About the book: 2020 / The founding and sociocultural development of St. Petersburg reflected the cardinal features of the history of Russia in the 18th century. St. Petersburg is considered by the author as a conscious attempt to create a testing ground for social and cultural transformations in Russia. The new seat of the court functioned as a stage on which innovations were tried out and demonstrated. The book is a description of various aspects of the imperial court culture and daily life in the city, which was intended to become not only the capital of the empire, but also a “window to Europe.” A valuable feature of the study is the comparison of the life of St. Petersburg with other European capitals, which allows the author to show what was unique about the Russian capital, and in what ways it followed the general fashion. The author concludes that the appearance of St. Petersburg, its institutions, its social and cultural life - everything was related to other European courts and cities of that time, but at the same time had a distinct Russian flavor. Paul Keenan teaches world history at the London School of Economics (UK)).