Throughout the early and high Renaissance, in the 15th and first half of the 16th century, the Piazza della Signoria in Florence served as a symbol of the Florentine commune and republican liberty. By the mid-16th century, however, its space had undergone radical transformation, as it became filled with numerous statues, impressive both in scale and in sculptural conception. The piazza was now integrated into the system of representation of the new ruler, Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici. Out of the monuments erected there over the years, a complex visual programme gradually emerged, reflecting the ambitions of the young Medici regime and its understanding of its own achievements. In the 1560s the axis of the ensemble was formed by three marble “giants”: Michelangelo Buonarroti’s David, Baccio Bandinelli’s Hercules and Cacus, and Bartolomeo Ammannati’s Neptune, the centerpiece of a monumental fountain. They were complemented by sculpture in the adjacent Loggia dei Lanzi — above all Benvenuto Cellini’s Perseus with the Head of Medusa, as well as the much earlier group Judith and Holofernes by Donatello. Taken together, the statues gathered in the Piazza della Signoria articulated both older republican ideals, which in the new context might be read as anti-Medicean, and explicitly monarchical images; yet in combination they formed a unifi ed allegorical design aimed at glorifying the Florentine duke and his policies. The incorporation of republican symbols into the new imperial discourse of court culture proceeded along two lines: the integration of these figures into a gallery of allegorical personifi cations of Duke Cosimo himself, and a visual polemic by Florentine sculptors with the works of Donatello and Michelangelo. Republican images that had once symbolized the independence and freedom of the Florentine commune thus came to be subordinated to a system of representation and exaltation of Duke Cosimo. Alongside the works of Bandinelli, Cellini, and Ammannati, they articulated key elements of his political rhetoric: the divine origin of his power, the bestowal of peace and prosperity upon a Florence, and the construction of a new “golden age”.

The technological processes involved in the production of cloisonné enamels, despite long-standing scholarly interest, have not yet been fully clarified. The present article aims to address some of the complexities of this problem by drawing on written evidence, above all the treatise of Theophilus, as well as on the results of scientific investigations of selected archaeological finds bearing enamels. The analysis suggests that Theophilus’s description of the technological sequence for producing enamelled objects corresponds to enamels manufactured primarily in Europe and also in China. In the international literature, these are designated as Zellenemail: in this technique, meta l cloisons are soldered to the surface of a metal (typically gold) plaque with a frame soldered along its edge, and the resulting cells are filled with enamels so as to leave no exposed metal ground. A second typ e of enamel, whose origins are associated with Byzantium, is referred to in the international literature as Senkemail. Here, the cloisons are soldered to the floor of a recess sunk into a gold plaque, or produced by a more complex procedure in which the outline of the future image is cut out in the plaque and a trough-like backing is soldered on from below. As a result, the enamelled image is set against a gold background. In Russian-language scholarship, these types of enamel are not normally distinguished; the single term cloisonné (l’émail cloisonné) is applied to both. In the territories of early Rus’, enamels of the Byzantine Senkemail type are most widely attested. This circumstance appears to have contributed to confusion in attempts to reconstruct the relevant technologies on the basis of Theophilus’s text, which described the method for producing Zellenemail. The examination of several bronze archaeological objects with enamels from the territory of Vladimir-Suzdal’ Rus’ has shown that in these pieces the cloisons were not soldered either to the plaque or to the floor of a recess; rather, they were applied only after the enamelled images had already been created. The author interprets this mode of manufacture, in combination with the use of a relatively inexpensive metal — bronze — as an imitation of costly gold ornaments. It may be further hypothesized that the application of metal details onto the enamel surface to render folds of garments and drapery was also employed in the technology of Byzantine gold enamels of the Senkemail type.

In recent years, the migration legislation of the Russian Federation has been subject to a substantial number of amendments, and the year 2024 has proved no exception. These legislative changes are to a considerable degree conditioned by objective political and economic factors, which are linked to the rapidly changing political and economic situation of the Russian state and its organs of public authority. The article offers a survey and analysis of the principal amendments to the legislation governing migration policy and the legal regulation of the status of foreign nationals and stateless persons in the Russian Federation. The subject of this interdisciplinary research is the body of Russian legal norms that regulate the legal status of foreign nationals and stateless persons in Russia — their rights and obligations, their liability for migration-related offences, and the rules governing their entry into, stay in, and presence in the territory of the Russian Federation. Provisions of federal legislation, both newly enacted and already in force, are examined in their historical context. The article analyzes the most significant changes in the migration legislation of the Russian Federation of 2024. Particular attention is devoted to a number of specifi c issues relating to the refinement of the legal status of highly qualified specialists among foreign nationals and stateless persons. In contemporary legal doctrine, considerable attention is paid to organizations that, while not organs of public authority in the strict institutional sense, are nonetheless endowed with certain state or other public powers. With specific reference to the field of migration, the authors therefore consider the new legal regulation of federal state unitary enterprises for which the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation acts as founder. They likewise examine the status of state budgetary institutions of the city of Moscow. In addition, attention is paid to coercive measures and sanctions — both administrative and criminal — introduced by recent federal statutes. The article describes the legal structure of the newly introduced criminal and administrative off ence-types in the field of migration.

The creation and dissolution of the Special Temporary Committee for Science (1922–1924) have already attracted scholarly attention. However, most of the relevant documentation has not yet been introduced into scholarly circulation, and the issue has oft en been examined in isolation from the broader relationship between the Academy of Sciences and Narkompros, and in particular Glavnauka, which has led to certain distortions. The present article reconstructs the context of these events and, by bringing new archival documents into circulation, fills the lacunae created by consideration only of the upper layer of the documentation. The year 1923 marked a turning point in relations between the Academy of Sciences and Narkompros. Narkompros jealously guarded its prerogatives with regard to the Academy’s right to a separate budget and a measure of autonomy in scientific matters. These tensions, and Narkompros’s claims to full power over the Academy, emerged with particular sharpness, when Narkompros and Glavnauka began to challenge the privileges previously granted to the Academy through the Special Temporary Committee for Science. The acute phase of the conflict between the Academy and Glavnauka was settled, in one way or another, in early 1924. The subsequent discussion in the Sovnarkom over whether the Special Temporary Committee for Science should be subordinated to the Sovnarkom of the USSR or that of the RSFSR was likewise rooted in these contradictions. The legal deliberations on transforming this committee into a permanent, all-Union body ultimately led to its liquidation, yet behind the formal objections lay substantive considerations that were not articulated openly. The author argues that these actions formed part of a single political line and possessed a systemic and strategic character. As a result of this policy, the USSR for many years lacked a highly eff ective body for the coordination and executive administration of science on a countrywide scale

This article examines the activity of two commissions sent by the British Labour Party to Ireland in 1920. The tense situation on the island, and the ongoing confrontation between Catholic republicans and Protestant unionists who supported the continuation of the union with London, attracted close attention in social-democratic circles. Having failed to secure from David Lloyd George’s government an agreement to establish an independent investigation into violations of the law committed by the forces of order, the Labour Party undertook, in 1920, two attempts to study the situation on the island on its own. The commissions dispatched to Ireland were composed of well-known Labour figures, including members of Parliament. The article analyzes the first visit, during which party activists focused mainly on large cities and held conversations with Irish workers and trade-union representatives. The second visit was better prepared and covered, in addition to urban centers, a number of villages and small towns on the south-western coast of Ireland, where the situation was particularly acute. The author notes that during this second trip the commissioners were able to gather testimony from a larger number of people, including numerous victims of violence and arson. Particular attention is paid to Labour’s impressions of the brutal events in Balbriggan on 20–21 September 1920 and of the shootings at Croke Park in Dublin on 21 November 1920. The author addresses debates within the party over the “Irish question” and nationalism more broadly, as well as the propaganda campaign organized by Labour in early 1921 across Great Britain to convey to the public a true picture of events in Ireland. This campaign marked the culmination of Labour’s efforts to draw public attention to the British authorities’ flagrant acts of brutality on the “Emerald Isle”.

Of the six Russian newspapers that appeared in Lvov, which was under Russian administration from August 1914 to June 1915, only Novyy kray and Chervonnaya Rus’ were privately owned; they were published in March– April and May–June 1915, respectively. Both papers have hitherto almost entirely escaped the attention of Russian historians, even as sources of information. The article demonstrates that, in eff ect, they constituted one and the same periodical, with identical layout, content, and publishing conditions. The closure of Novyy kray and the subsequent relaunch of the newspaper under a new title were linked to hostility on the part of the staff of the commander in chief of the armies of the Southwestern Front toward its publisher, N.I. Kapeller, who, in late 1914, had become embroiled in a high-profile controversy over the establishment of book and newspaper kiosks at railway stations in Galicia. The suppression of Novyу kraу testified to the weak position of the authorities of the Galician General-Governorate, who were compelled to revoke their own authorization of the paper and align themselves with the stance of the front headquarters. Shortly after Novyу kraу ceased to exist, the military authorities readily sanctioned the establishment of a new periodical under the title Chervonnaya Rus’. Its publisher was the former editor of Novyy kray, P.Ya. Kurnosov; everything else — from the location of the editorial office to the programme of the issues — remained unchanged. The minor diff erences in rhetoric between the two newspapers were conditioned by the deteriorating situation on the Southwestern Front: at the height of the enemy off ensive in Galicia, Chervonnaia Rus’ had to devote greater attention to criticizing panic and encouraging the population. On the whole, despite competition from other Russian newspapers in Lvov and from the Russian press reaching the city from the interior, Novyy kray and Chervonnaya Rus’ enjoyed popularity among readers thanks to their varied and original content and their balanced attention to international news and local reports — a fact noted even by the Polish press of Lvov.

This article examines the memoirs of N.N. Shebeko, former Russian ambassador to Austria-Hungary, which have scarcely been introduced into scholarly circulation. Historians have made only occasional use of the French translation of these memoirs, and then primarily for the characterization of Russo- Romanian relations in 1912–1913, when Shebeko served as ambassador in Bucharest. For the first time, the authors base their study on the Russian text of Shebeko’s memoirs, preserved in the Bakhmeteff Archive at Columbia University in New York. Their attention is focused above all on those portions of the diplomat’s recollections that concern the relations of the Russian Empire with Austria-Hungary and Germany. The aim of the study is to identify in this source both factual material on Russia’s relations with the leading states of the Triple Alliance and neighbouring Romania, and the assessments off ered by the diplomat of the Foreign Ministry’s policy in these matters. The article also presents information on the origins and history of the Shebeko family, drawing on documents from the Russian State Historical Archive, and analyzes the political views of the Russian diplomat. The research reveals Shebeko’s connection with the foreign minister A.B. Lobanov-Rostovsky, who secured his transfer from military to diplomatic This article examines the memoirs of N.N. Shebeko, former Russian ambassador to Austria-Hungary, which have scarcely been introduced into scholarly circulation. Historians have made only occasional use of the French translation of these memoirs, and then primarily for the characterization of Russo- Romanian relations in 1912–1913, when Shebeko served as ambassador in Bucharest. For the first time, the authors base their study on the Russian text of Shebeko’s memoirs, preserved in the Bakhmeteff Archive at Columbia University in New York. Their attention is focused above all on those portions of the diplomat’s recollections that concern the relations of the Russian Empire with Austria- Hungary and Germany. The aim of the study is to identify in this source both factual material on Russia’s relations with the leading states of the Triple Alliance and neighbouring Romania, and the assessments offered by the diplomat of the Foreign Ministry’s policy in these matters. The article also presents information on the origins and history of the Shebeko family, drawing on documents from the Russian State Historical Archive, and analyzes the political views of the Russian diplomat. The research reveals Shebeko’s connection with the foreign minister A.B. Lobanov-Rostovsky, who secured his transfer from military to diplomatic

On 25 January 2025 the 270th anniversary was marked not only of the founding of Moscow University, but also of the gymnasium attached to it (later known as the Academic Gymnasium). The gymnasium was created as part of the original “Project for the Establishment of Moscow University”, and its opening in fact preceded the regular delivery of lectures for university students. Throughout the 18th century and the early 19th, it was precisely the gymnasium — by virtue of the size of its student body — that in many respects shaped the ways of the university interacting with society. The gymnasium existed from 1755 to 1812. It occupied a substantial portion of the Main Building of Moscow University, but it was closed after the Moscow fire of 1812, having lost its premises. In 2016 the gymnasium was re-established within the structure of the contemporary Moscow University. This event raises questions of continuity of traditions and of historical memory, both within the university and with regard to the memory of the oldest secondary school in Russia more generally. The present study is directed toward a discussion of these issues. The article examines the principal milestones in the history of the Academic Gymnasium, including the distinctive features of its curriculum, its financing, and the social composition of its pupils. It shows how the experience of the university gymnasium has been drawn upon in the recent history of Moscow State University. The study sets out the main aims embedded in the modern educational process, the parameters of study, and the specific character of students’ project work, and it notes both parallels and divergences between these and their historical prototypes. In the context of creating a youth museum exhibition in the gymnasium devoted to the history of this educational institution, the article presents certain traditions transmitted across generations and newly revived. It also highlights the contribution of the gymnasium to the contemporary history of the university. The conclusion underscores the signifi cance of the historical memory of the gymnasium both for its pupils and for the broader development of the historiography of secondary and higher education in Russia.

The author carried out the modeling of the historical dynamics in Russian rural population size from the 18th to the mid-19th century, examined through the case of a single estate in Kostroma province. This relatively small estate was separated from the extensive holdings of the widow of boyar F.I. Mstislavskii in the second quarter of the 17th century and existed within virtually unchanged boundaries up to the abolition of serfdom in 1861. The estate passed through the hands of several owners, including members of the highest Russian aristocracy (the L’vovs, Romodanovskiis, and Lopukhins) in the 17th and first half of the 18th centuries. A corpus of archival documents has been preserved in the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts and the State Archive of Kostroma Region, including land survey materials and census books from eight revisions, which enables reconstruction of the estate’s history over the entire period. The estate never experienced large-scale devastation, epidemics, or resettlements and can therefore be regarded as a closed system. It thus provides a valuable testing ground for quantitative, formalized approaches at the micro-level. The article develops an approach based on the mathematical apparatus of the theory of branching processes, a branch of mathematical statistics, which constitutes the main innovation of the study. The proposed methodology makes it possible to estimate the value of the natural increase coeffi cient in the next generation even in cases where the revision data are partially incomplete, to approximate the size of each generation not recorded in the censuses, which is of considerable relevance. This applies not only to the male but also to the female population. This is especially important for the 17th century and the first half of the 18th, when women were not enumerated. Besides, the author obtains an approximate estimate of underregistration of the estate’s population during the first revision of 1719–1722, which proves to be substantial, though not as large as mentioned in some leading Russian works.

The article examines English colonial and commercial expansion in the Canadian North, in the Hudson Bay region, from the late 1660s to the conclusion of the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. The principal instrument of this expansion was the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC), which nominally acquired vast territories (approximately one third of present-day Canada) under the terms of its royal charter of 1670. However, the HBC, during the period under consideration, devoted itself almost exclusively to the fur trade with Indigenous peoples at trading posts on the shores of Hudson Bay, situated at the mouths of major rivers that served as the principal communication routes for the inhabitants of the interior of the North American continent. From the outset the company enjoyed extensive connections not only in mercantile circles but also in government, and received substantial support from both the crown and the court. During this period the shores of Hudson Bay became a theater of intense rivalry between the English and the French, who likewise sought to exploit the region’s fur resources. The study elucidates the role and place of the region in contemporary Anglo-French competition and traces the specific dynamics of events on the bay’s coastline during the War of the League of Augsburg and the War of the Spanish Succession. Particular attention is devoted to Anglo-French negotiations at various levels, where issues concerning Hudson Bay were repeatedly raised. The article notes that the relatively small scale of clashes between representatives of the two colonial powers on the shores of the bay stood in sharp contrast to the intensity of the debates that these confl icts provoked in Europe between English and French diplomats. At the same time, the outcome of skirmishes and engagements in the region had little direct impact on the course of the diplomatic negotiations. The fate of the Hudson Bay littoral depended instead on developments in the principal theaters of war and on the broader vicissitudes of European high politics. At the same time, the resources and connections of the HBC, which vigorously defended, promoted, and foregrounded its own interests, played a signifi cant role.