Published on: 2026-09-14
Source: Moscow Government – Правительства Москвы –
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Residents of the capital will be able to choose which archival documents will be added first to the “Search through Archives” service. Voting prepared by the project “Active citizen» jointly with Main Archive of Moscow.
Materials on the topics that received the most votes will become a priority for digitization and subsequent implementation of artificial intelligence (AI)-based search. This will expand online access to documents of interest to researchers, genealogists, and everyone studying the history of the capital.
“In the field of AI technology applications, the Main Archive of Moscow became one of the first to provide users with wide online access to 15 million pages of documents from the capital’s Archival Fund and other regions of the country. Since 2023, this has been possible thanks to the digital resource ‘Search through Archives,’ developed jointly with the company Yandex. The intuitive and ultra-fast portal is indispensable for obtaining a wide variety of historical information. Previously, this required months or even years of work, but now anyone can try themselves as a researcher—remotely and without spending valuable time resources. Within seconds, a specially trained neural network recognizes hard-to-read handwritten text. Cross-search and customizable filters can cover any time periods set by the user, consider all or specific repositories, and process various types of queries by combining words. For example, first and last names, names of churches, streets, various organizations,” said the head of the Main Archive of Moscow.
From urban everyday life to the history of the nobility
City residents were offered four topics dedicated to different aspects of Moscow’s history: daily life, education, book printing and book trade, as well as the nobility. Participants in the voting can choose one of these directions, suggest their own option, or indicate that these decisions should be made by specialists.
Thus, the topic “Life of Moscow in the second half of the 18th — early 20th century” is dedicated to the life of the city. Archival documents contain rules for the maintenance of streets and sidewalks, information about fire prevention measures, duties of janitors, night watchmen, cab drivers, merchants, and homeowners, as well as regulations for the operation of cinemas and theaters.
The direction “Education in Moscow in the late 19th — early 20th century” includes tens of thousands of personal files, lists, and student cards. These materials will help restore information about the students of the Imperial Moscow University and the female attendees of the Moscow Higher Women’s Courses.
The section “Printing and Book Trade in Moscow at the End of the 18th — Beginning of the 20th Century” tells about city publications — from textbooks to exhibition catalogs, as well as about the work of printing houses, lithographic and book trade establishments.
The topic “Nobility of the Moscow Province in the late 18th — early 20th century” covers genealogical books, documents on nobility, service records, and other materials.
Millions of pages of archived documents online
The “Search by Archives” portal provides online access to archival documents and allows searching for information including in hard-to-read handwritten texts. Since February 2025, the resource has also become available to young users of the platform “Moscow Electronic School“. In addition, there is the metropolitan online service “My Family,” which allows you to study your genealogy through metric books, revision lists, confession registers, and marriage surveys.
Which digital services of the Main Archive help Muscovites in searching for information
Examples of how quickly valuable information can be found include the marriage record from 1844 of Anton Gorenko and Irina Voronina, the grandparents of Anna Akhmatova, in the Admiralty Cathedral dedicated to Saint Nicholas. There is also a record of the baptism in 1833 of Vadim Davydov, the son of the poet-partisan Denis Davydov, in the Pokrovskaya Church of the village of Verkhnyaya Maza. The archival materials also contain birth and baptism metrics of Konstantin Korovin, Alexander Scriabin, and Nikolai Vavilov, and a mention of the birth of the poet Yevgeny Dolmatovsky in 1915. One can also find a 1900 record stating that the godfather at the baptism of Irina, daughter of Fyodor Chaliapin, was Sergei Rachmaninoff, as well as a 1805 confessional ledger with the first documentary evidence of the life in Moscow of the 10-year-old Alexander Griboyedov.
In addition to genealogical documents, “Archive Search” allows working with periodicals. The service includes collections of provincial and diocesan reports from the 19th century, central and regional newspapers, rare army publications from the Great Patriotic War period — in total more than 350 titles. These materials help study the development of production, science and technology, achievements in education, sports, culture and art, as well as everyday life, traditions, and family structures.
Another area of work for the Main Archive of Moscow is the preservation of monuments of spiritual and cultural heritage. For example, recently thanks to a federal project “Family values and cultural infrastructure” national project “Family” the restoration of the Menaion book from the collections of the Sevastopol archive has been completed. The printed edition from the early 19th century testifies to the evolution of hymnographic literature, the history of domestic book printing, and liturgical practice.
Sobyanin: A unique restoration of a printed edition has been completed in Moscow
Voting is conducted on the “Active Citizen” project website. It is available to users with a full or standard account on the mos.ru portal. Points for the city’s loyalty program will be awarded for participation. “Million Prizes”. They can be used to obtain goods and services from organizations that are partners of the program or directed to charity. The points usage options are presented on the website ag-vmeste.ru.
Project “Active Citizen” has been operating since 2014. During this time, more than seven million people have joined it, and a total of over 7.9 thousand votes have taken place. Every month, 30 to 40 decisions made by Muscovites are implemented in the city. The project is developed by the State Public Institution “New Management Technologies” and the city Department of Information Technology.
The creation, development, and operation of e-government infrastructure, including the provision of mass socially significant and other services, as well as services in electronic form, correspond to the objectives of the national project “Data Economy and Digital Transformation of the State” and the regional project of the city of Moscow “Digital Public Administration.” More about Russia’s national projects and the capital’s contribution can be found at special page.
A large-scale project appeared on the mos.ru portal special project, dedicated to the development of key sectors of Moscow. Among them are transport, industry, healthcare, education, sports, and the construction industry. The special project helps to learn how the capital has changed over recent years, which initiatives aimed at making life more comfortable for residents are currently being implemented, and what awaits Moscow and its inhabitants in the near future.
On the project page “Culture, Heritage, and Leisure Industry” You can learn about how architectural monuments are preserved in the capital.
Moscow is the cultural center of the country and ranks among the leading metropolises in terms of the number of museums and exhibition halls. The city has established a film cluster that unites the Mosfilm studio on Ryazansky Avenue, the Gorky Film Studio, and the Mosfilm Park.
Quickly find out the main news on the official channels of the city of Moscow in messengers “Max” and “Telegram”.
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