About LUCRES

LUCRES offers a wide range of expertise of scholars at Leiden University who share a common interest in the many intruiging aspects of Russian life and society.

Together with its partners in Europe and Russia, LUCRES aims to achieve the following goals:

• disseminate knowledge on Modern Russia within academe and society at large
• offer top-quality education on Russian language, culture and society
• be the core of an international centre for research in the field of Russian and Eurasian studies
• serve as a showcase for the combination of area studies and disciplinary approaches, preparing students for the globalized world

Next to training the future generation of graduates with very good knowledge of present-day Russia, LUCRES is determined to make a contribution to our understanding of the inner workings of Russian society, culture, politics and economy and its position within the world. It is the complex interplay of global forces, local particularities of the Russian economy, culture and politics that is posing the biggest challenge for research on Russia's past, present and future.

We are convinced that those who can grasp this interplay will be the ones best prepared for acting within Russian society and interacting with Russian partners worldwide. To this end we hope not only to facilitate top-quality teaching and research, but also offer training modules for junior and senior leadership personnel from interested companies.

Russia and The Netherlands

The bond between the Netherlands and Russia has traditionally been a strong one and dates back to the times of tsar Peter the Great. Witness of the strong cultural ties is the spectacular Hermitage Amsterdam, a dependency of the famous State Hermitage in Saint-Petersburg.

The economic links are also very strong: almost one fifth of the foreign investments in the Russian Federation comes from the Netherlands, making it the second largest investor in the Russian economy, before countries as the UK, Germany and the USA.

Leiden

LUCRES is hosted by Leiden University, the oldest university of the Netherlands (1574). Its department of Slavic and Russian Studies is one of the oldest in Europe: the chair of Balto-Slavic languages, including Russian, was founded as early as 1913.

The world-famous slavist professor Nicolaas van Wijk was the first holder of the chair until his death in 1941. Many of his works are written or translated in Russian, like for instance N. van Vejk, Istorija staroslavjanskogo jazyka (1957). The present holder of the chair is professor Jos Schaeken, who works in the same philological tradition as van Wijk.