Protection of Archaeological Heritage and Petrograd Provincial Museum Conference 1923: Report by B. V. Farmakovsky

The problem of protection of archaeological heritage belonged to the most actual ones for domestic archeology of the first third of the 20th century. The first decree that regulated this matter appeared at the beginning of 1924. Usually, its development is associated with the activities of the Moscow archaeologist V. A. Gorodtsov, who headed the Archaeological Branch of the Department for Museums of the People’s Commissariat for Education in this period. His tense relations with the Russian Academy of the History of Material Culture, located in Petrograd, are well known. The subdivision was supposed to carry out administrative management of archaeological work, while the Academy ‒ scientific one. The demarcation of spheres of responsibility and personal ambitions led to constant conflicts between these two institutions. The article analyzes the materials of the Petrograd Provincial Museum Conference, held in June 1923 at the Academy. During the conference, the scientific secretary of the Academy B. V. Farmakovsky held a report on the protection of archaeological sites and proposed a draft of possible decree regulating this area. The staff of the Academy took an active part in the discussion of the report. Perhaps the organization of this event was a response to V. A. Gorodtsov’s attempt to create a Central Archaeological Bureau in Moscow, which was supposed to concentrate in its hands the entirety of the leadership of archaeological work on a national scale.