About Us

Bibliotheca classica Petropolitana

History

The Bibliotheca Classica, a classics reference library, was founded in the year 1993 in St. Petersburg as a new independent research center. Its founder is Alexander Gavrilov, who in 1993 received the New Europe Prize, which was established by six American and European Institutes for Advanced Study:

— Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton),
— Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (Stanford),
— National Humanities Center (Triangle Park, North Carolina),
— Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study (Wassenaar),
— Swedish Center for Advanced Study in the Social Sciences (Uppsala),
— Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin.

WHAT IS BICL AFTER 14 YEARS?

St. Petersburg has many libraries, but the Bibliotheca Classica is the first to have books on classics on open shelves for quick reference and easy access. Here scholars can find the most important Greek and Latin texts, dictionaries, and other works of reference as well as books covering numerous aspects of classical research. Since its foundation the library has acquired through gifts and purchased approximately 20 000 volumes. It maintains contacts with foreign scholars and institutions, and it welcomes and supports younger students of antiquity by organizing seminars, lectures, an introductory course in classical bibliography for students of the Department of classics of St. Petersburg State University, and round-table discussions.

PUBLICATIONS

The Bibliotheca Classica publishes a biannual classical journal, ‘Hyperboreus’. Articles in European languages widely used in academic activities are accepted. Since 1994 to date 11 volumes have appeared. The distributor is C. H. Beck Publishing House in Munich. Other publications of BiCL is ‘The Ancient World and Us’ (1997, 2000, 2003), which is in Russian (the last issue has an English summary), and annually since 2000 ‘Abaris’ (the Magazine of Friends of Gymnasium сlassicum Petropolitanum). In 2004 the Bibliotheca Classica together with St. Petersburg Institute for History has published ‘Corpus inscriptionum regni Bosporani: Album imaginum (CIRB-album)’ which is an album of illustrations to the Corpus inscriptionum regni Bosporani (CIRB). Moscow–Leningrad, 1965.

AMICI BIBLIOTHECAE CLASSICAE

The BiCL is supported by ‘Amici Bibliothecae Classicae’, an international committee based earlier in Bern and now in Berlin. The Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin as well as Seminar für Klassische Phililogie at Freie Universität Berlin has given, and continues to give, valuable logistic assistance.

GYMNASIUM CLASSICUM PETROPOLITANUM

The Bibliotheca Classica is closely connected with the first St. Petersburg Classical High School (Gymnasium Classicum Petropolitanum) in which it is housed.

INFORMATION

Administration:

Alexander Verlinsky (director the "Bibliotheca classica Petropolitana")
Alexander Gavrilov (founding director)
Anatoly Ruban (managing director)
Olga Budaragina (academic secretary)
Konstantin Katenin (computer support)