The Russian State University for the Humanities is an educational institution which trains specialists in all areas of knowledge in the humanities. Drawing upon more than three hundred years of the Russian higher education tradition, as well as upon the experience (and example) of the two unique Russian educational institutions – the Alfons L. Shanyavsky Moscow Public University and the Moscow State Institute for History and Archives – the RSUH is the rightful heir to the traditions of these excellent institutions in its mission to help revive the atmosphere of art and culture in education. The Moscow Public University, founded in 1908 through the initiative of Alfons Leonovich Shanyavsky, an eminent Russian patron of arts, played a special role in Russian education. Up to 1918, It was the first “free” university center unfettered by formal limitations and open to everyone “truly thirsting for knowledge.” It implemented the progressive principles of alternative education in conjunction with a sound academic foundation available to all. The Moscow State Institute for History and Archives was founded in 1930 for training archivists. Over the years, it became a center of academic research. In its archival pursuits in areas of history and such auxiliary realms as the study of primary sources, archaeology and paleontology, it managed to preserve the very best of the Russian research tradition. By the beginning of the 1990s, this institution has achieved an actual university level which naturally enabled it to become the structural heart of the RSUH founded in 1991. Facts and Figures Institutes 7 Divisions 18 Specializations - 78 Subject areas Joint international specializations - 23 Bachelor programs - 3 Master programs - 4 Councils for Doctoral Degrees – 12 Councils for Candidate’s Degrees – 3 Research Institutes - 4 Academic Library - 1 000 000 volumes, 30 000 volumes of rare editions Museum center - 4 Regional branches – 35