Abstract: This article analyzes the history of establishment and development of the national higher education in the area of culture and art during the Soviet period and modern Russia. Relevance of the topic is defined by the fact that the national university education in the area of culture and art forms the artistic-creative potential of society, reproduces the subject of culture, targeting it directly on the cognition and practical manifestation of the ideals of freedoms, truth, good, beauty and love. The object of this research is the history of national university education in the area of culture and art. The subject is the peculiarities of establishment and development of the national higher education in the area of culture and art during the Soviet period and modern Russia. The present stage marks the emergence of the new paradigms of cultural development and the development of modern education, which undoubtedly requires the consideration of the experience of establishment and development of higher education in the area of culture and art during the Soviet period and modern Russia. The scientific novelty lies in a multifaceted analysis, as well as the study within the framework of a single article of the various aspects of establishment and development of higher education in the area of culture and art. Practical importance of this research consists in the potential implementation of its materials for the more extensive examination of this topic.