In March 2022, during an excursion at the Department of Rare Books (4 Turgeneva Street, Room 356) students of the fields of studies “Linguistics” and “International Relations” learned the history of the Ural Federal University and how the fate of the university library was related with the history of the Imperial Alexander (Tsarskoye Selo) Lyceum.

At the request of one of the French language professors, the staff showed the students several volumes of the Encyclopedia published in the eighteenth century by Denis Diderot and Jean Le Rond D'Alembert (Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. Paris, 1751–1765), the works of Jean-Baptiste Willart de Grécourt (Oeuvres diverses de monsieur de Grécourt. Amsterdam, 1775), the works of Plutarch from the library of Empress Catherine the Great (Oeuvres de Plutarque. Paris, 1784), and other books.

It should be stressed that all visitors are always impressed by the term paper from the late 19^th century on weaving (at that time, the term paper was the graduate work for the entire course of study). The item kept at the Department of Rare Books, like all educational works of that time, is handwritten and contains a description of mechanisms, many samples of fabrics and weaving patterns. Getting to know the thesis and the conditions of its compiling a century ago allows you to compare your own efforts required to prepare educational papers nowadays.

In addition to excursions, at the request of professors the exhibition The Silver Age of Book Culture is open at the Department of Rare Books until June 30, 2022. You can sign up for an excursion by phone +7 (343) 389-94-48 or email at ork@urfu.ru. The number of participants of the excursion is no more than ten people. Working hours of the Department of Rare Books: from Monday to Friday from 9 am to 5 pm, on Saturday from 9 am to 4 pm.