IMAGES OF THE PAST AND THE PRESENT IN RUSSIAN UNIVERSITY MUSEUMS

Abstract

This article examines a “double” or “two-layer” appeal to the past in Russian university museums and the formation of a special visual language in them. The first layer is an appeal to ancient images in Russian culture of the 18th -19th centuries, during the Age of Enlightenment. The second layer is the reception of it in modern culture. The author has chosen university museums as a material for the research, because at the time of their appearance they represented the most relevant and progressive ideas of the Enlightenment and today they are also significant centers of education and communication. Their developed interiors use such ancient images as architectural details and images of ancient philosophers, which was common for the 18th-19th century. The aim of the study is a description of the embedded meaning`s changing. What image of the past and the present could or should have been formed among museum visitors in the 18th -19th centuries? What image of the past and the present is being formed today? The author believes that it is productive to consider any example of the representation of the past through the considering of two points: the current concept of time and the political interest of the present in a specific period of the past. The findings of the research can be used as illustrations or examples to demonstrate the specifics of the Russian Enlightenment culture and modern culture.

Keywords

• university museums
• mining museum
• images of ancient philosophers
• age of enlightenment
• russian enlightenment
• perception of antiquity in russian culture
• image of time