Modern market presents a wide choice of watches and clocks with clear back lid and front cover (“skeletons”). There are quite numerous examples of clocks of the 17−18th centuries with special windows for observing the work of mechanism. Five clocks of this type from the Lomonosov’s museum MAE (Kunstkamera) RAS are under consideration in the article. Exhibiting them with reliable historical information can be successful in modern complicated conditions of competition for visitors’ attention.

The review is devoted to T.R.Berg’s book «Theatre of the World. The maps that made history », granted in 2017 by Brage prize in Non-fiction nomination and now translated into Russian. Though it is supplied by standard attributions of scientific or popular but wellpercised edition, close reading reveals completive and crude character. The review shows why the presented work should by comprehended with a good deal of skepsis. General conclusion is that specialists usually prefer more serious researchers and for wide readers this book contains too many traps of spread and enforcement of Western ideology, spread and enforcement mistakes and misunderstanding of historical realities.

St.Petersburg Kunstkamera stored besides other rarities presents of Russian monarchs. Following this tradition Alexander I handed over to the museum a unique clock, made by naval lieutenant E.S.Ovtsin during his leisure time. Its mechanism did not require winding up, had a rotating dial, sliding on a glass plate, and a fixed hand in the form of cupid. The fate of that extraordinary object in 20–21 st centuries remains a mystery.

The start of ore mining at Pavlovskoye occurrence on the island Novaya Zemlia is planned on 2021. There is some data known since the 16-17th centuries that it is possible to mine at that place zinc, silver and lead. Since the time of Ivan the Terrible there were several expeditions to search the treasures of the North. Was it possible to start mining 200 years earlier? What difficulties did the sailors face? The study of navigation instruments, they could use, is just one aspect of that problem. However even this only aspect is an important key for better understanding the processes of the acquisition of the North and development naval technologies.

Sundials are the most ancient scientific instruments, but their earliest examples made in Russia and stored at museums are the ones made in the 18th century. The article is devoted to the sundials presented at the exposition “The first astronomic observatory of Academy of science” at МАЕ RAS (Kunstkamera). In the introductory part of the article the author tells how and why sundials became an important object by the beginning of the 18th century and why portable varieties gained popularity. Further the history of their usage and improvement is under consideration, as well as inviting foreign masters and appearance of Russian ones. Special attention is paid to each of the exhibits of Kunstkamera as a unique object, giving us a chance to study the history of science and technique.

Petersburg Kunstkamera was a leading research and educational center of Russia in the 18th century. In particular, the exact time service worked here. The equipment included a rich collection of sundials by both foreign and domestic masters. In No. 4 of the magazine “Russia XXI” for 2019, it was told about the sundials made in Russia that are now stored in the museum. An article on sundials manufactured in Europe is offered to the attention of readers in continuation of the research.

The name of M.V.Lomonosov holds a significant place in Russian symbolic space, plays an important role in forming national identity and self-consciousness. His image was partially formed under the influence of mass-media and official ideology. Not always the ideas promoted by the power and press fell on the fertilized soil. Historical memory is selective and variable. This article is the first attempt to show the transformation of M.V.Lomonosov’s image on the materials of press.

Since the 19th century there is a common belief in the historiography that the period of Catherine II’s reign was the time when the policy of forest protection (started by Peter the Great`s as the wood was an important recourse for long-term development of navy and industry) was stopped. Indeed Catherine II supposed it necessary to develop private initiative, and state monopolies unpromising for economical development. However the materials taken under consideration in this article show that this judgment is lop-sided and not quite correct. At the time of refuse of repressive methods, Catherine II paid much attention to the problems of forestry – organization of preservation, descriptions, studies, creation of new regulation. Chopping wood really increased during her reign. But the reason for it was due to not only the changes in legislation and connivance as the growth of population and practice of interpretation.

St.Petersburg demanded a great amount of wood starting from the very first years of its existing. High prizes for firewood became an acute problem for the first habitats of the young city. Reasons for it and ways of solving the problem are under consideration in the article – attempts of state regulation of wood-sale, limitation of export, enlightening publications, suggestions to use special constructions of stoves and alternative fuels. Special attention is paid to the commission of 1783, created to solve the problem of firewood expensiveness in St.Petersburg.

Volga region woods had strategic meaning for Russian Empire in the 18th century. Its ship groves provided the material for Russian navy. No wonder it was the region where Russian forestry started. Volga region was experienced the most of Peter 1st's restrictions, the hardness of procurement obligations. Forests of Kazan, Nizhni Novgorod, Voronezh provinces were the best known, the best specialists were sent there, the most attention was paid to keep these forests in order.

The article is devoted to the problems of forest exploitation and protection at the North of Russia in the 18th century. During this period the region got the reputation of the greatest exporter and employer of forests, hard to be held under the control of central power. Though the research based on statistics data and proving that conclusions like that are a mistake, is more than 50 years old, the questions why this stereotype was formed stays without an answer. The materials used for this article provide us with the opportunity to say that the attention to the problems of local forests during the 18th century was constantly drawn by reports and complaints of local people, who used the rhetoric of official forest-protecting official documents, to gain own aims.