Department of Ethnography of the Peoples of the Caucasus, Central Asia and Kazakhstan
In 1901–1902 Dudin made a large-scale expedition that covered the territory from the
Caspian Sea to
Kashgar, creating a fund for the culture of the peoples of
Central Asia. The direction was supervised by academicians
S.F. Oldenburg,
V.V. Bartold,
V.V. Radlov. On the initiative of Radlov, the first expeditionary trips were entrusted to Dudin, who, together with Bartold, participated in archaeological expeditions to the region. Under the leadership of Radlov, Dudin drew up a travel program that received the approval of the manager of the Russian Museum,
Grand Duke Georgy Mikhailovich. During the expedition, Dudin collected more than two thousand items of everyday culture of the peoples of
Uzbekistan. In addition, Dudin took many photographs. Also, the Central Asian collection in 1910-1916 was replenished with
Kazakh collections (
A.N. Beketov, F.F. Karavaev,
V.N. Vasiliev), correspondent V.D. Peltz collected a collection from mountain Tajiks, engineer P.A. Komarov donated unique collections of folk theater dolls from
Tashkent. Items were also purchased from private individuals. In the 20s of the 20th century, the department's collection was significantly expanded, including works of art from private and palace collections in St. Petersburg and its suburbs, including personal gifts from the
Bukhara emirs to Alexander III, Nicholas II and members of their families. In the 1930s, the museum received a collection of items from the traditional life of the
Karakalpaks of the 19th – early 20th centuries, collected in 1927–1928. artist
A.S. Melkov. In 1924–1925 F. Fielstrup formed two collections of items from the nomadic life of the
Kyrgyz. D.G. Yomudskaya-Burunova was involved in the formation of the
Turkmen collection. In 1934 E.N. Studenetskaya expanded the collection with household items of the
Ingush. At the same time, in
Khorezm V.V. Ekimova has put together an
Uzbek collection on the theme of silk processing. In 1937 A.S. Morozova and M.V. Sazonov studied the Turkmen
Igdyr tribe. In 2007, an exhibition on the culture of the
Jewish people was created, where collections on
Bukharian Jews were acquired. In 2016, the World Society for the Study, Preservation and Popularization of the Cultural Heritage of Uzbekistan, with the participation of the Chairman of the Board of Trustees Bakhtiyor Fazylov, the Chairman of the Scientific Council Ds.C
Edward Rtveladze, as well as the Chairman of the Board of the World Society and the head of the project “Cultural Heritage of Uzbekistan” PhD
Firdavs Abdukhalikov published the book-album “Cultural heritage of Uzbekistan. Collection of the Russian Ethnographic Museum", which became the second volume of the project series "Cultural Heritage of Uzbekistan in Collections of the World". A documentary film was also made dedicated to the cultural heritage of Uzbekistan in the collections of the Russian Ethnographic Museum. Deputy director of the museum Alexander Mirin and deputy director for storage Natalya Prokopyeva took part in the preparation of the book and film. == Books ==