Alexander Benckendorff personified all the negative aspects of Nikolayev Russia – the "Strangler" of the Decembrists, the culprit of the tragic fate of Pushkin and Lermontov, the persecutor of enlightenment and freedom. But when you look at the details of the life of the first chief of gendarmes of the Russian Empire, you can't help but find a far from unambiguous, not "flat" personality behind the dry facts. A well-born ostseer, close to influential court circles, "flesh and blood dynastic", Benckendorff was a lively and impressionable man. The hero of love novels full of brilliance, a brave and talented cavalry General, a hero of the war of 1812 and foreign campaigns, he became the creator of a unique secret police, designed to strengthen the foundations of patriarchal state, became the closest friend and adviser of the Emperor Nicholas I, one of the central figures of the Russian political system of 1820-1840s.

The book includes memoirs, works on Russian literature of the XVIII – XX centuries and on theory of literature, publications of archival materials and is dedicated to the memory of Anna Ivanovna Zhuravleva (1938-2009) – a historian of Russian literature, Professor at Moscow University. The authors of the collection are colleagues and students of Anna Ivanovna and her husband, the poet Vs.N. Nekrasov.

Critical catalogue of french paintings from the collection of museum-palace "Arkhanghelskoie". Reconstruction of collection of french paintings of N.B.Yusupov (1750-1831).

Exhibition catalogue of French paintings from the colection of the museum-palace "Arkhangelskoie" with introductory article.