The book is dedicated to the dramatic fate and scientific work of the outstanding Russian historian, ethnologist and geographer Lev Nikolaevich Gumilyov. The central part of it is occupied by the work of the President of the Russian Geographical Society S.B. Lavrov, who worked for about 30 years together with L.N. Gumilev at the Geographical Faculty of Leningrad State University and in the Geographical Society. The book is supplemented by the autobiography of L. N. Gumilev and his memories of his famous parents Nikolai Gumilyov and Anna Akhmatova, as well as the memories of the people closest to him - his widow N. V. Gumileva, writer D. M. Balashov, Yu. K. Efremov K. P. Ivanov and others. The book will be of great interest to anyone interested in the work of the outstanding scientist and thinker.