Modern lexicography is being replenished with dictionaries of a new type, which in their content combine information on the language and culture of a particular nation. The study is focused on the theoretical comprehension of such dictionaries, the identification of their most important characteristics and types based on the analysis of publications dealing with Russian culture. The article presents the analysis of the influential lexicographers’ theoretical works. As a result, the author specifies the definitions of dictionary types and determines the role of culture dictionaries in modern linguistics and language education. The article also distinguishes the subtypes (genres) of the cultural dictionary: a dictionary of concepts, linguocultural, linguistic and cultural dictionaries, a dictionary of cultural literacy. The author concludes that the dictionary of culture is a specific lexicographic genre, reflecting the achievements of modern directions of linguistics such as cultural linguistics, cognitive linguistics, and linguistic conceptology. These dictionaries combine linguistic, cultural and regional information. The dictionary has become not only a linguistic publication, but a book aimed at providing the reader with information on the culture and mentality of the nation. Dictionaries created to describe the cultural component for the purpose of understanding language and culture, their active use, and solving educational problems including problems of cross-cultural communication can be defined as culture dictionaries. As a result of the analysis of dictionaries of Russian culture, the author distinguishes the following genres: linguistic and cultural dictionaries aimed at describing a foreign language environment and culture, focused mainly on a foreign reader, containing information on geographical, social, political, ideological and other aspects of culture-specific concepts in the life of a particular country; dictionaries of cultural concepts, which are often not dictionaries in the traditional sense of the word, but collections of detailed philosophical and cultural articles; dictionaries of cultural literacy, containing information on culture, knowledge of which is necessary for successful communication; linguistic and cultural dictionaries, which popularize cultural information for a general audience and are especially useful for educational purposes.