CENTERS OF MONGOLIAN STRUDIES IN RUSSIA (KAZAN, ST. PETERSBURG, IRKUTSK, ULAN-UDE): CERTAIN ASPECTS OF HISTORY AND THE PRESENT TIME (Mongolovednye tsentry Rossii (g. Kazan, g. Sankt Petersburg, g. Inkutsk, g. Ulan-Yde): nekotorye aspekty istorii i so

The article discusses the main periods of the development of Mongolian Studies in Russia. It points out difficulties of the whole process and its many dimensions. The research defines the necessity to further study social activities as well as the institutes and universities, to examine biographies and scientific heritage of famous and less known scholars of Mongolian Studies. The paper underlines the importance of investigating the co-operation between scholars from different countries, especially the Polish and Russian Orientalists, on different stages of the development of Oriental studies. The article shows the role of the University of Kazan, where in 1833 the first in Europe Chair of Mongolian Studies was opened under the direction of Osip Kovalevski (Jozef Kowalewski).