Radloff's Archaeological Album from the Kunstkamera Collection in St. Petersburg

In 2024, Russia celebrated the 300th anniversary of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the 310th anniversary of St. Petersburg's Kunstkamera. But there is yet another date of no less importance to the Museum. 130 years ago, the position of Director of the MAE was assumed by the eminent Turkolgist, facilitator of science and museology, Friedrich Wilhelm Radloff, or Vasily Vasilievich Radloff, whose contribution to the development of the oldest scientific and museum institution in Russia is hard to overestimate. Radloff's legacy is diverse: books and articles, expeditions, museum expositions and collections, international schools of thought. Without his name, it is impossible to imagine the history of studying Altai, Siberia, and Central Asia. This paper aims to introduce into academic circulation the information connected with the still unpublished album with sketches of archaeological finds and maps of archaeological excavations, entitled “Original Skitzen einiger Gegenden in Hoch‑Asien. Aufgenommen von Dr. W. Radloff auf seine Reise durch den Altai. 1861”, which Radloff, who was among the first to begin archaeological excavations in Alati, complemented all his life.