M. I. Rostovtzeff and the project of Central Archaeological Museum (1917)

The turn of the XIX-XX centuries was marked by rapid progress in Russian archaeology. The accumulation of practical research experience and the identification of many outstanding (not to mention massive) historical and cultural monuments put on the agenda the problem of transforming the museum field as a whole and the formation of archaeological museums in accordance with the “last word” of museological thought. One of the participants of this movement of the 1910s was the prominent historian, archaeologist, classicist M. I. Rostovtzeff. His academic heritage has not yet been fully published, in particular, his works on the principles of organizing archaeological excavations, protecting archaeological sites, forming archaeological museums, among them the Central Archaeological Museum, remain unknown. This publication presents the text of M. I. Rostovtzeff’s report “Central Archaeological Museum”, delivered at one of the meetings on the creation of the Ministry of Arts in the spring-summer season of 1917, which is kept in the holdings of the Institute of History of Art (the Central State Archive of Literature and Art in St. Petersburg). The prinaples of the foundation of the Central Archaeologrcal Museum outlined by M. I. Rostovtzeff more than 100 years ago, remain fully relevant today.