Kozlovsky, D. V. THE ROLE OF FOREIGNERS IN THE TRADE OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL ANTIQUITIES IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. Proceedings of Petrozavodsk State University. 2026;48(4):101–109. DOI: 10.15393/uchz.art.2026.1325


Russian history

THE ROLE OF FOREIGNERS IN THE TRADE OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL ANTIQUITIES IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE

Kozlovsky
D. V.
Keywords:
archaeology
antiquities trade
foreign researchers
collectors
museums
European scientists
Russian Empire		 Summary: The article examines the participation of foreign researchers and collectors in the purchase of antiquities in the Russian Empire in the second half of the XIX and early XX centuries. The objective of the study is to clarify their role in the development of the archaeological antiques market. The purchase and export of antiques by researchers from Europe has not yet been sufficiently studied by Russian historiography. Previously unpublished documents are introduced into scientific circulation. Also studies in English and German are cited, showing the problem from the European scientists’ perspective. The sources include regional newspapers, official documents, reports, and personal communications of prominent Russian scholars. This provides a more complete picture of the international antiques market, which is increasingly becoming the subject of research in Russia and other countries. According to archival materials, private collectors, tourists, researchers, and agents of foreign museums visited those regions of Russia where archaeological excavations were very active at that time, primarily Crimea, the Caucasus and Transcaucasia, as well as Central Asia. These foreigners actively and successfully competed with Russian scientists and collectors for the right to acquire both unique finds and massive archaeological artifacts. The findings shed new light on significant, but not the paramount role of foreign scientists on the antique market. The budgets of Western researchers for the purchase of archaeological finds turned out to be very limited, forcing them to consider each transaction carefully. Private collectors had much greater financial resources. Tourists and travelers bought up antiquities no less massively. Since the antiques market in Russia was completely legal, local antiques dealers themselves sought to satisfy the increasing demand for antiquities. Without them, the export of antiquities would not have taken on such a scale. Thus, in the last decades of the Russian Empire, the country lost a huge number of ancient monuments, replenishing private collections and state museums in Britain, Germany, France, and other countries.



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