The film art of the Russian Empire, in the light of the current state of research, may not be completely terra incognita, and yet a number of issues on this topic still need to be elaborated and saved from oblivion. The subject of the present research are the lost or only partially preserved horror movies filmed in the country of the last tsar of Russia – Nicholas II. The author recalls the circumstances of the creation of specific films, as well as the critical reception of such productions as Vasily Goncharov’s Viy (1909), At Midnight in the Graveyard (1909/1910) by the same director, The Vampire Woman (1915) by Viatcheslav (Victor) Tourjansky or two films by Ladislas Starevich: The Portrait (1915) and another screen adaptation of Viy (1916?).

Eugene Schuyler was the first American to travel to Central Asia. Recognized as a scholar diplomat, he had written extensively on Russia and served as the US consul to Reval and the secretary of the American legation in St. Petersburg. During his diplomatic service in Russia, Schuyler was granted absence of leave to visit Central Asia and witnessed the Russian conquest of the region. He was also accompanied by the Russian army to visit the Ili region in Xinjiang amid the Dungan Revolt (1862–1877). Schuyler’s unusual experience was detailed in his travelogue Turkistan, Notes of a Journey in Russian Turkistan, Khokand, Bukhara, and Kuldja. This paper aims to analyze his travelogue to track down the earliest American contact with Central Asia. It argues that the US, even though aware of Russian military activity in the region from Schuyler’s report, tacitly acknowledged Russia’s hegemony in Asia. This could be attributable to Schuyler’s partiality to Russia’s cause, the generally congenial atmosphere in the US-Russia relations in the 1870s, and the absence of perceived US interests in Central Asia. The US foreign policy decision of the 1870s had far-reaching economic consequences and lasting political implications into the 19 ^th century and beyond.

The article presents the two known Poland-related statements by the Hungarian Orientalist Arminius Vámbéry (1832–1913), who explained his opinion on the possible independence of a Polish state twice – in 1898 and 1906. In 1898, he was interviewed by the Budapest correspondent of the Kraków-based Polish newspaper Nowa Reforma. In 1906, he answered an international survey by the cultural journal Krytyka, based in Kraków as well. Vámbéry’s answer to the question of whether Poland should gain independence once again was positive. Still, he justified the necessity of Polish independence not with the interests of the Polish people but with Europe’s wish to be protected from the Russian Empire: to Vámbéry’s mind, an independent Poland should serve as Europe’s bulwark against the Russian enemy. Vámbéry’s fear of the Russian Empire might be in line with his previous views on the Great Game, the rivalry between the Russian Empire and Great Britain on influence in Central Asia, and the European public opinion at the end of the 19th century.