Revisiting the Creation of Colonel D. A. Vyrubov’s Album from the Fonds of the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (the Kunstkamera) of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Its Real Author

Abstract

The article for the first time raises the question of authorship of one of the key sources on archaeology and ethnography of the peoples of the North Caucasus, first and foremost the Balkars, Kabardins, Karachais, and Abazins — an album with watercolour drawings of fortresses, churches, funerary monuments, elements of costume of mountain peoples, etc. stored in the fonds of the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (the Kunstkamera). This source is known in historiography under the name of its first owner, D.A. Vyrubov, head of the Nalchik district of the Terek region. The article argues that the author of the album was Ivan A. Vladimirov (1869-1947), Russian and later Soviet artist, archaeologist, and military correspondent. Handwriting experts' examination of handwritten notes in the album and I.A. Vladimirov’s reports on archaeological investigations conducted in the Nalchik district confirms this; chronology and geography of the album coincides with I.A. Vladimirov's travels to the Caucasus. There is interconnected and complementary information on a number of archaeological and ancient architectural monuments, as well as on people who supported Vladimirov in his field research — Dimitri Alekseyevich Vyrubov, the chief of the Nalchik district, and Dadashe Dohshukovich Balkarokov, a Chegem taubian. It is shown that the period from 1892 to 1898, that is, from I.A. Vladimirov’s first appearance in the Nalchik district to Colonel D.A. Vyrubov’s transfer to Vladikavkaz, is the most probable time of the album’s creation. Establishing the identity of the artist who created the album has significantly broadened the information capacity of the source itself, as it now can be considered in conjunction with I. A. Vladimirov's scientific accounts of his archaeological work. This, in turn, facilitates identification of a number of objects, including ancient half-destroyed Christian church near Bylym village. In addition, comparative study of the sources has yielded new information on the monuments. Thus, the album contains drawings and measurements of mausoleums and crypts near the village of Gundelen, church on the Kisanty river, mausoleums and tombs in the same area, while I.A. Vladimirov’s report contains photos of these objects, their site layout plan and drawings. Some previously unknown facts from the history of the first archaeological expedition conducted by I.A. Vladimirov in 1896 have also been revealed.