The past and the future of the Constitution of Russian Federation were reviewed in the Presidential Library

A conference reviewing “The Constitution of Russia yesterday, today, tomorrow” took place the Presidential Library on Constitution Day of the Russian Federation. The event was held jointly with the Faculty of Law of the North-West Institute of Management of the Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation. Leading lawyers-legislators along with university students of St. Petersburg attended the conference.

In the agenda of the conference was a panel discussion on “The Constitution of the Russian Federation and a challenge of time,” speaking appearances were focused on the basic law of our country.

Consequently, a leading research associate of the Presidential Library, PhD in Legal Sciences Konstantin Knyaginin introduced participants of the conference to the materials on this subject from the Presidential Library stock.

Owing to the Presidential Library website the Internet users can visit the Electronic museum of constitutional history of Russia. This project in an interactive form, using cutting-edge technologies, tells about the constitutional history and development of the justice from the Anna Ioannovna Conditions, constitutional projects of the Decembrists and the plots of Mikhail Speransky to the constitutions of the Soviet era. The main law adopted in 1993 in a nationwide referendum is presented to the maximum extent. The museum includes video and audio recordings, photographs, copies of original archival documents, scientific publications and other interesting materials.

Taking online 3D tour, users can virtually visit the Constitution Hall, which is located in the building of the Presidential Library. Its permanent exposition with displayed documents, photographs, and newsreels tells about the constitutions of Russia in the XX century. This hall presents a special exhibit — the one and only duplicate of the inaugural copy of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, handed over to the Presidential Library personally by President D. A. Medvedev on its opening day May 27, 2009.

Some more rare editions from the Presidential Library electronic stock are also of particular interest. For example, the digitized copy of State Charter of the Russian Empire — a reformatory project of the constitution, created by the order of Emperor Alexander I, could be observed on library website. Another rare edition A struggle for the Constitution covers the period from 1612 to 1861 and contains a lot of historical information and the quotations from the famous people regarding this issue.

In addition, the electronic collections The Constitution — the Basic Law, including collected texts of the constitutions of the Russian state of various historical periods, and The Constitution of the Russian Federation. 1993 are available on the website. The selection contains some documents reflecting the direct participation of the President in the work on the draft, the work of the Constitutional Council, as well as the materials related to the nationwide voting on the draft constitution on December 12, 1993.