Аннотация:Despite the fact that many French travelers of the 19th century shared their impressions of visiting Russiain their memoirs, the modern readers are mostly familiar with the works of the Marquis de Custine, awriter, a traveler and, using the modern definition, a culturologist. The sphere of his interests was notexclusively limited to the study of the Russian culture – in his books he captured the features of the English,Scottish, Swiss, Italian, Spanish life; in other words, he conducted cultural research on the territory of thestates he visited. His aristocratic origin and extensive contacts, which provided the opportunity to receiveletters of recommendation addressed to people of high social status, allowed the marquis to get quiteclosely acquainted with the peculiarities of the Russian noble life of the Nicholas era and communicatewith the emperor himself and the empress Alexandra Fedorovna. Of course, de Custine’s short stay in thecountry and the use of unverified sources of information caused a number of inexcusable factual errors inhis two-volume book about Russia, but it was not the reason that gave rise to the sharp condemnation of hiswork by most of the Russian nobles. From the point of view of the readers, his book presented a tough andderogatory remark of sociological, economic, historical features of the development of the Russian culture,mentality, and relationships between people. In addition, the author drew parallels between differentcivilizations, often not to the benefit of the Russia. However, the time has come for an objective assessmentof Astolphe de Custine’s book and its impact on the Russian recipients