Chinese Students Visit the Rare Book Section at UrFU

14:36, June 4, 2024

They learned about the most unusual exhibits

Master's students of the SCO University and Bachelor's students from China, studying in the Department of International Relations in the Foreign Regional Studies direction in the framework of the training course “Russian Civilization and its values” under the guidance of Associate Professor Svetlana Bykova visited the Section of Rare Books of the Ural Federal University.

Andrei Vorobyov, Associate Professor and Chief Specialist of the Section, conducted the excursion for students. He talked about the history of the Ural University foundation in 1920 and the University library. The collection is based on the collections of the Ural industrialists Demidovs and the Tsarskoe Selo Lyceum, to which in 1811 Emperor Alexander I donated his books, including those given to him by his grandmother Catherine the Great.

“Visiting the library we learned a lot about the Ural region, the Ural University and the history of Russia. It is fascinating. We felt the Russians' love for books and knowledge. Russians attach great importance to knowledge and know how to keep books well”, notes Sun Nandi.

The age of the books (some of them are more than 200 years old) and their elegant design (fine leather bindings, beautiful clasps, gilded pages, patterned endpapers) surprised all the excursionists.  Some students paid attention to the uniqueness of the contents of ancient editions - in particular, they noted drawings and plans of the ancient temple in Palmyra from the "Encyclopedia of Sciences, Arts and Crafts", which was created under the leadership of Denis Diderot in the XVIII century. Ancient miniature books and a book the size of a fingernail, made by a master of the XXI century, as well as a "very thick" term paper of a German student from 1899, almost two hundred pages of drawings, made by hand in beautiful handwriting, caused amazement because now they can "write with the help of a computer and the Internet".

“These books should belong to people who know how to appreciate them - like at the famous Ural University. We witnessed a dialogue between books of different epochs and the hearts of modern people”, commented Song Jiaduo.

The news article was translated by UrFU International Marketing Office.
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