The “Christian Museum” Project in Chersonesus (2nd Half of the 19th Century)

Abstract

The article considers the history behind the emergence and development of the church and archaeological museum in the Chersonesus archaeological site (2nd half of the 19th century). The author employs the historical and anthropological approach and analyses archival documents, namely, management records and private documents (Saint Petersburg and Sevastopol archives). Referring to the aforementioned sources, he describes the main stages in the development of the concept of the museum, building designs, conditions in which the collection was formed, financial supplies and the reasons why the plans were never realized. The idea of the Christian Museum appeared as part of the project meant to restore Orthodox cultural monuments in the mid-19th century Crimea (Russian Athos). Members of the Odessa Society of History and Antiquities took part in the development of the project of the museum. To keep the antiquities there was a plan to build a special building that would look like an Orthodox church. The exhibition was to contain artefacts, illustrating the history of church life of Chersonesus in the Middle Ages. The collection of the future museum was being formed from items found during the excavations of the site between the 1860s and 1880s. The project was sponsored by voluntary donations. The idea was never realized, having lost its academic relevance and without the necessary financial support and due to the fact that the excavations of the monument were transferred under the supervision of the Imperial Archaeological Commission in the late 1880s.

Keywords

• история археологии
• охрана культурного наследия
• Крым
• Херсонес.