Pepeliaev Group jointly with the State Historical Museum have republished a centuries old Siberian book of business data
Pepeliaev Group has contributed to the republishing of Siberia's Book of Business Records (Okladnaya Kniga) - a project launched by the State Historical Museum. Siberia's Book of Business Records is a handwritten heritage document dating back to the end of the seventeenth century. It contains exhaustive data on Siberia's business, financial and political life.
The Book of Business Records was created in 1697 in Moscow by Sibirsky Prikaz (a central state authority from the seventeenth century with responsibility for overseeing the region). It was used as a reference when routine administrative work was to be done. The Book of Business Records contained information required for administrative decisions relating to Siberia to be taken: data relating to the country's geography, its revenue and expenditure, and its armed forces.
Most of the book is dedicated to a description of Siberian towns: what transport options are available in a town, on what river it stands, at what distance it is located from other towns, how many inhabitants a town has and what their professions, salaries, annual income and expenses are and other information required for the town to be governed.
The specialists of the State Historical Museum have translated the text from Old Slavonic to modern Russian. Ancient prints from the collection of the State Historical Museum and a big map of Siberia of the seventeenth century have been included in the Book of Business Records as illustrations.
The republishing of the book is of enormous social, scientific and cultural importance as this is a single copy of a precious document which can be called the budget code of the time.
- 'Across 320 years since the date when the book was published, the importance of Siberia has been increasing,’ comments Pepeliaev Group's managing partner Sergey Pepeliaev. ‘Siberia generously expends its resources and needs to be treated with attention and care in return. Whatever turmoil Russia suffers, whoever promises us help and friendship, we should rely on ourselves. We should preserve what helped our ancient predecessors to survive and what should serve our successors. The project to republish Siberia's Book of Business Records is another milestone to mark good friendship between Pepeliaev Group and the State Historical Museum. Over all this time, we jointly have restored and issued to the world precious monuments of history and law. Such heritage documents serve as a proof our ancient origin and make us take pride in our power and diversity and the great history of our country.'
- 'Although this Siberia's Book of Business Records is not the only one known to us, other documents of such type focus only on a single aspect of exploring this vast territory,’ comments Alexey Levykin, Director of the State Historical Museum. ‘Siberia's Book of Business Records of 1697 is unique because it sums up more than thousand years' history of the conquest of Siberia. It provides consolidated information on the demographic and economic situation in the region at a critical point in Russian history - the reign of Peter the Great. I am sure that Siberia's Book of Business Records of 1697 will take its rightful place among published sources on the history of this region and its importance for our country will steadily increase.'
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