Activities of P.E. Karantonis at the head of the Irkutsk Department for the Protection of Sites of Art, Antiquity and Nature (1924-1934)

The article examines the activities of the head of one of the first bodies for the rotection and preservation of historical and cultural heritage on the territory of the Irkutsk province (OHRIS department). The period from 1924 to 1934 is covered. This period of time is interesting as the period when the system of protection and preservation of archaeological heritage is being formed. In the Irkutsk province in 1920 an attempt was already made to register sites of culture, art and antiquity. The Irkutsk Museum of Local Lore played an important role in the process of forming a system of protection and preservation of heritage. In 1924, the Department for the Protection of Sites and Art (OHRIS) was created at the museum. The artist Philip Emmanuelovich Karantonis has been appointed to head the department as an inspector. The article analyzes the results of the work of the Department for the Protection of Historical and Antiquity Sites in the field of preservation of archaeological sites during this period. Special attention is paid to the characterization of the personality of Phillip Emmanuelovich Karantonis. A Greek by nationality, before accepting the position of inspector of the OHRIS department, he worked at the Irkutsk Museum of Local Lore for 9 years. He established himself as a responsible employee who was in good standing with the museum's management. He was a full member of the East Siberian Department of the Russian Geographical Society. However, his name seems to have been erased from the chronicle of society. His name is often mentioned negatively in publications and scientific articles, but it was under Philip Emmanuelovich Karantonis that all documents were formed and all necessary (and possible at that time) measures were taken to protect and preserve archaeological sites. It is concluded that the first inspector of the OHRIS department made an invaluable contribution to the formation of the system of preservation of historical and cultural heritage in the Irkutsk region.

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