«Civilization has thrown their nets at the Russian people» (S.M. Soloviyev on Culture and Museum values of medieval Russia)

The article is devoted to the scientific work of outstanding Russian historian Sergeiy Mik-hailovitch Soloviyev. Now we know, that V.O. Klyutchevskiy and G.V. Vernadskiy pointed out that S.M. Soloviyev was the first in Russia who put forward the idea of objective laws governing the historical development of Russia. He described the diversity of Russian life in his writings, and brought many little-known events of Russian history to light. Among the first Soloviyev studied processes of formation of Russian culture in XV-XVI centuries. He wrote about the origin of Russian architecture, book printing, and put them in touch with the increased influence of European culture. He expressed the opinion that the Byzantine Princess Sophia Palaeologus contributed to the European influence in Russia. Reared in Rome, she became the wife of Russian Grand Duke Ivan III and brought an interest in books, monuments of history and architecture to the Russian land. Desire to have contacts with Europe encouraged Russians to learn. S.M. Soloviyev gave a few examples that it was so hard to learn. He told that there were the special methods of teaching. Teachers used folklore, theatre productions, as well as a variety of museum objects. S.M. Soloviyev did not use the term Museum, but actually wrote about the Museum display. He told about the Russian Czars who showed round rarities and valuable items for foreign guests in order to emphasize their wealth and power. We consider that S.M. Soloviyev used his knowledge about collections of the first Russian museum named as Oruzheynaya Palata in his writings. It is known that he was the Director of this Museum in the last years of his life. His descriptions of Tsar's feasts and the exhibitions of precious items are confirmed by data on the composition of the collections of Oruzheynaya Palata. The books about Oruzheynaya Palata, issued in XIX century, contain knowledge of many valuable and rare stuff. Among them, special attention of readers is paid to the technics of XV-XVI centuries, such as clocks, Globes, models of the ships. Also, there were compasses, cases of drawing instruments, pencils, paint boxes, notebooks, in addition to manuscripts and printed books and sheet music. All these items helped Russians to receive education. Not calling the Museum, S.M. Soloviyev has revealed its possibilities in the development of culture, indeed, he showed the museum' role in making Russians familiar with European cultural values.

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