Salons and circles in Russia in the middle of the XIX century as a form of interaction between power and public

The article presents an analysis of the functioning of salons and circles in Russia in the second half of the 1850s as a form of interaction between government and society in this period. On the basis of published sources of personal origin and archival materials, the main stages of activity the St. Petersburg circle of brothers Milyutins and salon of Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna were reviewed. They brought together progressive government and public figures who advocated the implementation of reforms. It is concluded that with the advent of Alexander II to power and the launch of the modernization process in Russia, participants in the St. Petersburg circle are reoriented from scientific and educational issues to politically significant issues. Also during this period, close cooperation was established between the circle of brothers Milyutins and the salon of Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna in the framework of the development of a project on the abolition of serfdom in the Karlovka estate. In the conditions of the sociopolitical rise of the second half of the 1850s salons and circles in Russia became centers of informal influence on the official course of the Russian government and turned into discussion «platforms», in which discussion and development of reform projects.