Peter I (the Great) edits Russia's first newspaper; first textbooks printed

In response to St. Petersburg's classicism, traditionalists build Church of the Transfiguration, on Kizhi Island in Lake Onega, with 22 domes, the most complex wooden structure ever built in Russia

Peter I begins construction of vast Peterhof Palace, St. Petersburg, to rival Versailles

Academy of Sciences established, St. Petersburg

Czarina Anna invites French dance teacher Jean Baptiste Lande to create Russian Imperial Academy to teach ballet to children of palace serfs; Lande also establishes ballet school in St. Petersburg

Michael Lomonosov, Russia's greatest Enlightenment scientist, educator, writes Russian grammar, helping create vernacular, secular Russian language

University of Moscow established