Nikolay V. Pokrovsky and the collecting of the Christian antiquities in Saint Petersburg. Three patterns of the extension of the church-archaeological museum in the 1850s-1917

The article deals with the problem of the formation of collections of church antiquities in St. Petersburg during the period from the middle of the 19th century until 1917. The author focuses on the concept of the Church-Archaeological Museum and traces its development on the example of three St. Petersburg museums: the Imperial Academy of Arts, the St. Petersburg Theological Academy and the Russian Museum of Emperor Alexander III. The sources of formation and the main stages of the organization of museums are analyzed. The main attention is paid to the activities of N. V. Pokrovsky as the organizer of the museum of the Theological Academy. The study is based on materials from the St. Petersburg archives.