by Olga BORISOVA, journalist In 2004 the Moscow-based Nauka Publishers launched a series of publications on the Renaissance - an era in the history and culture of Western and Central Europe (14th, 15th and 16th cent.), when the supremacy of the church in people's minds and souls began to cede to humanistic values - a trend manifested in the rekindling of interest in the classical literature, philosophy and arts of Hellas and Rome. Meanwhile several books have been off the press, such as - Humanistic Thought of the Italian Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci and the Culture of the Renaissance (both published in 2004); Theater and Theatricality in the Culture of the Renaissance (2005); Leon Batista Alberti and the Culture of Renaissance (2006); Images of Love and Beauty in the Culture of Renaissance (2007)... The latest publication of this cycle is devoted to Petrarch (Francesco Petrarca). It is a collection of the materials of the international conference (Moscow, 2004) on the 700th birth anniversary of the great Italian poet, thinker and father of стр. 92 humanism - a trend expressed in secular free-thinking versus the spiritual domination of the church (Francesco Petrarca and European Culture). In this anthology Russian and foreign authors look into the multidimensional creativity of the genius of the Renaissance, his attitude to the cultural traditions of antiquity and the Middle Ages, and his contribution to poetry and scholarly disciplines - philosophy, philology, history... They also consider how Petrarch and his writings were perceived by his contemporaries and by successive generations. Petrarch (Francesco Petrarca, 1304 - 1374)... To most readers he is first and foremost the votary and singer of Laura whom at age 23 (on the sixth of April 1327, at daybreak) he first saw in the Chiesa di Santa Chiara in Avignon. It was love at first sight. This love persisted over many years and gave birth to an anthology of superb v ... Read more