Religious theme in the activities of Tomsk museum of regional studies (TMORS)

In the article a collection of items of TMORS has been characterized by the author. Typically museumitems are divided into two main groups: the fund of the museum items or the main fund and the fund of scientific additional materials.The stated division is the basis for the TMROS collection structure. The main structural unit of the museum collection is the fund.Upon its creation the fund is classified by the following characteristics: material of creation, source type, sometimes the topic it belongsto is paid attention to. Additionally to the fund division, collection structure of TMORS has separate collections, which do not belong toany funds. Collection of items of the religious topic has been systematized according to the type of museum items collected, which wererelated to various sourcing types and which characterized certain confessions. As a result 6 complexes have been identified: Orthodoxy,Old Belief, Catholicism, Buddhism, Islam and Judaism. Orthodoxy has been presented in TMORS by the largest quantity of items.Quantitatively, the second largely presented group is Buddhism, most sources of which are material. Old belief is mostly characterizedby written sources, as well as a small number of material sources. Islam, Buddhism and Judaism are represented by a small number ofsources of various natures. Three stages of forming religious item collections in TMORS have been identified by the author. The choiceof periods of time is connected with the biggest quantity of items received and with their importance. The first stage lasted from 1919 to1939. The second stage of forming the religious items collection was from 1970 to 1989. The third stage of creating religious items collectionin TMORS started in the first part of 1990s and lasted till the first decade of 2000s. The first and the third stages are characterizedby arranging museum collections, related to various confessions. During the second stage mainly orthodoxy and Old Belief collectionswere enlarged. Different ways of TMORS acquisition of items of religious theme have been shown: property confiscation fromprivate persons or eliminated organizations, purchase, receipt as gift and collected results of ethnographic expeditions. Three stages areidentified by the author in the history of organizing museum items collections of religious theme. In the article methods of presentingitems by TMORS are described. Religious items exposition and exhibition organization by TMORS is pictured, starting from 1990s. Itis noted that most exhibitions are devoted to Orthodoxy, including Old Belief, and to Buddhism, which reflects their dominant positionsin TMORS funds.

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