Peter the Great’s Books
- Interview with Olga Medvedkova — Directrice de recherche — CNRS (Centre Jean Pépin)
Wladimir Berelowitch — Directeur d'études — EHESS (CERCEC)
Annotated, underlined, commented: Peter the Great’s 286 private books shaped a proper working library. This collection is not only an exceptional textual resource; it also presents an iconographic interest. As an amateur of arts, sciences and architecture, the Tsar acquired a lot of books adorned with engravings from all over Europe. A team, led by Olga Medvedkova, reconstituted this fragmented corpus by elaborating a catalogue raisonné. This project subscribes to a new historiographical trend that tends towards a demystification of Peter the Great, seen sometimes as an enlightened reformer and others as a tyrant. This project is a way to study circulations and cultural transfers between Europe and Russia, far from a simplistic vision of the Russian Europeanization.
Summary
A new historiographical project, led by Olga Medvedkova, enrichs political and cultural history of the Russian empire through the study of Peter the Great’s books collection.
Last modified on 04-11-2018
Original language: English Lire la version French
- Biography
- Bibliography of Olga Medvedkova
Olga Medvedkova, Pierre le Grand et ses livres. Les arts et les sciences de l'Europe dans la bibliothèque du Tsar, Paris, Respublica Literaria, Alain Baudry et Cie, 2016.
Olga Medvedkova, “La référence romaine dans la bibliothèque de Pierre le Grand”, Cahiers du monde russe, n° 51-1, 2010, p. 65-70.
Olga Medvedkova, Jean-Baptiste Alexandre Le Blond, architecte 1679-1719 - De Paris à Saint-Pétersbourg, Paris, Alain Baudry & Cie, 2007.
Olga Medvedkova, “La bibliothèque d’architecture de Pierre le Grand”, Cahiers du Monde Russe, n° 47-3, 2006, p. 467-502.
Olga Medvedkova, Wladimir Berelowitch, Histoire de Saint-Pétersbourg, Paris, Fayard, 1996.
