Russia to Digitize Leo Tolstoy’s Handwritten Archive
Yandex will provide the digital infrastructure for the 200th anniversary of the famous writer.
Russian technology company Yandex will serve as the “general digital partner” of the 200th anniversary of writer Leo Tolstoy, the company’s press service said. Together with the International Foundation Tolstoy Legacy, Yandex will digitize the handwritten archive held by the writer’s state museum reserve. Including drafts, the collection contains about 2 million pages. The material will be used to create the Tolstoy Manuscripts Museum.
A Virtual World of Tolstoy
Developers also plan to build a dedicated digital ecosystem centered on Tolstoy’s legacy. Using artificial intelligence, programmers will process archival photographs, recreate Tolstoy’s voice, and build an immersive virtual environment that introduces visitors to his life and work. His collected works have already been digitized as part of the project Slova Tolstogo (Tolstoy’s Words).
Materials that were previously available only in museum archives will now become accessible online to a broad audience.
