Collecting as a form of power representation in the XVIIIth century Russia

The article considers the relationship of Europeanisation of Russia and collecting as a practice of representation of state power in the XVIIIth century. Collecting was one of the innovations introduced by Peter the Great as a pattern of European culture, an instrument of Europeanisation of the court and production of the new elite. Among the other innovations, collecting was a symbol of the new cultural course, the Europeanisation of not only Russian monarchy, but the noble class. The author concludes that the evolution of private collecting in the XVIIIth century Russia is closely related, on the one hand, to the tendency of the authorities to preserve the status of Russia as a European power, and on the other - to the involvement of wider society into Europeanization.