Larisa Nikiforova

Art historian with degrees from Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia (Russian post-doctoral degree of Doctor of Culturology). She is a professor of the Department of Philosophy, History and Theory of Art at the Vaganova Ballet Academy (St. Petersburg); member of Russian Union of Artists (division of art-critic); Russian Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies and a member of the editorial board of the Society, Environment, Development journal. Her books are: Palace of Western European Baroque: The Experience of Interpretation with the Help of Rhetoric (2003); The Edifices of Power: Cultural History of Palaces (2011).