Personalia

Egyptian Collections

Odessa State Archaeological Museum

4, Lanzheronovskaya st.
Odessa — Ukraine
Tel./ fax (0482) 22–63–02
http://www.arhaeology.farlep.odessa.ua

Odessa State Archaeological Museum.
Arch. F. Gonsiorovsky. 1883

Odessa State Archaeological Museum was founded in 1825. It was generously supported by the Odessa Society of History and Antiquities that was established in 1839 and had archaeological concessions at the south of Russia. Today the Museum has more than 160000 objects — monuments of ancient Black Sea coast, as well as Greece and Rome. The Museum also has a big numismatics collection, including 50000 coins minted in Ancient Greece, Rome, Byzantine and Russia.

Besides the Museum has the best Ancient Egyptian collection in Ukraine. It contains 11 coffins, 8 stelae, 20 scarabs, human and animal mummies, different figurines, jewelry, amulets and objects of daily life.

History of Egyptian Collection

The history of the collection began in 1825, when the founder of the Museum, I.P. Blaramberg, donated several Egyptian objects. According to the description of the collection made by N.P. Murzakevitch in 1844, the Museum had already 10 Egyptian objects — six stelae, two bronze figurines of Osiris (most probably donated by Bralamberg), one funerary figurine and a wooden figure of a falcon.

[Egyptian Hall of the Odessa State Archaeological Museum]

Egyptian Hall of the Odessa State Archaeological Museum

In 1858 the Museum was united with the Museum of the Odessa Society of History and Antiquities, which also possessed several Egyptian objects presented by its members and other persons. Thus in 1843 the Museum received a gift from Clod-Bey — a general on Egyptian Pasha's service, — who sent a mummy and a limestone relief from Memphis. The famous traveler archimandrite Prophiry Uspensky also presented some objects: a mummy from the Theban Necropolis, two mummified ibis-birds, six canopic jars, a roll of papyrus and other items that reached the Museum in 1846.

Another important stage of the collection's formation is connected with the Second Priestly Cache discovered in 1891 at Deir el-Bahari. By the decision of Abbas II Hilmi a part of the objects was presented to different European countries, including Russia. In 1894 six huge boxes containing 5 coffins and 45 lesser objects were shipped to Odessa port. As far as it was impossible to exhibit all objects in the Odessa museum, they were distributed among university museums of Russia. Though some of the finds were left in Odessa — the outer coffin of the songstress of Amun Nesi-ta-udja-akhet and several funerary figurines.

In 1923 the Museum received a large collection from the Odessa (Novorossijsk) University. The core of this collection were the objects collected by A.A. Rafalovitch, who, being a famous doctor, fought with black death in Egypt in 1846–1848. His collection consisted of more than 100 objects, including amulets and small figurines as well as species of flora and fauna of Ancient Egypt. In 1959 The Museum also received a number of Egyptian objects from the Kiev State Historical Museum. The new acquisition enriched the Odessa Museum with canopic jars, a cartonage and 4 wooden coffins; one of the latter was a coffin of another songstress of Amun Nesi-mut that was brought to Russia among the objects presented by Abbas II Hilmi.

Today the Egyptian collection of the Odessa State Archaeological Museum has 400 objects, 260 of which a on the permanent display. It was the third largest Egyptian collection of the former Soviet Union and it is the largest Egyptian collection in Ukraine.

S. Ivanov

Main Publications of the Collecion

Доконт Н.Г. Древнеегипетские памятники в Одесском государственном археологическом музее // Вестник древней истории. 1965. № 2. С. 206–212
Л.П. Латышева К истории египетской коллекции Одесского археологического музея // Краткие сообщения о полевых археологических исследованиях Одесского государственного музея 1961 года. Одесса. 1963. С. 123–129
Одесский государственный археологический музей. Краткий путеводитель. Одесса, 1959
Тураев Б.А. Описание египетского отдела музея имп. Одесского общества истории и древностей // Записки Одесского общества истории и древностей. ХХХ. Одесса, 1912. С. 72–90
Ходжаш С.И. Древнеегипетские скарабеи. Каталог печатей и скарабеев из музеев России, Украины, Кавказа и Прибалтики. М., 1999
Ходжаш С.И., Этингоф О.Е. Древнеегипетские памятники из музеев СССР. Каталог выставки. М., 1991
Berlev O.D., Hodjash S.I. Catalogue of the Monuments of Ancient Egypt from the Museums of the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Bielorussia, Caucasus, Middle Asia and the Baltic States (OBO SA 17), Friburg, 1998

Highlights of the Collection