?
Los rusos contra la leyenda negra: España de Carlos III vista por los diplomáticos de San Petersburgo
In the eighteenth century Russian cultural information on Spain was scarce and came from books of European authors, mainly Protestant, translated into Russian, which had the anti-Hispanic character, based on the "black legend". The "hommes des Lumières" also built the idea of Spain as a country that came to complete decay which would be never overcome. The completely different image was forged by Russian travelers, although they were few. This article deals with the vision of Spain of Russian diplomats, two plenipotentiary ministers of Russia in Madrid, Baron Otto-Magnus Stackelberg (1767 - 1772) and Stepan Zinoviev (1772 - 1794), who collected all kinds of information about the functioning of institutions of the country, government and administration, church and education, justice and aristocracy, portraying the domestic and foreign policy, economics and culture.