Information and cultural space of Baikal Siberia of the first half of the 19th century in foreign authors' research (on the example of R. Andree's work "Amur Oblast and Its Importance..."

In the article, the author scrutinises the work of German geographer Richard Andree (1835-1912). This work, "Amur Oblast and Its Importance. . ." (Leipzig, 1867) has not been previously published in Russian. In the content of the work, the author singled out letters of the French violoncellist Lise Cristiani (1827-1853) Andree cited. At the end of the 1840s - the beginning of the 1850s, Lise Cristiani was touring Siberia with a violoncello made by Stradivari. Letters of Cristiani were first published in 1863 in Paris in the Le Tour du Monde magazine. The excerpts of these letters were translated and published in Russia in the edition of local-studies Neizvestnaya Kamchatka [Unknown Kamchatka] in 2000. In this article, fragments of Cristiani's letters found in the German edition of 1867 are given, which allows to enrich the bibliographical data about the violoncellist. In his work, Andree aspires to truly render his surrounding reality, following the chronological order of the narration, making his own evaluations. According to Andree, the primary mission of Russia is to bring and organize order and culture in Siberia. The author notes that Irkutsk has book trade, newspapers, theater and a formed scientific society. Andree strives to debunk the myth that was in the minds of Europeans about Irkutsk that it is "filled with the spirit of the grave". Andree acknowledges that there are good schools in the town and the system of education is well-developed. Siberia is treated as a real homeland by its dwellers. Siberians follow the break-throughs in science and culture. An-dree makes a crucial conclusion that here "the core of the most dignified society is formed following European rules. This very core has a great attractive power". Andree uses the correspondence of the French violoncellist as a prove of the high cultural level of the Siberian society. He gives a general personality description of the violoncellist and tells about her travels around Siberia. In her letters Cristiani states that the tour around Siberia is bound to give some originality to her carrier. She joins the expedition to Kamchatka performed by Governor-General Muravyov-Amursky, as a companion to his wife. In her letters she describes the main big cities of Siberia, everyday life of their dwellers, personal space of the major historical figures. The author concludes that Andree's work and Cristiani's letters are most interesting sources of Siberian history studies. They were performed from the "inside", by people of a high social status raised in the spirit of scientific and cultural achievements of Europe. The desire to debunk the old European myth about the cultural backwardness of Siberian society is stated directly in Andree's work and indirectly in Cristiani's letters. All the mentioned above makes this source of information to be one of the most important while studying the historiography of the issue. Andree's conclusion that Siberian people treat their place of living as a true homeland is also important while giving characteristics to the Siberian cultural society. Andree's study "Amur Oblast and Its Importance. . ." is scientifically relevant nowadays and crucial while performing a comparative analysis of the cultural space of the Baikal Region of Siberia of the studied period.

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