Presentation of the Russian program The Way of Peter the Great

17 February 2009 in the Menshikov Palace the Russian program The Way of Peter the Great was presented.

The aim of the Russian program The Way of Peter the Great is strengthening the Russian statehood and contribution to integration of the small and big Russian cities which were founded by Peter I or are historically connected to his activities.

The central event of the program will be the International Peter’s Cities Congress which will take place in May 2009 in St. Petersburg. In many regions special conferences, exhibitions, seminars, round-table discussions devoted to the role of Peter I in the region’s history will be organized. A big work on creation of a list of Peter’s historical-memorial monuments and relicts in Russia and Europe will begin.

The vice-governor of St.Petersburg Alla Manilova, the Chairman of Board of the International Charity Fund after the name of Dmitry Likhachev Daniil Granin and the Director of the State Hermitage Museum Mikhail Piotrovsky told about the program The Way of Peter the Great supported by the President of the Russian Federation and St. Petersburg’s Administration.

On the same day a two-volume study of the historians Dmitry and Irina Guzevitch on the Great Embassy of Peter I printed by Dmitry Bulanin and Fenix publishing houses under the auspices of the St. Petersburg Committee for Press and Mass-Media Cooperation was presented. These books are the result of the 10-year work; today they are the fullest pantology of the Great Embassy of Peter I.

The Great Embassy is the famous Russian diplomatic mission to Europe which took place in 1697-1698 and consisted of many people. The Tsar himself took part in the mission under the name of Peter Mikhailov, the volunteer’s foreman - he went to study shipbuilding, artillery and other crafts.

Guzevitch D. Yu., Guzevitch I.D. The Great Embassy: On the Border of Epochs of The Beginning of the Way: 1697–1698. St.Petersburg., Dmitry Bulanin publishing house, 2008 (696 p.)

The study is based on the ample source base including the materials collected by the authors in 2006 during their trip on the Great Embassy’s itinerary. The Great Embassy is viewed as a grand campaign on knowledge transition form Europe to Russia. In the monograph a detailed study of the diplomatic aspect of the activity is presented, little-known topics such as The Embassy and women, The Embassy and espionage are discussed. The authors come to the conclusion that the Great Embassy was an all-Europe scale event which diplomatically finished the 17th century and opened the new one.

Guzevitch D. Yu., Guzevitch I.D. The First European Journey of Tsar Peter: Analytical bibliography for three centuries: 1697–2006. Science editor Emmanuel Wagemans. St. Petersburg, Fenix publishing house, Dmitry Bulanin publishing house, 2008 (912 p.)

The fundamental analytical and critical bibliography includes overwhelming majority of the scientific and popular science works, fiction books and publicist works written during 310 years in which the Great Embassy of 1697–1698 is described. The one-thousand pages work presents 3420 bibliographic records. All of them are provided with detailed annotations and critical comments.

Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage Museum

Alexander Kobak, Executive Director of the International Charity Fund after the name of Dmitry Likhachev

Daniil Granin, Chairman of Board of the International Charity Fund after the name of Dmitry Likhachev

Yuri Zinchuk, Chairman of the St. Petersburg Committee for Press

Guzevitch D. Yu., Guzevitch I.D. The Great Embassy: On the Border of Epochs of The Beginning of the Way: 1697–1698

Guzevitch D. Yu., Guzevitch I.D. The First European Journey of Tsar Peter: Analytical bibliography for three centuries: 1697–2006