Russian medieval times can turn out to be not a grim chronicle, but a living map of human stories. At the presentation of Ivan Davydov's book, we will talk about saints and pilgrims, craftsmen and icon painters - and how cities preserve the memory of freedom, mercy, and choice. There will be time for dialogue and questions - without dryness. History is often reduced to a list of victories, conflicts, or defeats. This meeting offers a different perspective: to look at Russia's past through its people and their cities, through everyday decisions where freedom, mercy, and faith in meaning are tested. At the center of the conversation is Ivan Davydov's book "People and Cities. A Guide to Russian Medieval Times." Each chapter connects fate and place: here they argue with the tsar and defend dignity, there they outsmart the boyars and defend the right to love, further they learn tolerance for the other and seek a new language of iconography. This is not a collection of dates and terms, but a route through pre-Petrine Russia, where fools and saints, pilgrims and icon painters stand side by side, as well as those who are usually forgotten - "ordinary" townspeople. At the presentation, we will discuss why this perspective helps to read familiar plots in a new way and notice ourselves in them. How ancient Russian literature is structured, what attracts the modern reader, and why the question "how to remain human in inhuman times" sounds particularly acute today. The format is designed for a lively dialogue: you can listen, argue, ask questions, and leave with notes for further reading. If you are close to history, literature, and urban mythologies, if you want clear meanings without moralizing, this meeting will provide a rare sense of support: the past ceases to be a vague decoration and turns into a conversation about us - clear, human, and very personal. It is useful to come for those who are tired of black-and-white schemes and want to assemble their own "map" of the Middle Ages: which cities shaped the character of the era, how legends were born, and why holiness and rebellion sometimes find themselves next to each other. All entertainment in St. Petersburg is gathered on our website.