Objective. Historical analysis of liver surgery development from the first experiments to the present day as an example of evidence-based medicine principles development in surgical practice. Key points. The first descriptions of liver anatomy date back to 2000—3000 BC while the first successful attempts of liver injury management — to the XV century. However, successful treatment of liver injuries was a rather rare observation. The era of liver surgery has started at the beginning of the 19th century. The introduction of general anesthesia in the 1840s and antiseptics in the 1860s accompanied this event into surgical practice. Other notable events of the XIX—XX centuries were the invention of the hepatic suture by M.M. Kuznetsov and V.R. Pensky, Pringle maneuver to halt hemorrhage and further analysis of liver anatomy by H. Rex and D. Cantley. Enhanced development of liver surgery was observed after the Second World War. First of all, it was caused by the experience of treating liver injuries accumulated during the war. Moreover, French anatomist and surgeon C. Couinaud published fundamental research devoted to the segmental structure of the liver during this period. New less traumatic inventions for liver tissue dissection have been developed in the 1980s. The adoption of a unified classification of liver resections is an essential event of the 20th century in this area. The end of the 20th century is the era of the introduction of high-tech interventions (laparoscopy and robot-assisted surgery). Conclusion. Information about the successes and failures of their predecessors is required for physicians and researchers. These data are not always easy to be collected in disparate sources. It is necessary to have the sources of information summarizing the main accumulated knowledge in order to create a unified picture of the scientific field in the conditions of advanced specialization. The publication of the above-described format facilitates this.