Vasilii Olegovich Iakovlev,
Postgraduate Student, St. Petersburg Branch of the S. Vavilov Institute for the History of Science and Technology; Senior Researcher, The State Museum “St. Isaac’s Cathedral”, St. Petersburg, Russia, e‑mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
“Retrospective of the Russian Scientific Cartographic Thought: Anniversary Exhibition in the Department of Cartography of the National Library of Russia (to the 300th Anniversary of the Founding of the Academy of Sciences and the 285th Anniversary of the Foundation of the Academic Geographical Department)
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2024-2-22
The article is devoted to the anniversary exhibition, organized in the Department of Cartography of the National Library of Russia. It is dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the founding of the Academy of Sciences and the 285th anniversary of the establishment of the Geographical Department of the Academy of Sciences. The exhibition includes a number of unique documents on the history of Russian cartography, in particular, original cartographic materials of the 18th–20th Centuries, as well as some rare thematic publications of the 20th–early 21st Centuries. Particular attention is paid to the review of such documents as, “Atlas composed for the benefit and use of youth and all readers of gazettes and historical books” (1737), the plan of St. Petersburg of 1737, Atlas of Russia of 1745, etc. From those publications presented at the exhibition the author notes the book by V.F. Gnucheva “Geographical Department of the Academy of Sciences of the 18th century” (1946), as well as the publication by A.V. Postnikov “The Development of Large-Scale Cartography in Russia” (1989). The researcher believes that this work, in a certain respect, summed up Soviet historiography on the history of domestic cartography before 1917. The author also draws attention to the fact that the exhibition in question is not the first organized by the Cartography Department of the National Library of Russia and dedicated to the geographical and cartographic activities of the Academy of Sciences, emphasizing the importance of such systematic work to preserve and popularize the academic heritage of the 18th Century in this area.
Publishing: 28/04/2024
The article has been received by the editor on 31/01/2024
How to cite: Iakovlev V.O. “Retrospective of the Russian Scientific Cartographic Thought: Anniversary Exhibition in the Department of Cartography of the National Library of Russia (to the 300th Anniversary of the Founding of the Academy of Sciences and the 285th Anniversary of the Foundation of the Academic Geographical Department) // Historical Courier, 2024, No. 2 (34), pp. 298–304. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2024/ISTKURIER-2024-2-22.pdf]
Links: Issue 2 2024
Keywords: Department of Cartography of the National Library of Russia; St. Petersburg Branch of the S. Vavilov Institute for the History of Science and Technology RAS; St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences in the 18th Century; Geographical Department of the Academy of Sciences; history of Russian Cartography; sources on the history of Russian cartography of the 18th – early 21st centuries