The Asiatic Museum (Азиатский музей) in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

was one of the first museums of Asian art in Europe. Its existence spanned 112 years from 1818 to 1930 when it was incorporated into the

Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences The Institute of Oriental Manuscripts (IOM) of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Институт восточных рукописей Российской академии наук), formerly the St. Petersburg Branch of the Institu ...

. In 1818, the

Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across t ...

(RAS) learned that

Jean-Baptiste Rousseau Jean-Baptiste Rousseau (6 April 1671 – 17 March 1741) was a French playwright and poet, particularly noted for his cynical epigrams. Biography Rousseau was born in Paris, the son of a shoemaker, and was well educated. As a young man, he gai ...

(1780–1831), the French consul at

Aleppo )), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black". , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , image_map1 = ...

and

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...

(then both part of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

), was selling his extensive collection of manuscripts written in the

Arabic script The Arabic script is the writing system used for Arabic and several other languages of Asia and Africa. It is the second-most widely used writing system in the world by number of countries using it or a script directly derived from it, and the ...

. In November of that year, the president of the RAS, Count

Sergey Uvarov Count Sergey Semionovich Uvarov (russian: Граф Серге́й Семёнович Ува́ров; 5 September Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O.S._25_August.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/> O.S._25_August">O ...

, wrote to the Board of the RAS requesting that a separate room be put aside in the Academy's cabinet of curiosities for storing this collection of manuscripts (which was eventually purchased by the RAS in two tranches, in 1819 and 1825), as well as other medals, manuscripts and books of oriental origin already in the Museum of the Imperial Academy of Science. The result was the establishment of the Asiatic Museum (russian: Азиатский музей) of the RAS, in Saint Petersburg. Spb Vasilievsky Island RAS building asv2019-09

Spb Vasilievsky Island RAS building asv2019-09

The Asiatic Museum quickly established itself as the main institute for the collection and study of oriental manuscripts and books in Russia, as well as a major international centre for oriental studies, and by the time of the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and ad ...

in 1917, almost a hundred years after its foundation, it housed one of the most extensive collections of oriental manuscripts and printed books in the world. Following the Russian Revolution, the Asiatic Museum continued under the same name until May 1930, when the Institute of Oriental Studies (IOS) of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR was founded, and the Asiatic Museum was incorporated into this new institute.

List of directors

Christian Martin Frähn Christian Martin Joachim (von) Frähn (4 June 1782 – 16 August 1851), German and Russian numismatist and historian, was born at Rostock, Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Frähn began his Oriental studies under Tychsen at the university of Rostock, an ...

(1818–1842) *

Johannes Albrecht Bernhard Dorn Johannes Albrecht Bernhard Dorn (29 April 1805 in Scheierfeld, Saxe-Coburg, Germany – 19 May 1881 in St. Petersburg, Russia), or Boris Andreevich Dorn, was a German orientalist. He specialized in the history and the languages of Iran, Russia ...

(1842–1881) * Victor von Rosen (1881–1882) *

Ferdinand Johann Wiedemann Ferdinand Johann Wiedemann ( in Hapsal (now Haapsalu) – in Saint Petersburg) was an Estonian linguist who researched Uralic languages, mostly Estonian. Wiedemann was also a botanist. Wiedemann was of German-Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: ...

(1882–1885) * Friedrich Wilhelm Radloff (1885–1890) * Karl Germanovich Salemann (1890–1916) * Sergey Fyodorovich Oldenburg (1916–1930)

References

{{authority control Defunct art museums and galleries Art museums and galleries in Saint Petersburg 1818 establishments in the Russian Empire 1930 disestablishments in Russia Asian art museums in Russia Art museums established in 1818 Art museums disestablished in 1930 Defunct museums in Russia