The book includes processed texts of lectures that were read in 1992-1996. students of the Faculty of History and Philology of the Russian State Humanitarian University on the subject "History of World Culture." Lectures by the famous antique historian G.S. Knaba first gives a general introduction to the problems of studying culture, and then we are talking about Greco-Roman antiquity as a classical heritage of the West and Russia (this part was co-authored with the classic philologist I.A. Protopopova). Lectures by the famous medievalist A.Ya. Gurevich on the material of medieval culture of Western Europe sets out some of the most important ideas of modern historical science. Lectures by M.L. Andreev are devoted to the Renaissance. The phenomenon known as "humanism" is especially considered. For students and teachers of humanities faculties of universities, teachers and students of secondary schools and for a wide readership.