Nikolay Petrovich Likhachyov (russian: Николай Петрович Лихачёв), alternatively

transliterated Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters (thus '' trans-'' + '' liter-'') in predictable ways, such as Greek → , Cyrillic → , Greek → the digraph , Armenian → or ...

as Likhachev (12 April 1862 – 14 April 1936) was the first and foremost

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

sigillographer Sigillography, also known by its Greek-derived name, sphragistics, is the scholarly discipline that studies the wax, lead, clay, and other seals used to authenticate archival documents. It investigates not only aspects of the artistic design an ...

(that is, an expert on

seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to impr ...

s) who also contributed significantly to an array of auxiliary historical disciplines, including

palaeography Palaeography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, UK) or paleography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, US; ultimately from grc-gre, , ''palaiós'', "old", and , ''gráphein'', "to write") ...

epigraphy Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...

diplomatics Diplomatics (in American English, and in most anglophone countries), or diplomatic (in British English), is a scholarly discipline centred on the critical analysis of documents: especially, historical documents. It focuses on the conventions, p ...

genealogy Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kins ...

, and

numismatics Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals and related objects. Specialists, known as numismatists, are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, but the discipline also includ ...

Great Soviet Encyclopaedia The ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (GSE; ) is one of the largest Russian-language encyclopedias, published in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1990. After 2002, the encyclopedia's data was partially included into the later ''Bolshaya rossiyskaya e ...

, 3rd ed
Лихачёв Николай Петрович
He was elected a member of the

Academy of Sciences of the USSR The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was the highest scientific institution of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1991, uniting the country's leading scientists, subordinated directly to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (until 1946 ...

in 1925 and was put in charge of the

Archaeographic Commission The Archaeographic Commission (Археографическая комиссия) was set up in St. Petersburg in 1834 by Platon Shirinsky-Shikhmatov, Nikolay Ustryalov, and Pavel Stroyev with the aim of publishing historical and ethnographic mat ...

in 1929.

Scholarly career

A scion of an old noble family, Likhachev was born in

Chistopol Chistopol (russian: Чи́стополь; tt-Cyrl, Чистай, ''Çistay''; cv, Чистай, ''Çistay'') is a town in Tatarstan, Russia, located on the left bank of the Kuybyshev Reservoir, on the Kama River. As of the 2010 Census, its p ...

, a town in the

Kazan Governorate The Kazan Governorate (russian: Каза́нская губе́рния; tt-Cyrl, Казан губернасы; cv, Хусан кӗперниӗ; mhr, Озаҥ губерний), or the Government of Kazan, was a governorate (a ''guberniya'') o ...

. Among his paternal uncles, Ivan Likhachyov was an

admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...

and Andrey Likhachyov was an avid antiquarian whose collections formed the core of the Kazan City Museum. Nikolay Likhachyov graduated from the

Kazan University Kazan (Volga region) Federal University (russian: Казанский (Приволжский) федеральный университет, tt-Cyrl, Казан (Идел буе) федераль университеты) is a public research uni ...

in 1884 and joined the staff of the Saint Petersburg Archaeological Institute in 1892. His early work shed light on the hierarchy of 16th-century Muscovite clerks, or diaks. His doctor's dissertation was on the subject of Muscovite pulp manufacture and

paper mill A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags, and other ingredients. Prior to the invention and adoption of the Fourdrinier machine and other types of paper machine that use an endless belt, ...

s. In 1902-14 Likhachyov filled the office of Assistant Director of the

Imperial Public Library The National Library of Russia (NLR, russian: Российская национальная библиотека}), located in Saint Petersburg, is the first, and one of three national public libraries in Russia. The NLR is currently ranked amo ...

in St. Peterbsurg. During these years he brought to light a wealth of medieval papers, as well as many valuable materials concerning coins, watermarks, and hierarchy of medieval Russia. Together with Prince

Aleksey Lobanov-Rostovsky Prince Aleksey Borisovich Lobanov-Rostovsky (russian: Князь Алексе́й Бори́сович Лоба́нов-Росто́вский) ( in Voronezh Governorate – ) was a Russian statesman, probably best remembered for having conclude ...

he founded (in 1897) the Russian Genealogical Society.Encyclopaedia of St. Petersburg, online version
Russian Genealogical Society
/ref> He developed an early interest in medieval icon painting and produced several pioneering studies on the subject, including ''Materials for a History of Russian Icon Painting'' (1906, vol. 1-2), ''Andrei Rublev's Style of Painting'' (1907), and ''Historical Meaning of Italo-Greek Icon Painting'' (1911). The latter was awarded a Gold Uvarov Prize by the Academy of Sciences. He died at

Leningrad 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 ...

in 1936.

Likhachyov collections

Likachyov's political views were decidedly nationalistic. In 1911 he joined

Aleksey Suvorin Aleksei Sergeyevich Suvorin (Russian: Алексей Сергеевич Суворин, 11 September 1834, Korshevo, Voronezh Governorate – 11 August 1912, Tsarskoye Selo) was a Russian newspaper and book publisher and journalist whose pub ...

and

Nikodim Kondakov Nikodim (or Nikodeme) Pavlovich Kondakov (russian: Никоди́м Па́влович Кондако́в; 1 (13) November 1844, Olshanka, Kursk Governorate, Russian Empire– 17 February 1925, Prague, Czechoslovakia), was an art ...

in founding the

Russian Assembly The Russian Assembly (russian: link=no, Русское собрание) was a Russian loyalist, right-wing, monarchist political group (party). It was founded in Saint Petersburg in October−November 1900, and dismissed in 1917. It was led by P ...

,Encyclopaedia of St. Petersburg, online version
The Russian Assembly
/ref> the country's first monarchist party which later became associated with the Black Hundreds. Likhachyov's proximity to the right wing of the tsarist government, as well as his own considerable fortune and unfailing taste, helped him to amass one of the largest collections of antiquities in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

. It encompassed 15,000 old coins and 1,500 icons, as wells as some 80,000 books, including a selection of manuscripts and

incunabula In the history of printing, an incunable or incunabulum (plural incunables or incunabula, respectively), is a book, pamphlet, or broadside that was printed in the earliest stages of printing in Europe, up to the year 1500. Incunabula were pro ...

e. His collection of Byzantine and early Russian seals was by far the largest in the world. The fate of Likhachyov's collections was variable. In 1913,

Nicholas II Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Pola ...

bought his holdings of icons on behalf of the Alexander III Museum.Encyclopaedia of St. Petersburg, online version
Likhachev N.P.
/ref> In an attempt to save the remaining collections from dispersal in the days 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 ...

, Likhachev conveyed them to the Academy of Sciences, which allowed them to be set up as the Palaeography Museum, of which Likhachev served as director in 1925-1930. His own mansion was given over to the Archaeographic Commission and currently houses its successor, the Russian History Institute.Encyclopaedia of St. Petersburg, online version
Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences
/ref> It was in 1930 that Likhachyov,

Sergey Platonov Sergey Fyodorovich Platonov (russian: Серге́й Фёдорович Плато́нов) (28 June 6 June Old Style and New Style dates, O.S. 1860 – 10 January 1933) was a Russian historian who led the official St Petersburg school of ...

Yevgeny Tarle Yevgeny Viktorovich Tarle (russian: Евгений Викторович Тарле) ( – 6 January 1955) was a Soviet historian and academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He is known for his books about Napoleon's invasion of Russia a ...

and several other prominent historians were arrested in connection with the

Industrial Party Trial The Industrial Party Trial (November 25 – December 7, 1930) (russian: Процесс Промпартии, Trial of the ''Prompartiya'') was a show trial in which several Soviet scientists and economists were accused and convicted of plottin ...

. Likhachev was thrown out of the academy and exiled to

Astrakhan Astrakhan ( rus, Астрахань, p=ˈastrəxənʲ) is the largest city and administrative centre of Astrakhan Oblast in Southern Russia. The city lies on two banks of the Volga, in the upper part of the Volga Delta, on eleven islands of the ...

, while his remaining personal collections were nationalized.Biography from the website of the Russian National Library
/ref> The Likhachev collection of

cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedge-sha ...

tablets from Ur and

Lagash Lagash (cuneiform: LAGAŠKI; Sumerian: ''Lagaš''), was an ancient city state located northwest of the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and east of Uruk, about east of the modern town of Ash Shatrah, Iraq. Lagash (modern Al-Hiba) w ...

, for instance, is currently divided between the Pushkin Museum and the

Hermitage Museum The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the list of ...

.Likhachev Collection
on the official website of the

Scholarly career

Likhachyov collections

References

Further reading