This book is conceived as a manual for "independent reading," helping to understand the principles of the development of the science of the universe. It appeared as a result of our practical work in astronomy and is a philosophical understanding of the history of cosmology from its inception in ancient Greece to the latest achievements in research on the large-scale structure of the Universe. Professional participation in the development of modern models of the world allowed us to highlight those ideas in the history of cosmology that were key to the scientific picture of the world of each era, as well as open the curtain on the very process of creating cosmological models.