In the first quarter of the 18th century, types of documents appeared that were unknown to the pre-Petrine era, and printing technologies began to be actively used. Samples of such documents from eight collections of the Scientific and Historical Archive of St. Petersburg Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences which chronologically cover almost the entire Petrine era, are presented at the exhibition “Handwriting of the Empire” in Omsk Regional Museum of Fine Arts named after M.A. Vrubel. In total, fifteen original documents of the late 17th – first quarter of the 18th century (charter letters, patents for ranks, diplomas, travel letters) will be presented, “visualizing” the new image of Russia. Almost all of them have the personal signature of Peter the Great or Chancellor G.I. Golovkin and are certified by the state seal. The documents will be shown to the Omsk audience for the first time. Most of them have never been exhibited: only two documents from the collection of N.P. Likhachev previously took part in the exhibition of the State Hermitage Museum (2012). As part of the preparation of the project, the employees of St. Petersburg Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences have done a lot of scientific and scientific restoration work.

The opening of the exhibition took place on June 9, the birthday of Peter the Great.

The solemn ceremony was attended by the Deputy Director for External and Public Relations of St. Petersburg Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences Doctor of History Yulia Zorakhovna Kantor, and curator of the exhibition, head of the Scientific and Historical Archive and Source Research Group of St. Petersburg Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences Cand.Sc. in History Tatyana Anatolyevna Bazarova.