Aims to draw attention of social scientists to the “social interaction” category as a tool for studying microdynamics. The author highlights theoretical assumptions on which the category is based and proposes the general characteristics of its content.

Supports the idea of the shift of economic development and political interests centre towards the Asian and Pacific Rim. The expansion of capitalist world­system, its efforts to disseminate its geoculture are illustrated on the example of peripheral Mongolia.

Analyses the problem of social functions of the family, cultural symbolism of the concept of "family" and the historical dynamics of this symbolism. Analysed cultural practices related to symbolization family relationships and their depiction in literature and cinema.

Focuses on the value approach to the historical reconstruction movement. The authors analyse values generated by the movement and distinguish between the general cultural values that influence personal development and values related to the military cultures of the past. The activities of the military reconstruction participants that enrich contemporary cultural space and raise personal moral ideals are considered as a type of “spirit engineering.”

Is devoted to the contemporary art. Recently the arts have undergone some changes that allow discussing transformations of (post)modern art forms and therefore transformations of the Modernity Project. The traditional approach to arts implies that particular artefacts are the form of art objectisation. The author analyses several contemporary art experiments and argues that nowadays the actors operating in society have to deal with documentation or medium which provides for calling an act of creation to memory but not for reproducing it.

Analyses multipartite spiritual (religious) concert by Andrey Mikita, one of the prominent Moscow composers. The “Theotokos Chants” concert was written for mixed choir a cappella on liturgical texts of the Theotokos feasts: Nativity of the Theotokos, Annunciation, Assumption, Protection of the Theotokos. The genre and composition particularities of this concerto are related to the elements of liturgical singing tradition on the one hand and composer’s personal musical representation of religious texts on the other. All this determined the non­liturgical genre of this choral.

Examines in brief the role and meaning of dance in stage creations of Franz Lehár (1870-1948), composer of Neo-Viennese operettas. The author analyses “The Merry Widow,” “Frasquita,” “Jiuditta,” “Friderike” operettas also addressing the problem of interpretations proposed by stage directors and choreographers.

Is devoted to the repainting of 16th century murals in the Hall of the Facets in Moscow Kremlin by the Palekh icon­painters Belousovs which was organised on the occasion of the coronation of Alexander III by Georgy Filimonov, a famous archaeologist. While Alexander III considered the “restored” painting as the important element of the celebrations that were to display the idea of sacrosanctity of tsarist autocracy, Filimonov believed that the paintings of the Hall were to contribute to the development of the truly national art in Russia.

Deals with the Russian museum practices mainly of the 18th and the 19th century. The author analyses a gradual specialisation in private collection building and museums' development, reveals the role of the highly specialised collections and analyses the trend of establishing museums of the complex character exemplified by the Kunstkammer, the Imperial Hermitage Museum, the Fine Arts Academy Museum, the Rumyantsev Museum, and the Russian Museum. In the 19th century, a trend of gradual differentiation and specialisation became obvious which led to establishing dedicated museums and developing a more focused approach to collection building in Russia.

Analyses discussions around the fate of the former Imperial Theatres during the rule of the Provisional Government in Russia. The author addresses the contemporaneous dedicated publications in mass media and archive materials to reveal the struggle between the former Imperial and private theatres confronted with the upcoming theatre reform (which was not effected because of the Bolsheviks’ rise to power).

Addresses the only extant illuminated manuscript of the “Life of Norbert of Xanten”. The author analyses the iconography of the miniature from this manuscript in comparison with the other illuminated hagiographies and writings of St. Augustin which were created in Germany in the 12th century.

Considers the history of designing travel albums by the famous Russian landscape painter Andrei Martynov (1768-1826) during his trip of 1805 to Beijing with the Russian diplomatic mission of Count Yury Golovkin.

Considers these networks and Facebook in particular as a fundamental cultural institution of the postmodern global society. The author analyses cultural background of the “social networking revolution” and investigates social networks as a mass cultural practice of society web 2.0 also focussing on the possible further transformations of the social networks phenomenon.

Deals with the regional aspects in the musical organisation of Mass related to the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. The author concretises the features of liturgical music reform and notes the specificity of its realisation in the practice of Catholic commons of the Asian part of Russia, from the Urals to the Far East. It is argued that a combination of musical material integrated in a holistic canonical invariant gives original features to worship in each parish.

Examines the melodrama film “Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears” by film director Vladimir Menshov which is one of the most significant and successful Soviet movies of the 1970s. The author analyses the imagery of the film that vicariously represents the image of metropolis using a method of formula analysis proposed by John G. Cawelti. It is assumed that there is a sustainable melodrama structure that was borrowed from the literary texts connected to the Russian capital. Menshov’s picture was chosen as a bright example of “Moscow melodrama” representing Moscow as the city of trial and exploring the key concept Moscow Home.

Argues that source studies need further development in Russian linguistics since involving a wider range of manuscripts into investigation may answer many questions that are actually faced by the historical lexicology and lexicography. It may also help to reconstruct the historical language development in detail. This approach is particularly relevant in the studies of the Russian language of the 18th century. While it is mainly based on the published texts, there is a lot of manuscripts that have not been studied yet but may greatly contribute to understanding of both the formal language developments and emergence of a new type of literary Russian language or the language of Russian nation. The special emphasis is to be put on research of the regional manuscripts which are also important for studying the formal language as they represent its local variations and local vocabulary which cannot be found in the records of the central institutions. The main issues of linguistic study stated above are considered on the example of the North Russian manuscripts of the early 18th century, namely the customs books of Kevrola, a town in the Archangel region.

That examines the interaction of multiple values in a “costume image” or in description of symbolic costume details characterises a heroin in poetic works. In Kabardian poetry of the 20th century, the most “informative” costume elements appear in the poems created in the period of radical transformations in society and in descriptions of women’s clothes one can find symbolic elements that help to compare and to contrast the Past and the Present.

Devoted to the problem of reducing the reader's activity which is considered at the level of global (digitalization, the global financial crisis) and regional (local cultural transformation) factors of development. The experience of librarianship Germany in overcoming the typical and regional problems is analyzed. The article deals with the German readers activity’s dependence on the language reform of 1998. It raises the problem of influence of orthographic mode on the on the preservation of written cultural heritage and on the development of book culture.

Addresses the issues of the actual state of bibliographic activities in the field of culture and the arts. The author analyses the ongoing evolution of attitudes and norms concerned with scientific information, research activities in general, and higher education in the humanities. The history of publishing current bibliographies on culture and the arts at the Russian State Library is shortly traced and it is argued that the access to information and knowledge is provided not only by online services and digital technologies in general but also by the systemised representation of information flows and content­related search supported by the current bibliography.

Deals with the problem of study and preservation of the monuments representing the church architecture in the town of Bogorodsk and its immediate environs. Most of the churches have lived through numerous destructive processes that were rooted in religious or atheist beliefs of different periods including blasphemous attitude to holy places. Though some churches were lately restored or re­built almost from scratch, many were lost.

Deals with some trends in Russian art at the beginning of the 20th century. The author argues that the Archaic revival of the Silver Age reflected the active denial of contemporaneity by the artistic elite. The national folklore and mythology representing the Indo­European roots of Russian culture became popular among the visual artists while the mythological birds Humayun, Sirin, Alkonost, the Swan Princess and the Firebird were pictured by Viktor Vasnetsov, Mikhail Vrubel, and Ivan Bilibin; their images were created in the verses by Alexander Blok, in Igor Stravinsky’s music, and in choreographic masterpieces by Mikhail Fokine and Anna Pavlova.

Traces the history of the raku-ware tradition in Japan and reveals its influence on the Western decorative arts of the 20th century. The author distinguishes between technological characteristics of the Raku family ware and the meaning of the “raku­ware” term coined in the West for the particular artistic style and demonstrates the contribution of the Raku ware to the development of contemporary decorative arts.