Nikolai Petrovich Likhachev and His Collection in Shaping

Abstract

This study presents survey on the forming collection of N.P. Likhachev (1862-1936), a great collector and Member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, throughout his life and research interests. In some ways this collection was unique for Russia of that time. As a researcher and a collector, Likhachev laid foundations of professional studying of watermarks and paper studies, medieval diplomatics and sigillography, scholarly art history (in the sphere of icons studying) in Russia. The Museum of Paleography created by Likhachev included the richest material on the history of writing in Europe, Asia, North America and the European colonies of the New World, encompassing a huge chronological period - from the turn of the 4-3 millennia BC to the beginning of the 20th century. Based on his collection, the schools of the Russian and Soviet Egyptology, Assyriology, Hellenic and Medieval studies, Arabic studies, Byzantine studies, and Slavic studies were shaped. The present paper is a modest contribution in the field of studies of both his activity as a scholar and an antiquarian and the shaping of his collection.