Likhachev N.P., (1862-1936), historian

Categories / Science. Education/Personalia
LIKHACHEV Nikolay Petrovich (1862-1936, Leningrad), historian, archivist, art historian, bibliography expert, collector, specialist in historical studies, Associate of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1901), Member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1925). Graduated from the Faculty of History and Philology of the University of Kazan in 1884. In 1892, he started teaching at St. Petersburg Institute of Archaeology, where he established the Chair of Diplomatics. In 1894, he was admitted to the Archaeographic Commission. From 1902 to 1914, he was Assistant Director of the Imperial Public Library. In 1914-17, he was a member of the Council to the Public Education Minister. His main work is focused on historical study and art history. A founding member of the Russian Genealogical Society (1897). Likhachev founded a number of academic schools in the field of diplomatics, sphragistics, genealogy, paleography, study of water-marks (filigranology) and the history of Old Russian art. Likhachev gathered a number of unique collections of Russian, Eastern European and Western European manuscripts, coins (15,000 items), Byzantine and Russian wax-seals from the 6-14th centuries (about 6,000 items), and icons (about 1,500 boards). In 1913, his collection was bought by Emperor Nicholas II and was given to the State Russian Museum. Likhachev stored his collections in a specially built house at 7 Petrozavodskaya Street (presently part of the St. Petersburg Institute of History to the Russian Academy of Sciences), where he lived from 1902 to 1936 (memorial plaque installed). In 1919-29, he worked with the State Academy of the History of Material Culture. Trying to keep his collection safe, in 1918 Likhachev handed it over to the Petrograd Institute of Archaeology, where the Paleographic Laboratory was later established. In 1925, the laboratory was converted into the Museum of Paleography of the Academy of Sciences the USSR, which Likhachev directed from 1925 to 1930, when it became known as the Museum of Books, Documents and Letters of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Likhachev's library is one of the largest private libraries of Russia; altogether it comprises about 80,000 volumes. In 1930, he was arrested on a so-called academic case, expelled from the Academy of Sciences the next year, and had his rights withheld until 1968. He was also deported to Astrakhan from 1931 until 1933, and had his collections confiscated and handed over to the State Hermitage, the State Russian Museum, the Library of the Academy of Sciences, and other institutions. He was buried at the Smolenskoe Orthodox Cemetery. At present Likhachev's collections of manuscripts are stored in the Archives of the St. Petersburg Historical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and his personal archives are kept at the St. Petersburg branch of the Archives of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

References: Простоволосова Л. Н. Н. П. Лихачев: судьба и книги: Библиогр. указ. СПб., 2002; Вспомогательные исторические дисциплины. Т. 26: К 60-летию со дня смерти акад. Н. П. Лихачева. СПб., 1998.

A. A. Kononov. Likhachev Nikolay Petrovich
Nicholas II, Emperor
Petrozavodskaya St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 7
Простоволосова Л. Н. Н. П. Лихачёв: судьба и книги: Библиогр. указ. М., 1992
Вспомогательные исторические дисциплины. Т. 26: К 60-летию со дня сметри акад. Н.П. Лихачева. СПб., 1998 Russian Academy of Sciences
Archaeological Institute
Archaeological Committee
Ministry of Public Education
Russian National Library
Russian Genealogical Society
Russian Museum, State
Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg
Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Academics' Case
Hermitage