“Istoricheskaya illustratsia” publishing house has issued a new book of T.A. Bazarova “Russian diplomats at the court of the Ottoman Empire: reports of P.P. Shafirov and M.B. Sheremetev of 1711-1712 (The study and the texts)” (“Russkie diplomaty pri Osmanskom dvore: stateynye spiski P.P. Shafirova i M.B. Sheremeteva 1711-1712 godov (Issledovaniya i teksty)”).
This publication introduces to scholars the main report documents of ambassadors extraordinary and plenipotentiary to Istanbul P.P. Shafirov and M.B. Sheremetev – the so-called “stateynye spiski”. These materials include information not only on the course of negotiations between Russian ambassadors and Turkish officials in 1711-1712, but also about establishment and development of contacts with European diplomats, creation of informants’ network at Istanbul.

The publication of documents is preceded with the study on Russian-Turkish peace talks and everyday life of Russian ambassadors at the capital of the Ottoman Empire.

This book will be of interest to scholars, lecturers and undergraduates and to everyone interested in the history of international relations and Russian diplomacy of the first quarter of the 18^th century.

This publication has been issued with grant support from the Russian Foundation for Humanities (projects №12-01-00193 and №15-01-16058).

On February 16, 2016 at 12.00 grand meeting timed to 80-year anniversary of Saint Petersburg Institute of History of the RAS will take place. It will be held at the Conference hall of the Institute (Saint-Petersburg, Petrozavodskaya str., 7; Chkalovskaya metro station).

Agenda:
11.30-12.00 – registration
12.00-13.00 – salutatory addresses
13.00-14.00 – demonstration of the film “On 80-year anniversary of SPbIH of the RAS”
14.00-14.30 – coffee break
14.30-15.30 – opening and presentation of the exhibitions organized by the Library and by the Archive
15.30-18.00 – visiting to scientific departments and Archive of the Institute

Publication «Archimandrite Antonin (Kapustin). Diary. Years 1851-1855» prepared by L.A. Gerd and K.A. Vach has been issued by the publishing house “Indrik”.
This published diary covers the first years of Antonin’s service in Athens and reflects such events as restoration of the Russian Holy Trinity church, Crimean War and foreign occupation of Athens, the author’s trips to Italy, Peloponnesus, central regions of Greece and to islands of the Archipelago.
The book includes introductory article, name and geographic indexes.
This publication has been issued with grant support from the Russian Foundation for Humanities (projects №11-61-00004, №15-61-01601).

The memoirs of N.N. Pokrovskii “Last at Mariinsky palace: the memoirs of the Minister for Foreign Affairs” edited by S.V. Kulikov and D.N. Shilov have been published in the “Russia in memoirs” book series.
The reader is presented the memoirs compiled not by a statesman but by a “scientist at power” who impartially verified party doctrines by historic experience. N.N. Pokrovskii (1865-1930) was described by his contemporaries as a man of outstanding intellectual, professional and moral qualities. Being lawyer by education and economist by vocation he used to work at different higher (Committee of ministers, Council of ministers, State Council) and central (Ministry of Finance, State Control, Ministry of Foreign Affairs) government institutions, and the pinnacle of his career was a position of the Minister for Foreign Affairs obtained in 1916. Detailed chronicle of the last year of the monarchy, especially of three final days, is supplemented by sharp reference about Nicholas II and members of the Romanovs kin, about tsar dignitaries such as prime minister and members of the Council of ministers, and finally about opposition figures. Pokrovskii was one of the last men to leave the residence of the government (Mariinsky palace) and then he wrote in his memoirs: “I’ve done everything I could…”

Dmitrii Bulanin publishing house issued a three-volume monograph by B.N. Mironov “The Russian Empire: from tradition to modern”.
This monograph is a complex systematic resumptive research on the social history of Russia from the end of the 17^th century till 1917. From the point of view of modernization a wide range of problems, such as colonization, expansion of territory and national issues; demography; social structure of society; urbanization and industrialization; evolution of different social groups; mentality of different classes and their cooperation and relations with the state authorities and monarchy, etc.
The book contains statistic appendix “Russia and the Great Powers in 19^th-20^th centuries”.
The monograph should be of interest for historians, sociologists, economists, political scientists, journalists and everyone interested in the Russian history.

This publication is financially supported by the Federal agency on Press and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation in the frame of Federal purposeful program “The culture of Russia (2012-2018)”

Nestor-Istoria publishing house printed issue 1 (17) of the Transactions of Saint Petersburg Institute of History of the RAS “Monasteries and archbishops’ courts in the documents of 16^th-18^th centuries”.
Issue 1 (17) of the Transactions is dedicated to the history of the Orthodox church of 16^th-18^th centuries and includes the works of institute scholars. The articles of this collection are based mostly on the documents from the church archive funds stored at Scientific and historical archive of SPbIH of the RAS and include publications of the studied sources. In this issue the problems of relations between the Church and the State, everyday monastic and secular life and archbishops’ and monastic archives are scrutinized.

This book could be interesting for historians, scholars and everyone interested in the past of our homeland.

Dear friends!

Administration of Saint Petersburg Institute of History of the RAS cordially congratulates you upon approaching New Year and Christmas! We hope coming year to be productive and won’t be overshadowed by new reforms although such behavior is typical for Red Monkey (symbol of 2016). We really count on your help and support that you provided during this arduous 2015. We would like to wish you success and prosperity, to both you and your relatives to stay self and sound and finally to be optimistic what can guarantee you all listed above! Be healthy, wealthy and wise!