On 6 September 2019, as part of the visiting session of the Presidium of the Union of Museums of Russia in Kerch there was a discussion of the problems of preserving archaeological heritage. A round table was devoted to the issue with specialists from the country’s leading museum and research centres participating.
The moderator for the session were Mikhail Piotrovsky, General Director of the State Hermitage, Vladimir Gritsenko, Director of the Kulikovo Field State Museum-Preserve, and Tatyana Umrikhina, Director of the Eastern Crimean Historical and Cultural Museum Preserve.
Various questions relating to the preservation of the country’s archaeological heritage were brought up for discussion. They included an assessment of the present legal regulations, and proposals for changes to be made in federal laws and the museumification of archaeological sites. There was discussion of museums’ experience in registering archaeological items and collections, their restoration and storage. Alexei Vorontsov, Academic Secretary of the Kulikovo Field State Museum-Preserve, Natalia Bykovskaya, Deputy General Director for research work and stocks at the Eastern Crimean Historical and Cultural Museum Preserve, and Sergei Ilyashenko, Deputy Director for research at the Tanais Archaeological Museum-Preserve, spoke about their practices in this area.
A separate topic for professional conversation was practical issues relating to the preservation of archaeological sites in economic development zones and the conducting of military search operations on the territory of cultural heritage sites in the Crimea.
At the meeting there was a presentation of the first results and an assessment of the prospects of the programme for the construction of repositories for archaeological collections. Dmitry Starshenkov, Academic Secretary of the Samara Region Alabin Museum of History and Local Lore, and Professor Konstantin Rudenko of the Department of Museum Science and Art Studies at Kazan State University made presentations about the specialized storage facilities. Alexei Vorontsov spoke about the prospects for regional archaeological centres, one of which is to be created on Kulikovo Field, at Yepifan. In the course of discussion of this subject, the question was raised of creating regulations for the transfer of archaeological collections for permanent keeping in the stocks of museum institutions.
Based on the results of the round table, it was unanimously decided to create a working group to formulate proposals for changes and additions to be made to laws and other legal regulations regarding the storage of archaeological collections. It is also planned to draw up an appeal to the Ministry of Culture of the RF on the implementation of the President’s assignment on the construction of repositories for archaeological collections.
