Abstract:

The heroes of the presented article are not people, but the two picturesque canvases decorating the wall of the famous university corridor of the building of the XII Board - paintings by V.M. Oreshnikov «V.I. Lenin at the exam at St. Petersburg University» (1947) and L.S. Davidenkova «University to be!» (1994). Created by masters of different generations, they fix plots from the pre-revolutionary history of St. Petersburg University, but reflect different views on history as a whole and on the understanding of modernity. The background to the creation of canvases and their subsequent «fate», which became part of the history of St. Petersburg State University, is presented in the chronological outline of the outstanding events of the Leningrad-Petersburg University of 1944—1994.

Keywords: V.M. Oreshnikov, L.S. Davidenkova, St. Petersburg University, G.A. Tishkin, Yu.D. Margolis, N.N. Kuznetsova, the building of the XII College