On the history of the Museum of Petersburg Theological Academy after the Revolution: A letter of S. A. Zhebelev to N. Ya. Marr

Abstract

After the revolution of 1917 the fate of practically all museums, in particular those based on the history of religions, changed. The collection of the Museum of the St. Petersburg Spiritual academy was repeatedly reorganized: it was moved to other institutions and joined other collections. The only way to keep sense of the museum’s collection — scientific, educational, historical and cultural — was the shift of its main focus — from religion to history and archaeology. For this very reason, in 1919 the collection was moved to the Petrograd Archaeological Institute. In 1925, at the time of reorganization of the Institute, the question concerning the fate of the collection had to be resolved. Professor of Classical studies S. A. Zhebelev proposed a project to preserve the collection of the Museum of the Spiritual academy. In a letter to academic N. Ya. Marr, he suggested creating an archaeological museum of the Russian Academy of History of Material Culture on the basis of its funds. In this very way, the problem of maintaining sense of the collection would be solved — to present history of religions as an educational product with a high scientific potential and to open the large archaeological museum, which gave the Academy of History of Material Culture a new status. Besides, realization of an old dream of Zhebelev and Marr would provide the opportunity to open the first purely archaeological museum of academic scale in Leningrad. S. A. Zhebelev’s plan was not implemented and funds of the former Museum of Spiritual academy were dispersed between the Russian Museum and the Hermitage, however the letter of S. A. Zhebelev to N. Ya. Marr is an important document, earlier unpublished, shedding light on the fate of one of the main museum collections on the study of history of religions in Russia and the USSR.