History of creation of the Tibetan collection at the Institute of Oriental manuscripts of Russian Academy of Sciences

The article deals with the history of the Tibetan fund at the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The author reveals the specific features of the acquisition and storage of the manuscripts and xylographs of the collection and describes the way the basic record groups of the sources was formed. The article examines the methods of scientific description and the principles of source arrangement and filing. The historical data serve the basis for the determination of the period of the manuscript and xylograph collection acquisition. The paper also presents a detailed description of the structure of the Tibetan manuscript collection. The article provides information on the outstanding Orient researchers who – at a certain time – worked on the description and investigation of the Tibetan manuscripts. Great attention in the paper is paid to the problem of preservation and safety of the Buddhist archives.