The first issues of the Essays began to be printed in 1895-1896. in the journal "The World of God" (published by A. A. Davydov), later renamed "Modern World, a magazine for self-education". This determined the literary style of the Essays. Of no small importance was the fact that the work on them was preceded by a course of lectures. This set the logic for the construction of chapters, the final conclusions for each section. They contain a lot of illustrative material, statistical tables, diagrams that give the study soundness and historical and sociological significance. Each section ends with a solid bibliography, testifying to the author's great historical erudition. In the "Essays" there are many debatable and acute, controversial problems in the study of the history of Russian culture. But the controversy is always sustained in calm intonations. The Essays are written in the best tradition of Russian scientific and historical literature.

Readers can use the new edition of "Essays" 1 (5 parts in 3 volumes), published in Russia in 1993-1995. While in exile in Paris, Milyukov significantly updated the content of the Essays, used the rich material of modern science in order to present a more informed view of the course of the Russian historical process.

In the preface, P. N. Milyukov writes that in the new historical material he did not find a refutation of his previous positions, but found in it a very good illustration of the main provisions and the general idea of ​​his work. Events confirm that there is a process of gradual erasure of random ideological zigzags and a return to the "general lines" of historical laws - concludes P. N. Milyukov.

Summing up the many years of disputes between "Westerners" and "Slavophiles", Miliukov considered it necessary to take advantage of the positive that was in the works of both directions, to achieve their synthesis in comprehending the history of Russian culture. To do this, he turns to the analysis of the "prehistory" of Russia on the basis of a description of data on the geographical environment, anthropological substrate and archaeological features of the life of the Slavs. An idea that combines the features of its own

MilyukovP.N. Essays on the history of Russian culture: In 3 volumes. M, 1993-1995.

difference and similarity, is the concept of "local development of Russian culture" 1 .

He considers this term the most successful, because it combines both elements of Asian identity and undoubted elements of similarity with the European environment. In modern cultural studies, this term is close to the concept of "cultural space", widely used in scientific literature and journalism.

Milyukov was familiar with the positions of the "Eurasians" (N. Trubetskoy, P. Suvchinsky, and others), and although he did not share their views in many respects, from a scientific point of view, he noted the importance of solving the problem of Russia's geopolitical position. The term "local development" was widely used by C. Montesquieu in "The Spirit of Laws", Voltaire in "An Essay on the Morals and Spirit of Nations", I. Herder in "Ideas for the Philosophy of the History of Mankind", F. Ratzel in "Anthropogeography". To this enumeration one could add L. N. Gumilyov, in whose works the concept of “place development” acquired a key meaning for the genesis of an ethnos. Milyukov notes that this term makes it possible to scientifically substantiate the causal relationship between the nature of a given territory and human settlements. Moreover, it would be more correct to speak not about one locality, but about the multitude of territories occupied by the ethnos and about the cultural processes that developed in them and only gradually merged into one organic whole. Using extensive ethnographic, archaeological, linguistic, and anthropological material, Milyukov proves the manifestation of the law of "lateness of historical development" characteristic of the history of Russian culture. This is especially noticeable when analyzing the differences between the countries of Western Europe and the European part of Russia. Even more significant differences in the level of civilizational development can be found in the territories of Siberia and the Far East.

“The application of this method to the study of the “beginning of culture” made it possible for the first time to form a very general, but nonetheless coherent idea of ​​the course of this process on Russian territory,” concludes Milyukov 2 .

The general idea of ​​the Essays is interesting. As Milyukov writes, they should not provide a narrative, but an explanatory history, not a chronological retelling of the events of the past, but an explanation of historical processes in each individual area of ​​life, in their consistent development, preserving their internal tendencies.

1 Ibid. T. 1. S. 66.

2 Ibid. S. 32.

Events, dates of history become only milestones of those deep processes that take place in the spiritual culture of Russia. They are reflected in the history of the organization of social life and in the history of ideas.

i The history of Russian culture is presented not as a narrative, but as an explanatory story, revealing the inner meaning of the era, moods, beliefs, people's worldview, their peculiar mentality.

This approach contributed to the fact that the Essays always felt the pulse of historical time, connecting the past with the present. The history of Russian culture makes it possible to understand the peculiarities of national self-consciousness and national character, the drama of internal contradictions, the intensity of spiritual searches, the inertia of social habits, and the difficulty of accepting innovations. He calls on historians not to confine themselves to listing the "crystallized" products of culture, its petrified forms created by the process of cultural evolution, but to strive to understand the inner impulses of spiritual change.

This requires the development of culture in a broad historical context, where demographic and ethnic processes, economic and state changes, mental preferences and moral norms, artistic tastes and the aesthetics of everyday life are organically combined.

4 The basis of the spirituality of Russian culture is religion: first - paganism, and then - Orthodoxy, but always closely intertwined with each other. The active spirit of culture is found in the free initiative of the human personality, which destroys obsolete forms that have lost their historical meaning and creates new ones.

The first part of the "Essays" presents the historical frame of the building of Russian culture, the House in which the Russian people spend their lives.

A peculiar examination of this House is offered: territorial dimensions, composition and qualitative characteristics of the population, features of its architectural style. Such a description may well be called a spatial model of culture. Based on statistical data on demographic growth from the era of Peter I, when 13 million lived in Russia, until 1897, when the population increased to 129 million, Miliukov concludes that the Russian population is in a period of free growth.

Describing the ethnic portrait of the population of Russia, he convincingly shows its heterogeneous composition, which is in constant historical dynamics. If Europe “sat down in place” by the 8th-9th centuries, then in Russia the movement of tribes and peoples at that time was just beginning:

The diversity of the tribal composition still turns Russia into a living ethnographic museum of various nationalities 1 .

The age-old process of merging various ethnic elements and the formation of the Russian people is still far from over. Milyukov presents a detailed map of the settlement of various peoples on the territory of Russia, explaining the historical ways of migration, fixing the population in certain regions, and developing the natural wealth of the Russian land. The mixed national and ethnic composition determined the territorial and administrative division of Russia into provinces, introduced by Peter I in 1708-1712.

Analyzing the trends in the development of Russia's economic life, Milyukov draws attention to the relatively slow and extensive nature of the changes, the low agricultural culture, determined by the vastness of the territories, the possibility of developing new spaces. The disunity of various parts of Russia was caused by the poor condition of the roads, and this led to difficulties in organizing the internal market, where trade had a caravan and fair character. The industry was predominantly "home-handicraft", although in the 2nd half of the XIX century. the rapid growth of capitalism began, and every year Russia became more and more strengthened at a new stage of economic life, and industrialism was a necessary product of internal development.

In Russia, a process is being intensively carried out that has been going on in the West for almost a thousand years. Milyukov draws attention to the high rate of money, the accumulation of precious metals, the gradual but steady development of the credit system. He attaches particular importance to the formation of the third estate, the development of cities. But due to special economic conditions, the city develops primarily as an administrative and military center. It has always been “fenced” with fortress walls, power and the army were concentrated inside, and artisans and merchants settled around. They made up the second - the settlement - and the third - the settlement - the city "rings", serving the needs of the city.

1 Milyukov P. N. Essays on the history of Russian culture. T. 1.4. 2. P. 37.

State administration acquired a centralized character with insufficient development of civil liberties and political popular representation. All this had an undoubted influence on the formation and specifics of the political culture of Russia. Of interest is the study of the estate system in Russia, its evolution, the positive and negative changes. Milyukov analyzes four periods in the history of the Russian nobility, changes in its relationship with the authorities, the possibility of accumulating wealth and processes of ruin, the spread of education and culture. He notes the difficulty of the survival of the estate, the multiple interruption of cultural continuity. Ivan IV waged a struggle with the titled nobility, ruined many noble families, brought them to the root. For half a century, most of the princely boyar families disappeared, their estates were liquidated. An example This is served by the history of the existence of such ancient aristocratic families as the Golitsyns, Odoevskys, Kurakins, Trubetskoys, Mstislavskys, Kurbskys. Large fortunes in Russia were acquired extremely quickly, but they were also quickly lived. The cost of estates was determined not so much by the size of the territory as by the number of souls. (Recall "Dead Souls" by N.V. Gogol.) The land and its possession were not considered a special value, and a careless attitude to the economy was a tradition of the "serving" class. The spread of credits and secured loans, the sale of estates for debt led to the ruin of the nobility. At the end of the XIX century. only 1/3 of the nobility owned land.

Noting the peculiarities of the development of estates in Russia, Milyukov writes:

In our historical life, there were no conditions for the formation of strongly cohesive estates, in our nobility there was no sense of class unity. In the absence of this corporate spirit, never and nowhere did the privileges of the nobility arise so quickly and did not exist so briefly and were not destroyed as completely as we have 1 .

This position of the upper class, the most enterprising and educated, influenced the nature of the development of culture in Russia. It combined tradition and innovation, inertia and progressiveness, philanthropy and militancy, democracy and parochialism, class isolation and humanistic openness. These contradictory tendencies led to the emergence of two rather polar views on the process of Russia's historical development.

Milyukov P. N. Essays on the history of Russian culture. T. 1. Part 2. S. 292.

The first view is expressed in the position of Slavophilism. It boils down to the fact that "the historical development of the Russian people was, is and will be completely original, original and unlike any other national history" 1 . The Slavophils believed that every nation was called to implement its own national idea, which was connected with the inner properties of the national spirit. The unity of the national idea should also be expressed in the unity of national history, and any borrowing from outside is a distortion of the national idea, a betrayal of the precepts of the ancestors.

Milyukov disagrees with this approach and believes that its revival is a theoretical justification for the impending political reaction. What historical connection exists between subsistence farming, serfdom and the period of development of the new economy and civil equality? Between the historical past of the Russian north and the unusually rapid development of the south, which contributed to the shifting of the center of economic life in just one century?

“Our nationalists,” writes Miliukov, “complained about Peter the Great that he wanted to dress Russia, which had just emerged from infancy, in the costume of an adult: but insisting on maintaining the historical tradition, do they themselves want to preserve at all costs on baby diapers for a young man" 2 .

A different view in assessing the historical process is based on the assertion of the commonality of the historical development of all countries and peoples. The difference lies only in what step of this ladder this or that country/people is on, what is the distance between them. In the future, Russia will continue its evolution and go through the same stages that the West has already passed. P. Ya. Chaadaev and, to some extent, B. S. Solovyov advised Russia to first go through all the stages of European life in order to reach the same level of development of civilization. This position periodically arises in discussions about the historical path of Russia. Echoes of those disputes can be heard in our time.

Which of these two approaches is correct? Does Russia represent a very special type of national development, or is it only on one of the steps that Europe has long gone through? Milyukov believes that both views in their pure form reveal an extreme,

1 Ibid. S. 238.

2 Ibid. S. 296.

when truth is mixed with error, while in everything a measure and a “golden mean” are needed.

There is no doubt that the history and culture of each country is unique, unrepeatable, original, which is their indisputable advantage. But at the same time, in all spheres of life, historical development takes place in Russia in the same direction as in Europe.

This, of course, does not mean absolute coincidence and identity. As, however, in the West, where each state is distinguished by its originality and the reduction of all countries into a common heading has a very conditional and relative meaning.

This makes it possible not only to categorically reject any forms of borrowing, but to accept the most suitable and technically convenient in order to clothe in them the urgent need of this moment in people's life. At the same time, the similarity of Russia with Europe is not a deliberate goal, but only a natural consequence of the search for opportunities to solve emerging problems.

So, Milyukov concludes,

we should not frighten ourselves and others with the fear of an imaginary betrayal of our national tradition. If our past is connected with the present, then it is connected not in the way that an idea is connected with its gradual implementation, but only as a ballast that prevents the idea from being realized and pulls us down, although every day we are getting weaker and weaker.

In addition to the natural course of social evolution, human activity, inspired by ideals, values ​​and based on traditions, is of particular importance. Education from generation to generation passes the baton, creating cultural norms, habits, everyday life, style and way of life. But in the event of drastic social changes, traditions are interrupted, deprived of vital support, and become an obstacle to development.

Continuing the study of the history of Russian culture, Milyukov notes that in the development of culture, both the demographic and ethnic composition of the population, the territorial space, the economic structure, the state and estate system are just the “walls” of a huge building. Undoubtedly, if the foundation is rotten, then the whole frame of the house threatens to collapse, and everyone will die under the rubble. Therefore, the external environment is not just a "wretched husk" that has nothing to do with culture, but it does not exhaust the entire volume of cultural life. Separation of material and spiritual culture leads only to

1 Milyukov P. N. Essays on the history of Russian culture. T. 1.4. 2. S. 297.

logical fallacies in theory and practice. Moreover, the material nature of the economic factor is only apparent, because it always expresses a certain level of people's consciousness, their interests, needs, desires and assessments. But it would also be wrong to ignore this factor, explaining the development of culture only by the peculiarities of the national character and the Russian folk spirit. And although the dispute about what is primary and what is secondary, it would seem, has become obsolete, the old concepts are tenacious and have the ability to be reborn in new forms.

Exploring the features of the development of Russian culture, one can pose the following questions: how did its inhabitants live in this historical “building”? What did they believe in, what did they desire, what did they strive for, how did the conscience and thought of the Russian people develop?

The evolution of the spirit has its own internal regularity. In its essence, it reproduces the same features that this process is characterized in other countries and at other times in history. But along with general characteristics, there is also a national peculiarity that is so important for understanding Russian culture. Milyukov identifies the most significant values ​​that, in his opinion, determine the feelings and thoughts of Russian society.

To this he dedicates the entire II volume of Essays: “Faith. Creation. Education". In accordance with the logic of the study, we can say that we are talking about religion, enlightenment, their evolution in the history of Russian culture, their influence on artistic creativity and the education system, the state of public opinion, and the national identity of Russians.

** The cultural influence of the church and religion was predominant in the historical life of the Russian people, but not unambiguous. Miliukov considers it wrong to neither exaggerate nor underestimate the role of Christianity in Russian culture. t

But at the same time, it is necessary to know the degree of acceptance of faith in society, its prevalence in various social strata. Orthodoxy had its sincere followers. This is evidenced by the chronicles, the lives of the saints, who have preserved to this day a living memory of the spiritual upsurge that engulfed Ancient Russia. "Pechersky Paterik" for a long time remained a favorite book of people's reading. But in the world, behind the monastery fence, Orthodoxy only gradually supplanted paganism. According to A. Khomyakov, Ancient Russia in the period before the Mongol invasion was still pagan, having perceived religious rites only externally.

>> The process of Christianization of the people was very slow, only gradually Russia became a country of numerous churches, bell ringing, church services and rituals, the performance of strict fasts and fervent prayers. Religion turned into an internal state of mind, and faith acquired a national character, became the basis of the national spirit. *

The growing influence of the Church on Russian society is largely connected with the fall of Constantinople, when the fate of Orthodoxy was entrusted to Russia. So there was a legend about Moscow - the Third Rome. The national exaltation of the Russian Church, its independence were not only a spiritual matter, but and political. The Church recognized over itself the supremacy of state power and its patronage. Despite the split, sectarianism and other movements, Orthodoxy acquired the features of the national religious faith of the Russian people. The history of artistic creativity was closely connected with the development of religiosity in society. Milyukov divided the history of Russian literature and art into four periods.

First period characterized by the reproduction and involuntary distortion of samples of temple architecture, iconography, versification received from Byzantium. It corresponded to the external) "perception of religious forms. Only in architecture it ends quite early, and in other areas of artistic creativity it continues until the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th century.

Second period begins in the XVI-XVII centuries, it can be called the period of unconscious folk art. He expressed himself in the veneration of local national characteristics, taken for genuine Christian antiquity. This led to the development of original art when the Christian legend inspired the artist. and influenced religious painting, and architecture experienced the heyday of the national style. However, the Church, which affirmed religious canons and dogmas in the name of the formalism of faith, begins an intensified persecution and strictly condemns the fruits of independent religious creativity. The official faith puts this art too narrowly, and the created situation turns out to be fatal for the further fate of Russian art. At the end of the XVII century. Russian religious formalism was still too strong to give freedom to new tendencies, but also too weak to arouse sympathy in wide circles of society. The Russian soul was still too superficially affected by religious influence. And these circumstances marked the beginning of a new stage.

Third period starts from the 18th century. and is characterized by the strengthening of Western secular influence, which finds fertile ground in Russia. In the shortest possible time, the entire worldview of high Russian society was secularized. Disconnected from its national principles, condemned by the Church, devoid of a religious impulse, rejected by society, Russian art turned out to be receptive to Western models. Everything that was nationally original was called common people, became the property of the lower strata of society. The purpose of high art was largely determined by the need to decorate the environment with exact copies of Western art.

The fourth period(from the end of the 18th to the beginning of the 19th century), is determined by the turn in art to its own national forms, to the expression of the new spiritual needs of Russian society. For literature, the rapprochement with life began earlier, but after it architecture, painting and music were involved in this stream. As soon as attempts at independence were discovered in our art, service to society immediately became the goal of this desire, and the most wide realism.

The histories of Orthodoxy are closely related to each other. and Russian education. This connection in different periods was either strong enough or weakened. There is no doubt that monasteries, church parishes, and later seminaries and theological academies played a huge role in the history of education. The educational activity of the church was the initial impetus for the dissemination of knowledge. But the limited capacity of the church and the growing need for educated people led to the fact that the development of the school was concentrated in the conduct of state power.

There are different points of view regarding the role of education in Ancient Russia. Some admit that at that time literacy was a great rarity. Others hold a different opinion, believing that the spread of literacy was almost universal, the lives of the saints were in every home, and pre-Petrine Russia was familiar with the medieval encyclopedia of "free knowledge". Reliable sources are needed to resolve these disputes.

Already in the XVI century. along with literacy, knowledge of the alphabet and the ability to read, grammar began to be introduced in order to gain "strength in writing." Then followed the dialectic and rhetoric, and all these "verbal subjects" formed the basis of the elementary school, which provides trivial knowledge. The concept of triviality, but in a different sense - pro-

stota, commonness, banality - and is now used in Russian speech.

Then philosophy and theology were added to these subjects. Such a program of "free knowledge" had the Kiev Theological Academy. But the new program met with resistance from the clergy, who believed that the development of reason would become the basis for weakening and even betrayal of faith, would develop exorbitant pride, and therefore it was proposed to exclude the “vile sciences” of Plato and Aristotle from education. Such a position maintained an attitude of suspicion towards knowledge and scholarship and was kept in the public consciousness for quite a long time. However, already in the second half of the XVIII century. resistance to ignorance began to grow, a persistent desire to develop enlightenment. Private schools, home education, and training from specialist masters have become widespread.

Despite various prohibitions, it was not possible to keep enlightenment within the given boundaries. Contacts expanded, new knowledge penetrated, displacing primitive ideas. In 1703, the first arithmetic textbook was published, written by Leonty Magnitsky, a graduate of the Moscow Academy. This textbook taught many generations of young people in Russia. Other mathematical knowledge also spread: geometry (or land surveying), algebra and trigonometry. This expressed the public need for applied knowledge.

Simeon of Polotsk in his work "The Crown of Faith" developed medieval astronomy and astrology, sharing the opinion that the stars influence the fate of people. Already in the time of Peter I, telescopes and other instruments for observing celestial bodies were known in Russia. The telescope is still kept in the Kunstkamera in St. Petersburg. In 1719, the first scientific calendar was published, compiled by Alexei Izvolov. The well-known collection of "monsters and rarities" brought by Peter the Great laid the foundation for museum collections and aroused interest in natural history. Created in 1715, the Kunstkamera had rich mineralogical, botanical, and paleontological collections. All this aroused in Russian society an interest in the study of nature, in the life of the peoples of different countries, and in organizing scientific expeditions. In Russian manuscripts of the XV-XVI centuries. anthropological knowledge of our ancestors is transmitted. A person is arranged according to the model of the "macrocosm" and, like the big world, depends on the four elements that manifest themselves in the characters of people. The concepts of the world and man served as the basis for medical and life-

prescriptions: when and what to eat, what to avoid, what to do. At the end of the XVI century. the first pharmacy opened in Moscow, and the famous book of Vesalius on human anatomy was translated into Russian in 1650. Various historical knowledge was widely spread: chronicles, lives of saints, legends, legends, epics from the life of heroes, Byzantine world chronicles, Greek mythology. A systematic presentation of historical events appeared in the form of a "Chronograph". In 1727, the famous diplomat Prince Kurakin wrote "History", imbued with subtle observations of the life and life of the Russian people. Literature textbooks, primers, educational books of hours, educational hymnal and other publications are widely used. Circulations were also very large for those times: 25-40 thousand for the period from 1678 to 1689 for the 16 million population of Russia. Of particular interest are the ABCs known in manuscripts from the 13th-15th centuries. These are ancient encyclopedias that provide explanations for foreign words, concepts from different fields of knowledge. In the 2nd half of the XVII century. they contain information about various "free wisdom" - dialectics as a doctrine of the universe; rhetoric - the ability to speak, express thoughts; arithmetic, geometry, astronomy.

A review of the most important stages in the history of Russian education in the pre-Petrine era allows us to conclude that since ancient times, society has experienced a deep need for education and the dissemination of knowledge. Ideas about the dense ignorance or total illiteracy of the people are not only unfair, but also distort historical reality.

** Russian society was open to Western influences, had its own traditions of enlightenment and paved the way for rapid changes that began during the period of Peter the Great's reforms and subsequently developed further. The Essays presents a broad panorama of the development of education in Russia, the formation of the intelligentsia, and the impact of education on changing national consciousness and public opinion. .

In the current situation, when the problem of the revival and development of the culture of the peoples of Russia has acquired particular relevance, Milyukov's works on the history of Russian culture make a significant contribution to the formation of the ideals and self-consciousness of the people. The search for spiritual values ​​shared by society, symbols of faith and hope, provides a guideline that allows you to find a way out of the crisis, overcome the disintegration of society, and unite the vitality of the peoples of Russia.

A look at the development of culture in the 1917-1930s.

Let us now turn to the changes and additions that Milyukov introduced in Volume II of the Essays. In the preface "From the Author", written in Paris in 1930, he notes that the last, fifth, edition of the Essays was published in 1916. During this time, many new studies appeared that needed to be included in the text. Therefore, he set the task of bringing the factual presentation of the Essays to the 1930s, covering the period of the post-revolutionary development of Russia, applying to it the scale of historical assessment, and building a bridge from the past to the present. He made significant additions to the history of literature, the Church, iconography, painting, architecture, music, and education.

Such a coherent presentation of facts in Russian appeared for the first time. In total, these additions amounted to at least 300 pages. That is why the second volume of the Essays turned out to be divided into two parts. Having studied the new historical material, Milyukov disagrees with those who argued that the revolution marked the "spiritual death" of the Russian people, persistently looking for evidence to the contrary.

“The historical fabric of culture has not been torn,” writes Miliukov. - One can see the rollback of culture far back, and the past phases of the past only testify to the fact that other successes achieved turned out to be superficial and external. Towards destruction are the beginnings of new creative processes, which, moreover, seek to link themselves with the achievements of the past. And this is proof of the vitality of Russian culture” 1 .

Milyukov changed the construction and structure of the second volume in comparison with the first, wrote new chapters.

In the section "Church and Faith" he outlined the views on Orthodoxy by A. Khomyakov, K. Leontiev, Vl. Solovyov, E. Trubetskoy, S. Bulgakov, P. Florensky, N. Berdyaev, analyzed the activities of the religious and philosophical meetings of D. S. Merezhkovsky and Z. N. Gippius in St. Petersburg.

A new chapter "The Church during the Revolution" has been introduced, which presents the tragic fate of the Orthodox Church in post-revolutionary Russia, the search for a compromise with the authorities, bloody clashes, mass arrests, exiles and executions of clergy, persecution and persecution, attempts to split. The abolition of churches

Milyukov P. N. Essays on the history of Russian culture. T. 2. Part 1. S. 7.

the destruction of churches, including those of artistic and historical value, the public burning of icons, the ban on worship services, religious literature, bell tolling, the disappearance of theological education and the clergy - such was the result of the "five years of godlessness."

Exploring the causes of the changes that have taken place in the sphere of religious life in Russia, Milyukov writes that "the revolution took the Russian church by surprise" 1 . Explaining this situation, he points out that the Orthodox Church in Russia fully supported the autocracy and therefore became involved in politics, became an opponent of the revolution. It was this ideological position of the Church that determined its future fate. The indifference to the religious activities of the Church, widespread in the mass consciousness, was of no small importance. The new government was opposed to religion, declaring it "opium" and deceit, demanding the rejection of religious beliefs. The ideological onslaught of the “five-year plan of godlessness” crushed the church organization in Russia almost to the ground.

The Essays presents the dramatic events that unfolded within the Church, the emergence of groups of "Renovationists" who sought a compromise with the Soviet authorities. The "Living Church" put forward demands for a change in the higher clergy, an end to the confrontation and struggle between the Church and the state. She demanded the dismissal of recalcitrant priests. But such actions and appeals only intensified the persecution. The clergy did not recognize the new church administration, the believers refused to attend the services of the "baiters".

Milyukov writes about three stages of the offensive of power against the Church.

First stage consisted of attempts to corrupt and discredit the Orthodox Church and other religious denominations.

Second stage was associated with the repentance of Patriarch Tikhon and some concessions to the authorities in the legalization of the Church, in the refusal of the latter from political activity. But the death of Patriarch Tikhon in 1925 led to new disagreements.

Third stage(1928-1929) was marked by a direct and open assault on all religious organizations. In 1929, in just six months, 423 churches were closed, and 317 were scheduled for destruction. The clergy were limited in civil rights, the remaining churches were heavily taxed, and the publication of religious literature was prohibited. It seemed that religion and the Church were finished forever.

There. S. 203.

However, Miliukov considers it possible in the future "to return to the past, but with a new store of experience and with a new impetus for internal development" 1 . This prediction turned out to be prophetic.

The relationship of the revolution to literature and art was even more complex, although not as straightforward. But even here, as is well known, the extremes of subjectivism disguised as a "class approach" could not be avoided. Some cultural figures sought to declare art, like religion, "the opium of the people", and there were suggestions that art would die out in the future, when it "saturates life to the fullest".

The revolution significantly changed the conditions and possibilities of literary creativity. In the first decade after the revolution, a significant part of the writers ended up in exile. I. A. Bunin

A. I. Kuprin, L. Andreev, I. Shmelev continued their creative activity, but abroad. More than 50 writers known in Russia and other countries ended up in exile. Life in exile was very difficult for many: unsettled and unaccustomed living conditions, the lack of a permanent job, the difficulty of publishing works, nostalgia for the lost Russia had an impact on mood and reduced creative possibilities.

Miliukov associated a new stage in the development of literature with the activities of a group of young writers called the Serapion Brothers. This association was joined by L. N. Lunts, N. Nikitin, M. Zoshchenko,

B. Kaverin, Vs. Ivanov, K. Fedin, N. Tikhonov, M. Slonimsky. Among them were many who subsequently gained fame not only in the USSR, but throughout the world.

"Few managed to remain on neutral positions in those years when the rule of martial law came into force on both sides of the barricade: whoever is not with us is against us," concludes Milyukov 2 .

The period of the "NEP thaw" soon came to an end, and a new stage came to replace it, requiring the writer to directly participate "in the struggle for the five-year plan", to fulfill the party order. This led to increased censorship of the works of many writers: M. Bulgakov, I. Babel, E. Zamyatin, B. Pilnyak, and others. An extremely tense and unstable situation has developed in literature. But, as Milyukov notes, even in these "extremely difficult circumstances, Russian literature, taken as a whole, has not lost its vitality and internal strength of resistance."

1 Milyukov P. N. Essays on the history of Russian culture. T. 2. Part 1. S. 260.

2 Ibid. S. 372.

The trends in the development of Russian literature in the post-revolutionary period are reflected in a new chapter - "Literature of the Revolution and the Return to Realism" 1 .

The fate of fine arts is in many ways similar to the fate of literature. The most famous artists emigrated abroad: F. A. Malyavin, K. A. Korovin, I. Ya. Bilibin, S. Yu. Sudeikin, B. D. Grigoriev, K. A. Somov, M. V. Dobuzhinsky , A. N. Benois, N. S. Goncharova, M. F. Larionov, Z. N. Serebriakova, N. K. Roerich, I. E. Repin. They continued to work, but outside the homeland. The extreme left movements of the Futurists, Cubists, and Suprematists are more in line with the revolutionary spirit. K. S. Malevich, V. E. Tatlin, N. Altman receive orders for the design of mass revolutionary holidays. "The collective man-machine becomes the slogan not only of Soviet statehood, but also of Soviet culture" 2 . In the visual arts, the psychological subtleties of the plot, emotional experiences are rejected. The main direction is "engineering", the art of form.

However, these positions were soon criticized for formalism, and they were replaced by an order for "heroic realism", reflecting the working days and exploits of the workers. Along with this, a trend appeared that wanted to reconcile the classics and modernity, to preserve the color scheme, sunshine and freshness of landscapes, still lifes, and genre scenes. Such was the work of P. P. Konchalovsky, I. I. Mashkov, A. V. Lentulov, A. A. Osmerkin and other artists of Soviet Russia.

The main feature of this period is the gradual convergence of various trends in the visual arts. Talented artists appear - A. Deineka, Yu. Pimenov - striving to organically combine realism and impressionism. In Miliukov's opinion, if events in the country were to develop more calmly, this process of mutual adaptation would turn out to be the leading one.

But the ideological turning point of 1928 had an impact on all processes of spiritual life, including the attitude towards the fine arts. It consisted in the demand for the introduction of art into life, the combination of art form and production. State support is given to posters, graphics, applied arts, and frescoes for decorating buildings. Style prevails in architecture

1 Ibid. pp. 355-394.

2 Ibid. S. 101.

constructivism, combining the rationalism of technology and the utilitarianism of the functional purpose. In residential buildings, the architect had to reflect not the ideals of family comfort, but the spirit of communal life and communication.

Milyukov admits that, despite the excessive subordination of art to ideology, during this period the new government contributed to the democratization of culture. It opened the valves of social and artistic activity, awakened the initiative, changed the self-consciousness of the people.

“Regardless of the desires of this power, the process of introducing the masses to culture develops further, and its fruits will be felt when the external fetters binding national life are removed,” concludes Milyukov 1 .

He expresses concern about the restriction of freedom

creativity by social order, foresees the possibility of repression

1 for disobedience, disregard for creative individuality

artist. But he believes in the mighty spiritual forces of the Russian people,

through which all difficulties will be overcome.

1 Milyukov P. N. Essays on the history of Russian culture. T. 2. Part 2. S. 480.

The uniqueness of the culture of each nation is not only its hallmark, but also constitutes the phenomenon of the cultural diversity of human civilization as a whole. The culture of Russia is also an integral part of it.

Russia is a country with a huge cultural heritage and centuries-old cultural traditions. The historical and geographical features of our country contributed to the fact that Russia developed as a state where many cultures coexisted and developed, complementing each other. It is this characteristic feature that makes Russian culture attractive to foreigners who have been trying to comprehend the mysterious “Russian soul” for centuries.

Russia's achievements in literature, music, ballet, theater and fine arts are recognized all over the world.

Russian literature is not only a reflection of the aesthetic, moral and spiritual values ​​of its people, but is distinguished by deep psychologism in the depiction of human characters. The works of A.S. Pushkin, F.M. Dostoevsky, L.N. Tolstoy, A.P. Chekhov, S.A. Yesenin have long become the property of world literature.

Russian classical music gave the world such names as P.I.Tchaikovsky, M.I.Glinka, S.V.Rakhmaninov, I.F.Stravinsky, S.S.Prokofiev, D.D.Shostakovich.

Russian fine art was glorified by many artists, among them V.A. Serov, V.I. Surikov, V.M. Vasnetsov, A.A. Ivanov, K.Z.Malevich, M.Z.Shagal. Their paintings are always welcome participants in international exhibitions.

All over the world, the Russian theater and ballet school enjoys well-deserved prestige and recognition. Many theater and film actors work according to the “K.S. Stanislavsky system”. There are world famous theaters in Russia, such as the Mariinsky Theatre, the Bolshoi and the Maly Theatres. Russian ballet was glorified by G.S.Ulanova, M.M.Plisetskaya, R.Kh.Nureyev, M.N.Baryshnikov. "Russian Seasons", and then "Russian Ballet" by Sergei Diaghilev invariably gathered full houses and was one of the largest events in the world of culture. Such names as F.I. Chaliapin, S.Ya. Lemeshev, G.P. Vishnevskaya are inscribed in the world history of opera.

Since its inception, Russian cinema has been associated with the historical processes taking place in the country and in the world as a whole. Many films have received world awards, such as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Oscar), awards at the Cannes International Film Festival. The films of S.M. Eisenstein "Battleship Potemkin", G.V. Alexandrova "Merry Fellows", I.A. Pyryev "Pig and shepherd", S.F. Bondarchuk "War and Peace", M.K. Kalatozov "The Cranes Are Flying", A.A. Tarkovsky "Solaris", V.V. Menshov “Moscow does not believe in tears”, N.S. Mikhalkov "Burnt by the Sun", P.S. Lungin "Island", A.K. Kotta "Brest Fortress".

One of the activities of Rossotrudnichestvo is the presentation of the cultural heritage of Russia outside its borders, as well as the promotion of international cooperation in the field of culture.

Rossotrudnichestvo supports and implements international projects in the field of culture and art in accordance with the Main Directions of the Policy of the Russian Federation in the field of international cultural and humanitarian cooperation.

The agency has 98 representative offices in 81 countries of the world, whose doors are open to everyone who is actively interested in Russia and Russian culture. On the basis of Russian centers of science and culture, various events are regularly held aimed at popularizing the culture of the peoples of Russia: concerts of Russian folklore, music and dance groups; creative meetings with famous Russian cultural figures; exhibitions of contemporary artists; thematic photo exhibitions of archival materials of Russian museums; film screenings of the latest achievements of national cinematography; performances of Russian theaters for adult and children's audiences.

Rossotrudnichestvo takes an active part in the Cross Years of Russia with foreign countries, and also holds a series of events abroad dedicated to memorable dates in Russian history.