The purpose of the article is to create foundation for the conception of the thesaurus as the information net of culture. The tasks include: 1) to present the history of the thesaurus studying; 2) to demonstrate how the thesaurus analysis of language facts can help to study the information net of culture; 3) to reveal explanation potential of the thesaurus conception for linguistic interpretation of the information cultural net. According to the tasks the article can be divided into three main parts. The first part is devoted to the history of the thesaurus studying in linguistics and other liberal arts. The second part gives the thesaurus analysis of the most popular in Russia pieces of literature. The third part provides conclusion on the explanation potential of the thesaurus conception.

Key words: thesaurus, culture, information, set collocation of words.