Ancient Books and Photographs about Buddhism Presented at the Historical Headquarters of the RGS

The Scientific Library of the RGS in St. Petersburg is hosting an exhibition «The Study of Buddhism at the Russian Geographical Society». The exhibition introduces the works of travelers and Orientalists from the late 19th to early 20th century, when scholars actively explored Central Asia and Tibet. The exhibition can be visited until October 5 only as part of a guided tour of the historical headquarters of the Russian Geographical Society. 

One of the central places in the exhibition is occupied by the works of Pyotr Kozlov, a student and follower of Nikolai Przhevalsky, and an honorary member of the RGS. Tibet occupied a special place in his scientific interests. The traveler visited Buddhist monasteries, observed religious rituals, and gathered information about monastic life, architecture, and religious objects. He described his impressions in the book «Tibet and the Dalai Lama», published in 1920.

«The wondrous combination of the valley and the divine hills Marbo-ri and Zhagbo-ri, the clear blue skies and the bright sun, the original buildings and the red, golden, and white hues give rise to a real-life fairy tale. It is no wonder that Buddhists, upon first sighting Lhasa and the Potala, fall to their knees in ecstasy and, with tears of emotion, fix their ardent, pleading gazes on the 'holy of holies’…»

A large section is devoted to Sergei Oldenburg, an Orientalist, Indologist, Buddhologist, member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, and one of the founders of the domestic school of study of India and Buddhism. The foundation of his scientific work was the study of written and artistic monuments. In 1897, the scholar created an international collection of original and translated Buddhist texts, Bibliotheca Buddhica. The exhibition features a 1910 edition.

Visitors will also see the work of Aleksey Pozdneev, an Orientalist, Mongolist, and professor at St. Petersburg University. Between 1876 and 1878, he participated in an expedition of the RGS to Mongolia and China, and in 1892–1893 he travelled around Mongolia on his own, studying it primarily as a Buddhist country. The result of this work was «Essays on the Way of Life of Buddhist Monasteries and Buddhist Clergy in Mongolia in Connection with the Relationship of the Latter to the People, ” published in 1887. The book is among the most significant Russian studies of Mongolian Buddhism in the 19th century. 

Another focus of the exhibition is Vasily Vasiliev, a Russian sinologist, Buddhologist, member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, and professor at Kazan and St. Petersburg Universities. In 1840, he went to Beijing as part of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission and spent almost 10 years there. The scholar studied Chinese, Mongolian, Tibetan, and Manchu, as well as Sanskrit. His main work was the book «Buddhism, Its Dogmas, History and Literature, ” which was published between 1857 and 1869 and became one of the first major systematic studies of Buddhism in European scholarship.

A separate part of the exhibition is devoted to Gombozhab Tsybikov, a Buryat scholar, orientalist, ethnographer, traveler, and educator. Between 1899 and 1902, with the support of the RGS, he travelled to Tibet, reached Lhasa, visited the largest monastic centers, and collected extensive materials about the life of the region. Tsybikov became one of the first photographers to capture Lhasa and Central Tibet.

The traveler’s photographs and diary entries became an important source for the study of Tibetan culture and Buddhism. In 1919, the RGS published a book «A Buddhist Pilgrim to the Holy Places of Tibet: From Diaries Kept from 1899 to 1902». In it, the journey is presented simultaneously as a scientific study and as evidence of the scholar’s acquaintance with the secret Tibetan world.