Headdress and Cape of Mongolian Lamas-Oracles from the Collection of Dmitrii Bukinich
Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (the Kunstkamera) has a number of collections received from the soil scientist, hydraulic engineer, archaeologist and ethnographer Dmitrii Demyanovich Bukinich (1882-1939). Unfortunately, there is not much information about this active collector, who paid special attention to the study of Central Asia. The article briefly outlines the main biographical information about Dmitrii Bukinich and his work in Mongolia in 1933-1935, as a member of an expedition to study the Khangai mountains, organized by the Scientific Research Committee of the Mongolian People’s Republic. The trip to Mongolia resulted in extensive ethnographic collections that came to the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography. Dmitrii Demyanovich was not only an active collector, but also an enthusiastic photographer who took a large number of photographs of Mongolia in the early Soviet period. Among the Mongolian ethnographic exhibits brought by Bukinich stand out artifacts and photographs relating to the Mongolian lamas-mediums, who occupied a special position among the Buddhist clergy. As early as 1887, the well-known Russian specialist in Mongolian language and culture A. M. Pozdneev pointed out the special status of these lamas. Such items are very rare in museum collections and are of considerable scientific interest. The history of oracle lamas in Tibet and Mongolia is also briefly reviewed in the article.