Vasily Markovich Florinsky and his contribution to Russian Muzeology

The main purpose of this publication is covering of the museum activity of V.M. Florinsky. It is shown that professor Florinsky, professionally engaged in medicine, became the collector, amateur of museums in Europe and Russia, who researched in the field of medicine, as well as archeology, ethnography, archaeography. Florinsky was very fond of antiquity and skillfully combined his hobby with professional duties. It was not by chance that he was entrusted to make a project for a historical-ethnographic museum attached to the Society of Archeology, History and Ethnography of the Imperial Kazan University. Florinsky did an excellent job with the assignment, but his project was not fully completed in Kazan. It is known that in 1880 Florinsky arrived in Tomsk and took the lead the construction and opening of the Imperial Tomsk University. In 1882, before the opening of Tomsk University, Florinsky established the Archeological Museum, first in North Asia. Florinsky personally took full responsibility for the state of the Archaeological Museum. The creation of a museum of archeology as part of the medical faculty was not provided for by the charter of the Imperial Tomsk University, therefore Vasily Markovich Florinsky engaged his own forces and connections. He attracted donators, organized works on the acquisition and storage of funds, arranged the exhibition of various museum collections. Asking the question of how this very busy official man managed to form a rich museum collection in such a short time, the author of this article found the answer in an appeal to Florinsky's earlier museum experience. A comparison of the project of the Kazan Museum and the catalog of the Archaeological Museum of Tomsk University prepared by Florinsky reveals their almost complete similarity. Both works made by Florinsky were based on the unified principle of grouping museum objects and collections. The professor used similar approaches to record keeping, description of museum samples, development of special inventory cards, etc. It should be emphasized that the Archaeological Museum created by Florinsky aroused great interest of Russian and foreign archeologists and muzeologists, as well as ordinary visitors. Since its opening, the university museum had provided sources for the study of various historical, archaeological and ethnographic problems both for Florinsky himself and for other researchers. All of these facts allow the author to correlate the achievements of Florinsky with the works of the most authoritative 19th century muzeologists and highly appreciate his contribution to Russian museology.

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