The Presidential Library marking Youth Day

June 24 marks Youth Day in Russia. In accordance with the decree of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, starting from 2023, this holiday is celebrated on the last Saturday of June. Before that, Youth Day was celebrated on June 27.

The time of exams is over, and the new school year is still far away. During the summer holidays, the Presidential Library offers to make the rest not only pleasant, but also productive.

The institution’s portal presents a great number of interesting publications that will allow readers to master calligraphy on their own, learn a foreign language, comprehend oratory, do physical exercises, and much more. All publications are time-tested and still relevant; some of them were compiled by famous people who have left a big mark on the history of Russia.

Mikhail Speransky (1772-1839), a public figure and statesman, the closest advisor to Emperor Alexander I, made a huge contribution to the development of Russian rhetoric. One of his famous works, which is available on the Presidential Library’s portal, is The Rules of Higher Eloquence. The publication provides step-by-step instructions on how to prepare an excellent public speech: to interest listeners and achieve goals with the help of words. Mikhail Speransky gives advice on how to start a speech, what words and proofs to choose to argue one’s point of view, how to back up one’s expressions with emotions in order to evoke the right feelings in listeners and even how the speaker should look, since “...the appearance of the speaker foreshadows the kind of his words and tunes the hearts of listeners”. For example, it is noted that young speakers, when speaking to experienced elderly people, should behave reservedly.

How to take care of the body and health, one can learn from a famous compatriot – Georges Duperron (1877-1934), the founder of football and the Olympic movement in Russia, a sports journalist and the first domestic football referee. He has published many manuals for physical education and sports, some of which are presented on the Presidential Library’s portal: Collection of Active Games, Training of a Sportsman, and others.

In the books of Georges Duperron, readers can find a lot of interesting facts: how to start a sports workout, how to independently choose suitable physical exercises that will help transform the body, strengthen health and immunity.

For those who want to learn how to write beautifully, there is an opportunity to independently study one of the types of fine art – calligraphy. Now it is widely used in design, but previously it was intended mainly for setting and correcting handwriting. In order to master the art of beautiful writing and, for example, to be able to sign a postcard or an invitation in an outstanding way in the future, it is enough to study such publications of the Presidential Library as Self-Instruction to the Complete Course of Calligraphy and Cursive Writing by the Method of the Calligrapher S. Volchenka, Self-Instruction to the Complete Course of Calligraphy and Cursive Writing, The Course of Calligraphy and Office Cursive Writing.

The publications present step-by-step learning systems with examples of exercises; the self-help books also tell about writing materials required, the position of the body during classes and even the mood.

For those who have decided to study foreign languages, the reference books, manuals and dictionaries published on the Presidential Library’s portal will be especially useful. They will help readers master French, English, Tatar, Uzbek, Kyrgyz, Abkhaz, and many other languages. Most of the publications feature Russian texts and translations into a foreign language written in Russian letters. The training materials include the most frequently used words and phrases.

In the Presidential Library’s collections, everyone will find a lot of fascinating things for themselves. In digital form, there are presented books and periodicals, archival documents, newsreels, photographs, video lectures, scientific and educational films, audio recordings, as well as other materials on the history of Russia – over a million depositary items in total.

Along with the electronic reading room in the historic Synod building in St. Petersburg and the Presidential Library’s Internet portal, access to the library’s collection is provided through a network of remote access centers. More than 1,500 remote electronic reading rooms are open throughout the country in cultural and educational institutions. Information about remote access centers is presented on the Presidential Library’s portal in the Centers of Remote Access on the Map section.

For more information about the electronic reading room, please contact the User Service Department:

Phone: +7 (812) 305-16-31

Email: reference@prlib.ru

To visit the Presidential Library, organize tours of the building and exhibitions of the institution, please contact:

Phone: +7 (812) 334-25-14

Email: excursion@prlib.ru   

Information about the Presidential Library’s activity is also available on the official page of the institution in the social networks VKontakte and Odnoklassniki, on Rutube, and in the Telegram channel.