About scientific contacts between G.N. Potanin and I.A. Podgorbunsky

The article describes a previously unexplored story about the joint research of the famous scientist Grigory Nikolaevich Potanin (1835-1920) and the Orthodox priest Innokenty Alexandrovich Podgorbunsky (1862-1913). Based on a wide range of sources, which include newspapers, scientific works by Potanin and Podgorbunsky, as well as museum catalogs, the scientific contacts of G.N. Potanin and I.A. Podgorbunsky were described. In 1887-1890, G.N. Potanin was the head of the East Siberian Department of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society in Irkutsk. The department included the Irkutsk Museum and G.N. Potanin began replenishing the museum's funds, and a large number of Buddhist monuments were received. Together with I.A. Podgorbunsky, Potanin prepared the first exhibition of Buddhist cultural objects in Russia, and later they made a catalog of this exhibition. The article describes the exhibition, gives its museum analysis, emphasizes that the ensemble method was used in its preparation, and notes that in working on the exhibition catalog, the authors used the best practices of the Moscow museum researchers, including P.S. Uvarova. The authors of the exhibition conducted guided tours themselves at the exhibition, and I.A. Podgorbunsky gave a lecture on Buddhism. The exhibition of Buddhist cultural objects has developed the interest of Irkutsk residents in the museum, and visits to the museum by various groups of the population have increased. Concluding the article, the author says that G.N. Potanin and I.A. Podgorbunsky were among the first in Russia to turn to the study of Buddhism, they conducted a comprehensive description of the monuments of Buddhist culture, and the Buddhist exhibition was the first major exhibition in the vast territory of Siberia. The author of the article concludes that the scientific level of the works of Potanin and Podgorbunsky was high, they laid the foundation for future museum work in Siberia. Later, both researchers continued their Buddhist studies, but they no longer worked together. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

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