Activity of the committee of the museums, art monuments and antiquities conservation, national culture and nature in Tomsk province (July 1921 - May 1925)

The article is devoted to the conservation of the cultural heritage in Tomsk province since July 1921 until May 1925. During this period the local cultural heritage was conserved by the Board of Education, specifically by the committee of the museums, art monuments and antiquities conservation, national culture and nature. Since July 1921 until summer 1922 committee consisted of three divisions: conservation of archaeological sites, monuments conservation and museum section. The committee worked in several areas. The archaeological division organized excavations and engaged in scientific processing of the accumulated archaeological material. The architectural division dealt with inspection, measuring, sketching and photographing the Tomsk architecture. The work on the old Tomsk sketches acquirement continued. The museum division has been working on the organization of the museum in Tomsk. Employees involved in the description, attribution and compiling a catalog of available items. The museum was opened in March 1922 as a part of the following departments: painting of the old Tomsk; artwork; Empire-style hall; East Hall with collections of China and Japan art; Hall of the 30-ies of the XIX century; archeology and library room. The activities of the committee has ceased due to lack of funds in the summer of 1922. The committee resumed work in the spring of 1923. There were only 3 employees in the renewed committee. The organization is constantly lacked of funds. The main tasks at that time were the adoption of measures for the conservation of art treasures, monuments and documents; activities on the research of the local region; cultural and educational work. During this period, the committee worked sporadically, in each case, and could not organize the planned work, because its funds were very limited. All activities exhausted by the organization of work in the Tomsk Regional Museum. At the end of 1924 - beginning of 1925 the committee activities ceased. Despite financial problem, lack of professional staff and authorities support, the committee performed the tasks. Staff committee managed to organize the conservation of historical and cultural monuments in the region. An important achievement of the committee was the transfer to an independent public funding of the Tomsk Regional Museum. The lifetime of the committee has been productive and consistent regional experience in the issue of cultural heritage conservation and actualization.

Keywords

Authors

References