The gothic scripts appeared of a slow and progressive way in France and Europe from the 13th century. It was born thanks to the influence of the writing tool, to the art of the insular calligraphy. Symbol of the Middle Ages, the gothic letter is the fruit of the hand of man. Gradually becoming obsolete in France, the Gothic style progressively comes back to the use from the 18th century, mostly for display use. During the first half of the 19th century, Europe sees the apogee of “neo-Gothic” style, largely thanks to the artistic and literary movements of the time.

During the same period and under the western influence, at the social, cultural and more specifically literary – therefore typographic – level, it is an opportunity for Russia to discover the Gothic letters.
Literature has been a powerful vector for the transmission of typographic art. This is what has given to Russia the opportunity to engrave new unpublished typefaces: Gothic Cyrillic typefaces.

This artificial creation proposing the meeting of two culturally different entities, could be described as a typographic “oxymoron”, a scriptural “oxymoron“. The “Cyrillic-Gothic“ match is unusual, in addition to being unexpected: the Russian Gothic type has a great cultural contrast.