Peter the Great and the Formation of a Man of a New Culture

The article is devoted to the most important aspect of Peter the Great’s cultural policy – the formation of a new man. The way to do this was not only an external change in appearance (clothing, appearance, secular manners), but also the transformation of fundamental categories of everyday culture, which covered relatively wide segments of the population. These important categories include symbols and emblems, coins, awards, flags and coats of arms, letters and numbers, calendar, as well as geographical names. Peter consistently carried out reforms in these areas, carrying them out in the context of the general policy of westernization, however, adapting these categories of culture to domestic traditions. In some cases, innovations were introduced at the legislative level, in some - modernization took place in a gradual, evolutionary way. As a result, by the mid-1710s, a new calendar, a new appearance of printed and handwritten text, new numbers, new monetary denominations in coin incarnation with portrait images and coats of arms, new state symbols and national colors, a new name of the new capital, i.e. all those factors with which a person is constantly in contact in everyday life. The change in these categories of everyday life laid the foundation for a new culture of Russia and contributed to the formation of the consciousness of a new person of this culture.

1. Азбука с исправлениями императора Петра Великого и указом его о введении в употребление гражданского шрифта. (1877) [The alphabet with corrections by Emperor Peter the Great and his decree on the introduction of a civil font into use.]. СПб.

2. Белавенец П.И. (1911) Краткая записка о старых русских знаменах [A brief note about the old Russian banners]. СПб.

3. Вилинбахов Г.В. (2004) История Российского герба и флага. [History of the Russian coat of arms and flag]. СПб.: Филологический факультет СПбГУ, 128 с.

4. Вилинбахов Г.В. (2006) Награды России. Ордена. [Awards of Russia. Orders]. СПб.: Филологический факультет СПбГУ, 160 с.

5. Мельникова А.С., Уздеников В.В., Шиканова И.С. (2000) Деньги в России. История русского денежного хозяйства с древнейших времен до 1917 г. [Money in Russia. The history of the Russian monetary economy from ancient times to 1917]. M.: Стрелец, 222 с.

6. Болотина Н.Ю., Аракчеев В.А., Анисимов Е.В. (2022) Петр I и его эпоха [Peter I and his epoch]. M.: Кучково поле Музеон, 240 с.

7. Полное собрание законов Российской империи (1830) [The complete collection of laws of the Russian Empire]. Т. 3, СПб.

8. Полное собрание законов Российской империи (1830) [The complete collection of laws of the Russian Empire]. Т. 7, СПб.

9. Поспелов Е.М. (2000) Историко-топонимический словарь России [Historical and Toponymic Dictionary of Russia]. M.: Профиздат, 224 с.

10. Успенский Б.А. (2004) Историко-филологические очерки [Historical and philological essays]. М., Языки славянской культуры, 176 с.