The article considers the history of soviet local studies at the turn of 1920-1930s and the magazine «Kraeved-massovik», which was published in 1931-1932 as the periodical publication of the local historians of the Moscow region. The magazine published the material, which reflected all the main processes of the reorganization of the local studies movement, the reorganization of local studies work in the USSR and in the Moscow region, associated with the state policy of the industrialization, the collectivization and the cultural revolution.

Donskoy monastery’s monastics’ (monks’) genuine reminiscences of the 1812 Patriotic war represent colourful descriptions of the events that were happening in Moscow cloisters before, during and after the French invasion. In the introductory article their content is analyzed, the narration is arranged in chronological order, brief biographic information about authors is reported.

The article reconstructs the history of Moscow St. Nicholas in Klenniki church on the street Maroseyka. As in different ages the Church was known under various names, various place names in connection with a reference to the place are considered. The characteristic of service in the temple of the elder known under secular name of the Holy and righteous Alexis and his son, the martyr Sergius Mechyov. There is a continuity in the pastoral activities of the arch-priests of St. Nicholas Klinikowski Church, when Maroseyka penitent family-community was being formed.

The article discusses the history of the Orthodox centers of the former village (now a district of Moscow) Preobrazhenskoe and its nearest environs: the Preobrazhenskoe Old Believers graveyard, the St. Nicholas monastery of common faith and the Synodal temples of the Saviour of Preobrazheniya and nearby Vvedensky in Cherkizovo. Each of these spiritual and cultural-historical centers had their own specific face, differed in functional and architectural terms. These centres are considered in the interaction, as the complex, and also as the unique cultural phenomena that developed at the one historic territory. The article says about the history of appearance, the features of everyday life and activities and about the future of these Orthodox centers.

The study of the scale of loss of cultural heritage in 1920-1930s is a pressing task for researchers. This publication introduces the documents on the demolition of the ancient Moscow temple of St. Nicholas on Myasnitskaya street in 1928. Here are the texts of the decree of the Presidium of the all-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Mossovet, the extracts from protocols of the meetings of the Central state restoration workshops, the address of a community of believers, of different scientific organizations and institutions, and individual scientists (academicians S.F. Oldenburg, N.I. Marr, N.P. Likhachev, etc.) to the all-Russian Central Executive Committee with a request top reserve the monument. The arrangement of documents in chronological order enables one to see the dynamics of events that preceded the demolition of the monument, the decision-making mechanism of the Moscow and Central authorities on the destruction of the temple. The documents show that the Central and local authorities ignored the requests of authority scientific organizations and the known scientists to keep the ancient monument. The characteristic of documentary complexes on the subject and mentioning of the archival documents that are not included in the publication are there in the Preface.

The article considers the shipbuilding timber (reserve) of Russiain the XVIII-XIX centuries, which were a powerful socio-economic resource and a factor in the creation of the legislative basis in the sphereof natural management. The author analyzes the process of establishment of management and protection of shipbuilding timber forests and their impact on thevarious kinds of industrial production of regions.Particular attention is paid to the problems of management of thistype of forests (cutting and delivery to ports for needs of the Navy).

The article shows the role of the City Duma in the measures on the improvement of Moscow at the beginning of the reign of Paul I, until the introduction of the new system of public administration of the old capital in the spring of 1799. Particular attention is paid to the influence of the Emperor^,s orders on the work of the Duma. It characterizes changes in the competence of the Duma in the years 1797-1798 in matters related to the problems of improvement of the city. The activities of the Duma in the city trade regulation and the organization of crossings across the Moscow River is considered.

Every province of Central Russia was touched on with the hostilities. The article describes some processes that took place in the estates near the battle area. The author speaks about the conscription and its influence on the household management; about the foodstuff collection for the army and about the farmstead economy of that period. The farmstead devastation because of the military units and fugitive peasants is also mentioned in the article.

The article attempts to consider the main trends in the developmentof one of the most important branches of art industry of Moscow ofthe XIX century - the metalwork (gold-silver, bronze, zinc and otherproduction), to identify its characteristic features and uniqueness and to understand the role and place of the metalwork in the art subject of Russian culture.

The article deals with the problems of creation and functioning of the editorial board of the newspaper “Golos Kryma”, its relationship with the German authorities propaganda. Particular attention is paid to reasons of cooperation of the civilian population with the German occupation authorities in the Crimea by the example of the editorial board of the publication.