Efim Rezvan

MAE (Kunstkamera), RAS, St. Petersburg, Russia

E-mail: efim.rezvan@mail.ru

From Envoy Extraordinary of Emperor of Russia to Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the USSR: Collections of Diplomats at the St. Petersburg Kunstkamera Museum. I

Abstract. The history of the Kunstkamera collections in St. Petersburg is associated not only with a constellation of eminent scholars and travellers who pioneered European ethnography, but also with missions by Russian intelligence officers and diplomats. The present article is the first in a series of contributions focusing on the MAE collections in the context of their diplomatic history. These articles will have different authors; some of the articles may be devoted to a monographic description of one item, others to whole collections or gems within them. This work will take years to complete and is expected to result in the publication of a richly illustrated album-monograph on the items, collections and, more importantly, the people and historical events that formed the background to the collectors' work, and on the scholarly continuity that has been maintained despite Russia's tragic history in the 20th century. Many of the museum items mentioned in the articles of the series are the most important testimonies both to the history of Russia's relations with the countries of the East and to the emergence and development of Oriental studies and museology in Russia.

Keywords: History of the Kunstkamera collections, diplomats as collectors, A. A. Adamov, G. A. Astakhov, O. G. Peresypkin

DOI: 10.31250/1238-5018-2024-30-1-50-57

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 Received by the Editorial Board: 09.08.2023