KFU’s Archeological Museum stores items worthy of Hermitage or Louvre, says expert

The University’s Archeological Museum celebrates 145th anniversary, and a national conference on the occasion opened at the Lobachevsky Museum.

At the plenary session on 4 December, Associate Professor of the Department of Archeology and Historical Restoration Svetlana Valiullina spoke about the Archeological Museum’s history, noting, “The Museum has many unique exhibits which could as well be showcased in the Hermitage or the Louvre.”

The museum started taking shape in 1810, with the first contributions being a numismatic collection and a room of ancient artifacts. In the 1860s, the rooms were united as the Museum of Antiques, Fine Arts and Numismatics. Officially, 1878 is listed as the date of establishment, when the 4th Archeological Convention of Russia was held, and the Museum of Archeology, History and Ethnography was opened.

On the 100th anniversary in 1978, the museum was revived with 4,000 exhibits on the history and archeology of the Volga and Kama region. Svetlana Valiullina and famous archeologist Alfred Khalikov (1929 – 1994) were the curators.

As of now, the Archeological Museum stores 150,000 units. Among the unique items are findings from the Turaev Kurgan burial ground, Big Tigan Ancient Magyar burial ground, Big Tarkhan Ancient Bolgar burial ground, collections from Siberia, Central Asia, North Caucasus, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, and Switzerland.

Specialist for Museum Records, master’s student Vladislav Shurygin, says, “The visitors have a unique opportunity to see our collections. The thing is that the museum currently doesn’t have a permanent display. It only keeps storage funds and provides classes to the University students. We have a full set of armor of an ancient Persian warrior, cast metal items of the Kama region ethnicities, unique things of the Big Tigan burial grounds – the latter not being available anywhere else, such as women’s jewelry or men’s clothing. A saber from one of the burials from this ground is also displayed.”

There are also ceramics from the Tsaryovo Settlement, only found in KFU’s Archeological Museum and State Historical Museum in Moscow.

The conference, titled Archeological Museum in a University: Its Lofty Mission, comprises three breakout sessions:

• Resources of archeological museums for education;
• Archeological collections: history of amassment, studies and presentation;
• Specifics of archeological materials as museum exhibits: attribution, preservation and restoration.