The French traveler and writer Astolf de Custine, having gone to Russia in 1839 as a staunch supporter of the monarchical form of government, returned to Europe as a liberal. The life of the imperial court and streets, both capitals and provinces - the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, Yaroslavl, Nizhny Novgorod - all this and much more the reader will find in the fascinatingly written and largely controversial memoirs of de Custine. "Without a doubt, this is the most entertaining and intelligent book written about Russia by a foreigner," wrote A. I. Herzen in 1843.