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Immediately
after the October coup d’êtat of 1917 a question of
preservation of historical and cultural heritage of Russia was
sharply raised. Many private and state collections were under direct threat
of destruction due to sales or melting. Robberies, mass vandalism led to
numerous irretrievable losses. Members of the Russian Academy
of Sciences realized the course of events and some of them set a question of
need to take urgent measures for preservation of the Russian material
culture. Academicians S.F. Oldenburg, N.Ya. Marr,
V.V. Barthold, a number of other outstanding
scientists (P.K. Kozlov), the staff of different
museums actively participated in such activity. A.L. Berthier
de la Garde
(1842—1920), who lived and worked in the Crimea
was one of outstanding researchers and collectors of Classical and
“Barbarian” antiquities. He appeared in extremely difficult situation because
of old age, the state of health and lack of income. At the beginning of 1918
the Taurian Scientific Archival Commission has
appealed to the Russian Academy of Sciences to save a unique historical
collection of A.L. Berthier de la Garde
(1842—1920) and to support the scientist. The Permanent secretary of RAS S.F.
Oldenburg has addressed the people’s commissar of education A.V. Lunacharsky with a request to help to resolve this
problem, however changes of political powers in Crimea in 1918—1919 have
prevented its solution and the most valuable collection has been sold in
parts. At the moment a part of collection of Berthier
de la Garde
is stored in the British museum.
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Key words: historical and cultural
collections, Crimea, museums, archives, Russian Academy
of Sciences, A.L. Berthier de la Garde,
S.F. Oldenburg.
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Bukharin Michael
Dmitrievich (Moscow, Russia). D.Litt,
Chief Researcher of the Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of
Sciences, Full Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences
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