Zygar 1917. Tass with the support of the State Central Museum of Contemporary History of Russia

November 14 at the Museum Patriotic War 1812, a press conference was held dedicated to the launch of the project “1917. Free History ”- a documentary social network that is offered to watch for a whole year as a series. The site talked with the author of the project, Mikhail Zygar, about how “1917” works.

Every day users of the project "1917" expect news from 1917. How do the information agenda of revolutionary Russia and the “news” of 2016 compare?

We want to create a complete world that a person can observe from the inside. Every day you can learn about the weather, financial quotes, cultural life.

I do not know how it will psychologically fit into the picture of the world modern man. I would like the sticky mechanism to work, which turns on when a person views the tapes Facebook- news about friends or famous people. In part, this is also an attempt to build a whole resource on the principle of a social network. For example, VKontakte gives us access to an audience that no one else can reach today. My 12-year-old niece asks me about Yarovaya’s law: “Do I understand correctly that they want to read my VKontakte correspondence?” Perhaps for the first time in history, a person at the age of 12, still not knowing the word "Putin", from another universe, thinks about his rights to personal information. The policy already concerns his right to correspond on social networks. "VKontakte" is access to an audience that does not read in principle, does not read traditional media. The process of consuming information from VKontakte is not reading, but rather interesting consumption. Translation historical sources into the VKontakte language is an important step in communication between knowledge and the user. People are used to social networks, it is part of their life. I hope that now millions of teenagers will see in their tapes not only the singer Nyusha, but also Akhmatova, Stanislavsky, Blok.

All our heroes are familiar to users, this is not a connection to a new and unknown world, we know them from childhood and remember what some of them look like actors 1917. We want to activate the readers' mechanisms of emotional attachment to the material. In fact, we don't know the story, we know a few facts from the lives of the three characters; we know what happened to Nicholas II, Lenin, almost no one knows anything about Trotsky, everyone remembers only about the ice ax, and his key role in 1917 remains unknown. We want the public to be surprised - the creators of Russian culture walked along the same streets at the same time. In our project, we have gathered those who changed the time and created history with every step they took.

Now the most relevant form of absorption of history is the series. I think we inherited this hobby from our parents: back in the 90s, we scolded the TV shows that our parents watched on TV, and now we ourselves are passionate about TV shows, albeit different ones. Does your project look like Game of Thrones?

The concept of this series is close to me: an approach to history through a person. All people are the same at some point, have the same features characters make mistakes. Any process is the sum of desires, actions and mistakes ordinary people.

Now media projects (for example, Arzamas) are trying on modern media formats for historical content in the style of “What did the Decembrists drink?”. In "1917" we are confronted with a series that the viewer is watching. The user can ask Nicholas II, but he may not answer. Is it a social network with limited performativity?

Nicholas II, by the way, will answer for everything at some point. But less spoilers. It seems to me that the viewer in none of the works of art can influence the outcome. Even in performative theater, one can only choose a line of behavior. Our users can influence their non-linear behavior, we do not have a predetermined sequence of actions: if you want - follow one line, if you want - follow all, you can read from the last to the first, you can follow the plot, follow the days. Maximum freedom of movement and navigation in 1917! Rewrite the plot so that Rasputin is not killed or Nicholas II does not abdicate? We do not want this, it is outside our project and artistic culture.

"1917. free history»

Is 1917 a synthetic art project for you? Does it have a place for criticism - formats, situations in history and media education?

It's too early for me to draw such conclusions. We would like such a genre to settle down and emerge, we came up with a genre without a name, but it must exist, because standard genres for transmitting information, especially historical information, do not take into account the development of technology. Technology is far ahead of content. People perceive information differently. It's time to bring content up to technology. For example, the genre of lectures since Ancient Greece changed little. Even if we shoot a lecture on an iPhone and transmit it via YouTube. We want to make the information more attractive to the modern reader.

1917 is the time when the public sphere, political dimension worked with terrible force. Today we may not even have a shadow of this dimension. Does the 1917 project have a political agenda?

None of us have any plans to politicize the project in any way, because it goes against the genre. "1917" - events that happened a hundred years ago. There is no intervention on the part of the commentator, there will not be smart uncles and aunts who will explain what and how it works and which opinion is correct. We make sources as sexy as possible. We surround man with sources so that he can look at them, touch them. We are against interpretation. The source today should be not only accessible, but also interesting.

- And what do you expect from the launch of such a sexual genre?

We will make a revolution! A sea of projects will appear in this genre!

- Let's clarify the criteria of the genre.

documentary, real time, immersion in the atmosphere, free navigation of the user in the material, photos, videos - all the design is accessible and familiar to the modern user. We want to recreate in detail the world of 1917. I want the site visitor to feel that the heroes of 1917 are coming to him. Everything is the same: the user is used to seeing home page Yandex weather, exchange rates and theater poster, and on the site "1917" he will see the same markers, the world to which he is accustomed. People have not changed, we are not characters with dog heads, living only in history books; No, these are the people who live next to us.

"1917. Free History»

But will there be such a situation: users will get so carried away, play with 1917, that they will forget about where and when they live?

I believe if the people who had gone before computer games or Facebook, will come out from everywhere and go down in history - then this will be the safest escapism that you can think of.

Your goal is to change the idea of history. How might other story moderators react to such a project today? Have you seen what hangs in subway cars?

I don't believe that many people consider themselves villains; rather, almost all people consider themselves right. Everyone in some sense stands for the truth, all adequate historians believe that the truth must prevail. They stand for sources, and than more people learns about history, the better. We have many characters with different points of view. Some opinions bother me, some points of view are outrageous in our times! But the sources say, and I don't believe in a conscious ill will that can get in their way.

All the creators of the project do not say anything in it, they do not advise, as if you created the world and left. You exclude advice as an option; it turns out that only the dead make public statements in this project, you return their votes, and you yourself are eliminated. How does such an approach compare with the expectations of a person who often needs guides and guides?

It seems to me that the degree of human dependence should not be exaggerated. People use advice, but they are more interested in inner conviction than hard parting words. As a rule, most people do not like when something is sold to them, they feel false and begin to resist.

They want advice from within; when you have opinions famous heroes, it's easier for you to navigate, we are not needed there.

Let's look deep into history, 1917 in the format of the social network and Twitter:

We have decided once and for all to stop all attempts at imperialism and conquest in our country... The enthusiasm that seizes Russian democracy stems... not even from the idea of a fatherland, as old Europe understood this idea, but from the idea that the dream of brotherhood of the peoples of the whole world will come true into reality.

Pavel Milyukov, Petrograd, Mariinsky Palace
Despite the coup, we kept main goal and meaning of this war. The government will strive with even greater force to abolish German militarism, for our ideal is to abolish the possibility of any future wars.

Alexander Kerensky, Petrograd
The most important task of Russian democracy should be the desire to show that, together with the democracy of all the peoples living on the territory of the Russian state, it constitutes one common whole, which is based on respect for labor and for man. And then, we, we populist socialists, must act in concert with the socialist parties of other Russian nationalities. And I believe that by such means the working masses, protected from all arbitrariness, will build a new political system and will crown the work of many generations who selflessly gave their lives and their human dignity for the triumph of these two principles, for the organization of the state on two principles - labor and high human personality.

Vasily Kravkov, 7th Siberian Army Corps, front
The hand of reconciliation extended by our Social-Democracy to the German "comrades" remains unshaken and hanging in the air to this day! It is amazing that the German people are so tightly bound by the spell of obedience to their Kaiser!

Igor Severyanin, Gatchina
The war must be ended, Moreover - by all means:
My country is exhausted, Inhumanly tired.
There is an application for metal Much better than your brother.
Let horror be overthrown from its pedestal Minister, worker and soldier!

What nonsense, isn't it? I just can't believe this was taken seriously. And meanwhile - this is the original correspondence.

Bruce Lockhart, Petrograd
When it dawned on the British ministers how dangerous the Russian revolution was, great efforts were made to bring the Russians to their senses and sternly remind them of their allied obligations. Some genius came up with the idea of sending a Franco-British socialist delegation to convince the Russian comrades to continue fighting. And in mid-April, Messrs. Moutet, Cachin, and Lafont, representing the French Socialists, and Messrs. Jim O'Grady, Will Thorne, and W. W. Sanders, faithful followers of British Laborism, arrived in St. Petersburg to preach wisdom and patriotism to the Soviets. From the very beginning, the visit was a farce. The delegates did their job honestly. But, as might have been foreseen, they were completely lost in the wilds of Russian revolutionary phraseology. They were bewildered by the endless discussions about the terms of the peace. They understood the jargon of Russian socialists much worse than I did. An additional disadvantage for them was their lack of knowledge of the Russian language. But worst of all, they never managed to win the confidence of even moderate socialists, who from the very beginning perceived them as lackeys of their respective governments. Allied delegates arrived in Moscow. They have been to the front. Said - through an interpreter - countless patriotic speeches and, finally, left, becoming sadder and wiser.

Georges Maurice Paleolog, Petrograd, Kutuzov Embankment, 10
The French Socialist deputies have been somewhat cooler towards the Russian revolution ever since they have been watching it up close. The scornful reception they received from the Council somewhat cooled their admiration. They retain, however, a huge dose of illusions: they still believe in the possibility of galvanizing the Russian people with "a bold democratic policy oriented towards internationalism." I will try to prove them wrong. The Russian Revolution is essentially anarchic and destructive. Left to itself, it can only lead to a terrible demagogy of the mob and soldiery, to the severing of all national ties, to the complete collapse of Russia. With the unbridled nature of the Russian character, it will soon go to the extreme: it will inevitably perish amidst devastation and barbarism, horror and chaos. You do not suspect the immensity of the forces that are now unbridled ...

By the way, if anyone does not know - the Russian Empire fell on March 16, and on April 6 in world war the United States entered.

Nikolai Chkheidze, speaking at the General Front Congress, Minsk, City Theater
Comrades. If you didn't have shells before, it's not because the workers aren't working; there was not enough bread not because the working peasantry did not send bread, but because the servants of the old regime traded in your blood! We know what happened at your front, I know what the officers were told: the more people you put down at the front, the more promotions you will receive.

Nikita Okunev, Moscow
For a whole month we all soared in the clouds and now we are starting to descend to the ground and sadly agree that complete freedom was given to the Russian people a little prematurely. And he is lazy, and narrow-minded, and not entirely moral. And, what is especially bitter, there is no “prophet in our country” now. What a pity, what sorrow that Tolstoy did not live to see our ill-fated days.

Kira Allendorf, Moscow
We may not go anywhere in the summer, because now it is very difficult to travel. Yesterday at dinner, my mother said that it would be nice if we went to Nizhyn in the summer. How fun it would be!

Nadezhda Udaltsova, Moscow, Smolensky Boulevard, 65, apt. 82
Organization, chatter, and chatter. What's in the Council arts organizations that in the educational commission under the Soviet of Workers' Deputies. We have to work hard. I didn’t write an article for the magazine, things are not ready, but I think it will be over by July 8th. Actually, it's worrisome. The proletarians of all countries do not unite for some reason. England does not want to end the war. It may happen that they will declare war. Oh God, when will this inhuman war end? Is it really difficult for peoples to say “enough” to everyone? The Russian people told the whole world "enough".

Zinaida Gippius, Petrograd, Sergievskaya st., 83, 10.03.17
However, things do not subside, but seem to flare up. Slowly but steadily. (No systematic plan is visible so far; if there is anything, it is small, and very inside). Interestingly, the government shows no clear signs of life. Where it is and who, in fact, disposes of - do not understand. This is new. There is no former Trepov - "do not spare cartridges for the crowd." The prime minister (I don’t even immediately remember who we have) definitely died in his apartment. Protopopov also shuddered like hell. Someone, somewhere, seems to be ordering something. Khabalov? And not Khabalov. Strangles someone's giant corpse. But only. Strange feeling. Duma - "took revolutionary stance... ”, as a tram car occupies it when it is placed across the rail. No more.

Zinaida Gippius, Petrograd, 03/25/17
Here, by the way, under our windows we have a hundred thousandth procession with lemon-blue banners: Ukrainians. And very expressive inscriptions: “federal republic” and “independence”.

Mikhail Bogoslovsky, Moscow
Newspapers carry news of the Ukrainian congress in Kyiv, at which ardent voices are heard for secession of the Ukraine and for the proclamation of the congress by the Ukrainian Constituent Assembly, which will "octroy" the autonomy of Ukraine. O Russian land, collected by so many labors of the Great Russian tribe! Are you really starting to crawl along your not yet completely smoothed out seams! Can we really be again the Muscovite state of the 16th century!

Vasily Maklakov, Petrograd
The state has become general form hostels; and wherever it is, there is a struggle between man and him. And despite this struggle, they need each other; not one of them can be destroyed, so that the other does not suffer. For this struggle to stop, there must be a balance between them. It cannot be ordered. And people with their properties, and the state itself with skills and traditions state power determined by the past that educates and shapes them.

Pavel Skoropadsky, Corners, Volyn
The government is tottering and losing ground more and more. It is worth reading the resolution of the Congress of Soviets of Workers and soldiers' deputies. Obviously we'll go down the path of all sorts social experiments, in the end life may improve, but for 50 years we and our children will be doomed to a hard life.

Nikita Okunev, Moscow
The resolution of the Provisional Polish State Council says that by the act of February 5 an independent Polish state has already been created, and it does not want to unite with us, as being imposed on them and limiting their independence and violating the honor of a free people. State Council still considers the age-old Polish-Russian dispute over vast ethnographic areas unresolved.

And a little later there was such a greeting from the Bratsk Polyakoffs:

Then there were death camps, and everyone was killed.

Let's look deep into history, 1917 in the format of the social network and Twitter:

Pavel Milyukov, Petrograd, Mariinsky Palace
Despite the coup, we retained the main purpose and meaning of this war. The government will strive with even greater force to abolish German militarism, for our ideal is to abolish the possibility of any future wars.

Alexander Kerensky, Petrograd
The most important task of Russian democracy should be the desire to show that, together with the democracy of all the peoples living on the territory of the Russian state, it constitutes one common whole, which is based on respect for labor and for man. And then, we, we populist socialists, must act in concert with the socialist parties of other Russian nationalities. And I believe that in such ways the working masses, protected from any arbitrariness, will build a new state system and crown the work of many generations who selflessly gave their lives and their human dignity for the triumph of these two principles, for the organization of the state on two principles - labor and high human personality.

What nonsense, isn't it? I just can't believe this was taken seriously. And meanwhile — this is the original correspondence.

Bruce Lockhart, Petrograd
When it dawned on the British ministers how dangerous the Russian revolution was, great efforts were made to bring the Russians to their senses and sternly remind them of their allied obligations. Some genius came up with the idea of sending a Franco-British socialist delegation to convince the Russian comrades to continue fighting. And in mid-April, Messrs. Moutet, Cachin, and Lafont, representing the French Socialists, and Messrs. Jim O'Grady, Will Thorne, and W. W. Sanders, faithful followers of British Laborism, arrived in St. Petersburg to preach wisdom and patriotism to the Soviets. From the very beginning, the visit was a farce. The delegates did their job honestly. But, as might have been foreseen, they were completely lost in the wilds of Russian revolutionary phraseology. They were bewildered by the endless discussions about the terms of the peace. They understood the jargon of Russian socialists much worse than I did. An additional disadvantage for them was their lack of knowledge of the Russian language. But worst of all, they never managed to win the confidence of even moderate socialists, who from the very beginning perceived them as lackeys of their respective governments. Allied delegates arrived in Moscow. They have been to the front. They delivered - through an interpreter - countless patriotic speeches and, finally, left, becoming sadder and wiser.

By the way, if anyone does not know, the Russian Empire fell on March 16, and on April 6, the United States of America entered the world war.

Nadezhda Udaltsova, Moscow, Smolensky Boulevard, 65, apt. 82
Organization, chatter, and chatter. What is in the Council of Artistic Organizations, what is in the educational commission under the Council of Workers' Deputies. We have to work hard. I didn’t write an article for the magazine, things are not ready, but I think it will be over by July 8th. Actually, it's worrisome. The proletarians of all countries do not unite for some reason. England does not want to end the war. It may happen that they will declare war. Oh God, when will this inhuman war end? Is it really difficult for peoples to say “enough” to everyone? The Russian people told the whole world "enough".

Zinaida Gippius, Petrograd, Sergievskaya st., 83, 10.03.17
However, things do not subside, but seem to flare up. Slowly but steadily. (No systematic plan is visible so far; if there is anything, it is small, and very inside). Interestingly, the government shows no clear signs of life. Where it is and who, in fact, disposes of - do not understand. This is new. There is no former Trepov - "do not spare cartridges for the crowd." The prime minister (I don’t even immediately remember who we have) definitely died in his apartment. Protopopov also shuddered like hell. Someone, somewhere, seems to be ordering something. Khabalov? And not Khabalov. Strangles someone's giant corpse. But only. Strange feeling. The Duma - "took a revolutionary position ...", like a tram car takes it when it is placed across the rail. No more.

Vasily Maklakov, Petrograd
The state has become a common form of community life; and wherever it is, there is a struggle between man and him. And despite this struggle, they need each other; not one of them can be destroyed, so that the other does not suffer. For this struggle to stop, there must be a balance between them. It cannot be ordered. Both people with their properties, and the state itself with the skills and traditions of state power are determined by the past, which educates and forms them.

Pavel Skoropadsky, Corners, Volyn
The government is tottering and losing ground more and more. It is worth reading the resolution of the Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. Obviously, we will follow the path of all kinds of social experiments, in the end life may improve, but for 50 years we and our children will be doomed to a hard life.

Nikita Okunev, Moscow
The resolution of the Provisional Polish State Council says that by the act of February 5 an independent Polish state has already been created, and it does not want to unite with us, as being imposed on them and limiting their independence and violating the honor of a free people. The State Council still considers the age-old Polish-Russian dispute over vast ethnographic areas unresolved.

And a little later there was such a greeting from the Bratsk Polyakoffs:

Then there were death camps, and everyone was killed.

On the project website "1917. Free History" in the form of a social network, every day for the next year and three months, first-person records will be published. Nicholas II, Grigory Rasputin, Anna Akhmatova, Wassily Kandinsky and a thousand other heroes will talk about the events that took place in the life of the country and in their own life a hundred years ago. « RBC Style» talked to executive director project by Karen Shainyan about how the dates of its start and end were chosen, which character it was deliberately decided to refuse from and whether it was scary to publish a video with naked Nicholas II bathing.

— How was the idea for the project born?

— The main initiator of the project is Mikhail Zygar. He owns the idea, which was then finalized and brought to mind by the whole team. Active work on the project began in April 2016. Then there were 10 of us, and at first a lot was done on the knee. And later we were supported by Yandex, which became our publisher.

— How long will the 1917 Project last and why did it start already in 2016?

— The project has concrete start and end dates - November 14, 2016 and January 18, 2018. Thus, the project will last a year and three months. On November 14, 1916, the fifth session was opened State Duma Russian Empire IV convocation. And on the site on the first day of its existence there was even a special online - "live" broadcast from the meeting. This meeting was extremely important. In fact, the deputies accused the empress of treason, and all the events that followed this explain a lot in further history countries. The project will end on January 18, 2018, because on this day (attention, spoiler) they will disperse constituent Assembly. And after that, a completely different life of a completely different country will begin. Civil War is already outside the scope of the project. We were specifically interested crucial moment Russian history when there was a glow not only in the political, but also in the cultural life of the country.

— How were selected historical heroes project?

— At first, there were about 100 or 200 heroes. But then every month they were added and added. To tell the story of one person, sometimes the legacy that was left of him was not enough. The hero himself could write almost nothing, but his relatives and friends, meanwhile, could keep diaries and correspondence, mentioning him. And such heroes are illuminated as if from the side, they allow you to create more three-dimensional picture that time. As a result, the number of characters exceeded one thousand.

— Were there characters that it was decided to refuse to involve in the project?

— There was only one such character. This is Adolf Hitler. This is, to put it mildly, important character for the 20th century. But in 1917 it was a young man who had not yet planned all the horrors that he later produced. And then we deliberately abandoned the hero, so as not to provoke those who may be looking for a reason to start a scandal.

— By the way, speaking of those who are looking for a reason to start a scandal. The project includes a video of Emperor Nicholas II bathing naked. Were you not afraid to publish it against the backdrop of the scandal with the film "Matilda" by Alexei Uchitel?

— The naked king entered the water and allowed himself to be filmed at that moment. This is the chronicle that he left behind. We have an indisputable alibi - we publish only what is heritage and is taken either from already published sources or from archives that are known to belong to our people. And we give you the opportunity to see it.

— Now many media projects are turned to the theme of the past. Why do you think it is to her, and not to the future?

— We talked a lot about this with Mikhail Zygar. If you look at what is being said in Western Europe and in the New World - in Canada and the USA - everything is really about the future: about ecology, economics, technology. Everyone looks over there. And in Russia there are a lot of historical projects. The fact is that the history of the 20th century is not well digested in our country, people are not familiar with it. It is thoroughly ideologized and mythologized. Therefore, we think that our project will be very useful, because there is no interpretation and no medium between the document and the viewer.

— Who is the main audience of the "Project 1917"?

— This is related to the previous question. On the one hand, we wanted to make a historical project about the past. On the other hand, a lot of effort was put into making it relevant and similar to the social network of the future. Our form turned out to be as futuristic as possible. "Yandex" invests in the project not only in finance, but also in technology. And maybe they will help us do some miracles to bring the content to life even more. We talked about various technologies that, for example, allow you to bring archived video to the quality of a modern picture. And in general, we still have a lot of ideas that we intend to gradually “get out of our pockets”. And answering the question about the audience... With the format of social networks, visuality and “fashion” we want to attract those who are not interested in history at all. All these snapchats and chatbots with Rasputin are aimed at holding their attention. And those who already love history will come themselves.

»Mikhail Zygar, former editor-in-chief of the Dozhd TV channel, author of the book All the Kremlin’s Army. In addition to him, more than 100 journalists and historians worked on the project during the year, including one who participated in the launch project The Question journalist Sima Orekhanov, the creator of the "Suffering Middle Ages" Yuri Saprykin Jr. and journalist Andrey Borzenko.

According to the creators of the project, “1917. Free history" is an opportunity "to learn the history of 1917 from contemporaries and the main characters of the events of the most important year in the history of Russia in the 20th century." Every day there are updates on the site from life famous people- Emperor Nicholas II, opera singer Fyodor Chaliapin, poetess Anna Akhmatova and other key figures of the era. Everything is served in a format similar to the Facebook news feed: short posts, live broadcasts, videos and photos. The basis of the content is letters, diaries and eyewitness accounts, slightly adapted for ease of reading.

The project has already received mixed assessment. While some are enthusiastic about the idea, others say that there is nothing new in it. The Village learned from the editor-in-chief of 1917. Free History" by Mikhail Zygar, why a new resource is needed and what goals its creators pursue.

The goal of our project is to recreate a reality that existed 100 years ago. We imagined what would have happened if there had been the Internet at that time and people were using social networks. It turned out a virtual reality, created by means of a simulator social networks. This internet is a hundred years old.

We decided to present the story under the guise of social networks, because all users are used to them. It is understandable, convenient and interesting genre. People learn from the feeds news from the lives of their friends or people important to them. We want to achieve the same effect - for people to follow the lives of heroes they already know every day.

1917 was chosen for several reasons. First, due to round date. Secondly, because this is the most important period in the history of Russia in the 20th century. It seems to me that everything that happened to us in the 20th century and is happening now is a consequence of the events of 1917. In addition, this year was the apogee of the development of our country: this period saw the peak of the development of Russian culture, literature, theatrical art And Russian society. I think that the most famous Russian people in the world lived at that time; they walked along the same streets, met and created.

Many of our heroes are celebrities: stars Silver Age, great artists, actors of the Moscow Art Theater, ballet dancers, world-famous politicians. When choosing heroes, we focused primarily not on big names, although on them as well, but on the availability of sources and their fascination. We tried to take everything we could find. We managed to select for the project not only recognizable characters, but also ordinary people. It turned out about 1,500 heroes.

We use only authentic sources, shortening some of them for easy reading, but adding nothing of our own. Some of these sources are open, others can only be found in archives. It took us a year and a large team to process all the diaries, letters and memoirs. Every day we will update the event feed so that you can follow in real time what happened a hundred years ago.

Of course, before us, attempts were made to restore the history day by day, as well as the history of one year. But I know for sure that we are the first who not only reproduced stories from the past, but also allowed the reader to look at the world through the eyes of a hero, to feel how people felt inside the events and did not know how everything would end. It seems to me that we managed to create a genre that did not exist before. This is a genre of literature of the future, and maybe even at the junction of literature, theater, contemporary art and technologies.

Since I really believe in this genre, then, most likely, we will continue to master it using the example of other stages and countries after the end of “1917. Free History. For now, we plan to finish the project in January 2018. I do not rule out that we can change our minds and continue to implement it in a different form.

Various formats will be presented on the site. For example, on the launch day, we broadcast online the first meeting of the State Duma, which was remembered for the scandalous speech of the leader of the Duma opposition, Pavel Milyukov. There will also be the usual text recordings, videos and many online events. For example, this week the main thing will pass cultural event of 1916 - the opening of the exhibition of the association of artists " Jack of Diamonds". Users will be able to see all the pictures, find out what the authors and critics thought, how the cultural community reacted.

We announce known events in advance so that readers can plan their attendance. For example, on Thursday secret wedding Emperor's sister Princess Olga. But there are also events that happen spontaneously, such as cataclysms or murders. We do not warn about them, but broadcast them live.

In addition, we have interactive mechanisms that give a person the opportunity to communicate with one of the characters. At the launch, the most popular Russian character from a century ago, the influential preacher Grigory Rasputin, answers questions from users. In fact, this is a chat bot that operates exclusively with Rasputin's phrases.

I think people will pick their favorite characters and see how their lives unfold. For some it is very violent. For example, Nikolai Gumilyov does not write from the front to his wife Anna Akhmatova, communicating only with his beloved Larisa Reisner. Because of this, the poetess suffers a lot, and a real drama is brewing. Such storylines so many. And they are interesting to follow, so I know for sure that we will not run into a shortage of content.

Our goal is to popularize history. We want people to see in it not some boring discipline, completely divorced from reality and not directly related to them. On the contrary, we want to show that history is life. These are people just like us. And history explains a lot not only about what happened, but also about ourselves. Everyone has the opportunity to understand that he is faced with the same problems and thoughts that the person who wrote in his diary a hundred years ago faced.