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Birthday anniversary of Nikolai P. Likhachev, Russian historian and art critic
12 (24) April 1862, in the town of Chistopol, Kazan Province, in a noble family, was born Nikolai Likhachev, Russian historian and art critic, collector and expert in the field of source study, diplomatics and sphragistics, privy councilor (1916), Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1925) , founder and director of the Museum of Paleography (1925).
In 1880, Likhachev graduated from a Kazan high school with a gold medal, and entered the Faculty of History and Philology at Kazan University. After graduation, Nikolai Petrovich stayed at the university to prepare for a professorship at the Department of Russian history. In 1889 Likhachev obtained a master's degree in Russian history for his thesis "Rank Clerks of the 16th century." Three years later, he successfully defended his doctoral dissertation, "Paper and Ancient Paper Mills in the Muscovy," where he had traced the evolution of the technology of papermaking and the history of the first Russian paper-making enterprises. In 1899 was published his "Paleographic Significance of Paper Watermarks," based on a study of over 4, 000 watermarks on the paper of the Russian and West European production for the period of 1293-1832. This work still remains the core manual for the dating of manuscripts.
From 1892 Likhachev started lecturing at the St. Petersburg Institute of Archaeology, where two years later he founded the Department of Diplomatics. He was the first in the history of the national high school to teach sphragistics at the department. In 1894 he was admitted to the Archaeography Committee, where, from 1904 he had been heading the drafting committee for the publication of pedigrees and rank books.
In 1902, Likhachev was appointed assistant director of the D. F. Kobeko Imperial Public Library. In this position he began in-depth study of bibliography, history of literature, of media, of binders, of fugitive editions, of autographs, and developed the issues of acquisition, advocated raising the academic prestige and status of librarians.
From 1914 to 1917 Likhachev was in the public service as a member of the Council of Minister of Education. From 1919, he had been a member of the Russian Academy of History of Material Culture, and a member of the Commission on numismatics and glyptics, Chairman of the Standing Committee for the study of miniatures. In 1922-1924, the scientist was first elected as an expert, and then authorized representative of the Russian-Ukrainian delegation of mixed Russian-Ukrainian-Polish re-evacuation and special commissions established in compliance with the Riga Peace Treaty (1921).
Likhachev had assembled one of Russia's largest private collections of various historical sources (icons, coins, stamps, certificates and signatures), mainly from Russia, Germany, Italy, Austria-Hungary, France, Greece, the Ottoman Empire, Egypt. The core of his collection was the documents and manuscripts from the Likhachevs family library, which was conceived back in the 17th century. By the end of the 1900s, the Egyptian part of Likhachev’s collection, containing mostly samples of writing, was the second largest and valuable private collection of ancient Egyptian monuments of culture in Russia (following the one of Russian Egyptologist V. S. Golenishchev). In 1908, for his two-volume work, "Materials for the History of Russian Icon Painting," Likhachev was awarded the gold medal of the Russian Archaeological Society. In 1913, the collector granted the bulk of his collection of Greek and Russian icon paintings, numbering 1497 icons, to the Russian Museum of Emperor Alexander III.
Likhachev’s research interests included the history of princely-boyar aristocracy, noble genealogy, government agencies, as well as the Rank Office of the 16th – 17th centuries. He studied the formation and the activities of the office, having offered his own theory of the origin of Russian bloodlines and rank books. Having proved the existence and analyzed the composition of "The Sovereign Genealogy Book," he found that "The Genealogy Book" included 45 chapters, and determined the time of its creation - about the year of 1555.
Likhachev was one of the first to study Russian and Byzantine lead seals, having composed a fundamental album, "Materials for the History of Byzantine and Russian Sphragistics." In the study, he showed a close relationship between the Old Russian art and Byzantine, Italian-Greek and Italian art.
Likhachev was among the founders of the Russian Genealogical Society in St. Petersburg (1897), as well as a member of the Society of Devotees of the Russian Historical Education in memory of Emperor Alexander III, the Society of Lovers of Ancient Literature, of the Russian (1888) and the Moscow (1896) Archaeological societies, the Historical & Genealogical Society (1905), the Russian Historical Society (1910); he was chairman of the Commission on the noble archives of the Joint Noble Gentry Council, as well as a founding member of "The Russian Assembly" (1901). In 1907 he was nominated as a candidate for election to the State Duma in St. Petersburg from the Union of Russian People.
After the events of 1917 Likhachev remained in Russia, but, fearing for the safety of his collections, in 1918, he handed them over to the Petrograd Archaeological Institute in the form of paleographic study, which in 1925 was transferred to the USSR Academy of Sciences and converted into Museum of Paleography. In 1919-1929 the scientist had been a member of the Russian Academy of History of Material Culture, and until 1925 continued to lecture at the Archaeological Institute. In August 1925 he was elected a member of the USSR Academy of Sciences at the Department of History and Philology and was appointed Director of the Museum of Paleography.
In January 1930, Likhachev was arrested for the "academic case." February 2, 1931, he was expelled from the USSR Academy of Sciences, and upon the decision of the OGPU Collegium of August 8, 1931 was sentenced to exile for 5 years in Astrakhan and the confiscation of all property. Collections, library and manuscripts of the academician were handed over to the Academy of Sciences. Even before the sentencing, an extraordinary general meeting of the Academy excluded Likhachev, along with academics, S. F. Platonov, Ye. V. Tarle, and M. K. Lyubavskiy from among its full members. Museum of Paleography was transformed into the Museum of Books, Documents and Letters. In 1936 it was made part of the Leningrad branch of the Institute of History of the Soviet Union (now - St. Petersburg Institute of History, the Russian Academy of Sciences). August 13, 1933 Likhachev, seriously ill, was allowed to return to Leningrad.
Nikolai P. Likhachev died April 14, 1936 and was buried at the Smolensk cemetery in Leningrad. July 20, 1967, he was rehabilitated and upon the decision of the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences of April 5, 1968 restored to the Academy.
Lit.: Бычкова М. Е. Н. П. Лихачёв // Труды Института российской истории. Вып. 6. М., 2006; Валк С. Н. Николай Петрович Лихачёв // Вспомогательные исторические дисциплины. Вып. 9. Л., 1978; Климанов Л. . Н. П. Лихачев: «Быть, чем только могу, полезным первенствующему ученому сословию» // Трагические судьбы: репрессированные ученые Академии наук СССР. М., 1995, С. 91-107; Лихачёв Н. П. Воспоминания библиофила и собирателя документов и автографов // Книга: Исследования и материалы. М., 1991. Сб. 62; Он же. Генеалогическая история одной помещичьей библиотеки. СПб., 1911; Он же. Дипломатика. Лекции. СПб., 1906; Он же. Краткое описание икон собрания П. М. Третьякова. М., 1905; Он же. Материалы для истории византийской и русской сфрагистики. Вып. 1—2. Л., 1928-1930; Он же. Материалы для истории русского иконописания. Ч. 1—2. СПб., 1906; Он же. Обзор русской археографии XIX столетия. СПб., 1902; Он же. Происхождение А. Ф. Адашева, любимца Ивана Грозного // Исторический вестник. 1890. Т. 40. № 5. С. 378—392; Медведев И. П. «Меня манят архивы, пока я молод»: (малоизвестные страницы биографии Н. П. Лихачёва) // Вспомогательные исторические дисциплины. Т. 29. СПб., 2005; Плешков В. Н. Из истории дома Н. П. Лихачёва в Санкт-Петербурге // Вспомогательные исторические дисциплины. Т. 29. СПб., 2005; Простоволосова Н. П. Н. П. Лихачёв. Судьба и книги: Библиографический указатель. СПб., 2002; Шандровская В. С. Н. П. Лихачёв: из научного наследия // Вспомогательные исторические дисциплины. Т. 29. СПб., 2005; Шмидт С. О. К 60-летию со дня кончины академика Н. П. Лихачёва // Вспомогательные исторические дисциплины. Т. 26. СПб., 1998; Янин В. Л. К 100-летию со дня рождения Н. П. Лихачёва // Советская археология. 1962. № 3.
Based on the Presidential Library’s materials:
Лихачёв Н. П. Библиотека и архив московских государей в XVI столетии. СПб., 1894;
Лихачёв Н. П. Боярский список 1611 года. СПб., 1895;
Лихачёв Н. П. Вымышленный указ царя Алексея Михайловича. СПб., 1913;
Лихачёв Н. П. «Государев родословец» и род Адашевых. СПб., 1897;
Лихачёв Н. П. Государев родословец и Бархатная книга. СПб., 1900;
Лихачёв Н. П. Грамоты рода Осоргиных. СПб., 1900;
Лихачёв Н. П. Заметки по родословию некоторых княжеских фамилий. СПб., 1900;
Лихачёв Н. П. Летописи и записи в рукописях и на книгах как генеалогический материал. СПб., 1900;
Лихачёв Н. П. Новое родословие князей Голицыных. СПб., 1893;
Лихачёв Н. П. Палеографическое значение бумажных водяных знаков. Ч. 3: Альбом снимков. СПб., 1899;
Лихачёв Н. П. Разрядные дьяки XVI века: опыт исторического исследования. СПб., 1888;
Лихачёв Н. П. Родство Колычевых с новгородцами. СПб., 1900;
Местнические дела 1563-1605 гг. / Собраны и изданы Н. П. Лихачёвым. СПб., 1894.