buddhist collections

The Formation History of TibetanBuddhist Collections in Museums of

Saint-Petersburg

Problems, sources, subject matter, tasks andmethods

A little step aside towards the Asian studies in Russia

Sources used 70 scientific publications of Russian Geographic Society

(within the period from the 1st half of XIX -beginning of XX cc.) Including:

articles on ethnography, anthropology, world economics travel notes of European missionaries about Tibet and China articles on geopolitics and colonization of Central and South Asian region travel notes of Russian explorers of Central Asia treatises of Russian expeditions to Mongolia, Tibet and Eastern Turkestan non-academic studies on buddhism, it’s history and doctrine

Academic travel notes and treatises on Buddhism, ethnography ofbuddhist nations, art gathering and collections (XVIII - beginning of XXcc.) Modern works on history of buddhist studies and buddhist artcollections in Russia


Remarkable names

G. F. Mller (1705–1783) P. S. Pallas (1741 – 1811) J. ErichJ. Schmidt

V. P. VasilyevI. P. Minaev

B. J. VladimirtsovO. O. Rosenberg


Remarkable names

F. I. Scherbatskoy S. F. Oldenburg


Renouned Travellers and Collectors of Art

N. M. Przhevalskiy P. K. Kozlov E. E. Ukhtomskiy


The Formation Time-line of the Reviewed Collections

I. XVIII century (Mller, Pallas, Erich)

II. XIX century (Shilling von Kanstadt)

III. Beginning of the XX century (up to mid 20s) (Ukhtomskiy,Oldenburg, Kozlov and others)

IV. Soviet period (Barannikov, Glovatskiy)

Revising the goal and tasks

The Goal :The eduction and reasoning of cultural and historical conditions, stages andparticularities of the formation process of Tibetan buddhist collections inmuseums of Saint-Petersburg

The Tasks : - analysis of the registration records of MAE, REM and SH to bring out the mainstages of formation history of individual collections and to determine theircomposition; - analysis of published materials of Russian expeditions of the second half of XIX –beginning of XX cc. to the Central Asia in aspects of verifying the chronologicalscope and historical and cultural factors of initial stage of formation process ofTibetan buddhist collections; - bringing out the cultural, historical and socio-economical factors, whichinfluenced the further existence of Tibetan buddhist collections, including museumfund work, exhibiting and scientific work; - bringing out the singularities of formation history of individual collections.

Basic SourcesPublications

1. Materials of expeditionsto Central Asia2. Studies on history andcontent of the buddhist artcollections3. Studies on history ofbuddhism in Russia 4. Works on dating andattribution of art objects5. Articles on theory ofmuseum fund work andexposure

Inventory lists and registrationrecords, museum archivematerials

Peter the Great Museum ofAnthropology and Ethnography(Kunstkamera)46 collections

Russian Ethnographical Museum56 collections

The State Hermitage5 collections

In Total - 107 collection records

Scholarly MethodsThe synchronical and diachronical analysis of formation history ofmuseum collections, containing Tibetan buddhist cult images

Diachronical sectionis represented by the consequential, ordered by the chronological principle,description of collections’ formation history, before which came thereconstruction of this process, lead by author.

Synchronical analysis, i.e. the reflection of the modern state, is represented by statistic data on collections’quantitative composition, andalso by schedules of their numbers, entry and registration time, registrar’surname.

Comparatively integral, uninterrupted retrospective of collections’ formationprocess, and also cultural and historical conditions, in which this process wason, is built upon the historiographical method. In present case it isfounded on matching the information, obtained as a result of collation ofvarious sources and researches on compliant thematic.

Thank You For Your Attention

buddhist collections

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