RU | EN
Submenu

Belorussova S. Travels of Mikhail Krukovsky in the Olonets Region

Svetlana Belorussova
Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) of the RAS
Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation
ORCID: 0000-0002-2069-3452
E-mail: svetlana-90@yandex.ru

 

 Download  |  Go to Issue #1. 2025

 

ABSTRACT. The paper focuses on the figure of Mikhail Krukovsky, who was at the same time a traveler, ethnographer, photographer, writer, illustrator and gatherer of ethnographic collections. Krukovsky was distinguished by versatility, which was not only his personal characteristic, but also a feature of his time: versatility provided more opportunities to discover the world and oneself in the world. Mikhail Krukovsky can be called a personality of his era — a new man with different skills and abilities. He made himself on his own, without relying on rank, status or family. His acquired abilities enabled him to become an explorer of lands, peoples and cultures — and today he is more known as an explorer and traveler. In his notes on the Olonets region, Mikhail Krukovsky described the palette of impressions from his trip: the customs of the locals, the peculiarities of the language and the specifics of everyday life. One of the emotional parts of the trips is the journey itself — the sensations of crossing borders, the fear and longing of the road, the joy of discovery and the bitterness from realising the hard life of the Olonets peasantry. During his journey, Krukovsky proved himself as a photographer, ethnographer and gatherer of collections. The end of his journey was marked by the loss of some of the things he had collected: for others they were of no value and were thrown away as unnecessary. It is likely that the loss of some of the results of his work, paradoxically, helped Krukovsky to acquire the profession of photographer and ethnographer and thereby contribute to the knowledge and description of the Olonets region.

 

KEYWORDS: Mikhail Krukovsky, travel, anthropology of travel, Olonets region, photography, ethnography, Karelians

 

FOR CITATION: Belorussova S. Travels of Mikhail Krukovsky in the Olonets Region. Kunstkamera. 2025. 1 (27): 131–141. (In Russian). DOI: 10.31250/2618-8619-2025-1(27)-131-141

 

DOI 10.31250/2618-8619-2025-1(27)-131-141
UDC 39(=511.112)

 

REFERENCES

  • Belorussova S. Yu. [Mikhail Krukovskiy’s Ethnophotographic Journey to South Urals]. Ural’skij istoriceskij vestnik [Ural Historical Journal], 2016, no. 2 (51), pp. 98–104. (In Russian).
  • Golovnev A. V. Antropologiya dvizheniya (drevnosti Severnoy Yevrazii) [Anthropology of Movement (Antiquities of Northern Eurasia)]. Ekaterinburg: Volot Publ., 2009, 496 p. (In Russian).
  • Golovnev A. V. [Anthropology of Travel: from Imago Mundi to Selfie]. Ural’skij istoriceskij vestnik [Ural Historical Journal], 2016, no. 2 (51), pp. 6–16. (In Russian).
  • Golovnev A. V. [Ethnography in the Russian Academic Tradition]. Etnografia, 2018, no. 1 (1), pp. 6–39. (In Russian).
  • Golovneva E. V., Golovnev I. A. [Photofixation of the Far East in the activity of Vladimir Arsenyev: “repertoire” of images]. Quaestia Rossica, 2020, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 1023–1046. (In Russian).
  • Lavrenteva L. S. [Illustrative collections of M. A. Krukovsky]. Radlovskiy sbornik. Nauchnye issledovaniya i muzeynye proekty MAE RAN v 2007 g. [Radlovsky collection. Scientific researches and museum projects of MAE RAS 2007]. St. Petersburg: MAE RAN Publ., 2008, pp. 273–279. (In Russian).
  • Lavrenteva L. S. [Edge of the woods, rivers and poets (Karelian photoexpedition of 2008)]. Materialy polevykh issledovaniy MAE RAS [Materials of field researches of MAE RAS]. St. Petersburg: MAE RAN Publ., 2009, iss. 9, pp. 6–16. (In Russian).
  • Oktyabrskaya I. V. [Photo and study of local lore of Russia and Siberia]. Parallel’ [Parallel], 2010, no. 3 (38), pp. 48–53. (In Russian).
  • Stanulevich N. A. [New information about Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorsky and his activities in 1898–1907]. Klio [Klio], 2013, no. 7 (79), pp. 129–132. (In Russian).
  • Tolmacheva E. B. [Development of a domestic technique of field ethnographic fixing]. Radlovskiy sbornik. Nauchnye issledovaniya i muzeynye proekty MAE RAN v 2010 g. [Radlovsky collection. Scientific researches and museum projects of MAE RAS 2010]. St. Petersburg: MAE RAN Publ., 2011, pp. 174–180. (In Russian).