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Abstract

The life and multifaceted scientifi c activity of the known ethnographer, historian, orientalist and archaeologist Basil Lavrentyevich Vyatkin was connected with the study and promotion of the history and archeology of Uzbekistan is refl ected in this article. This was manifested in his fi rst papers on the historical geography of Tashkent and Samarkand. Through the offi cial letters to the administrative court, articles in periodicals his efforts in two important areas are shown: 1) the study and preservation of cultural monuments of Samarkand which he devoted most of his life to; 2) the need for studying the local language by researchers to work with manuscripts. His activity was refl ected in archaeological studying of the region1) the study of ancient settlement of Afrasiyab, the results of which were refl ected in the author’s monograph of the scientist; 2) in the search, discovery and the opening in the 1908–1909 remains of the medieval Observatory scientist Mirzo Ulugbek in Samarkand, turned out to be one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the beginning of the 20th century, and brought V.L. Vyatkin the world fame. The fact that the scientist’s knowledge of local languages contributed to a highly respectful attitude of the local population of Samarkand who called him “Domla” is remarkable.

This article was prepared on the basis of the documents extracted from the Central State Archive of the Republic of Uzbekistan, from the personal fund of V.L. Vyatkin, his scientifi c and journalistic work, from the published scientifi c and historical literature about him. The article is enriched with quotations from the works of the scientist on a given problem of the history of Uzbekistan, and also memories of his students and followers.

Keywords

Vasiliy Vyatkin, Samarkand, madrassas, Registan, Turkestan, Central Asia, the Imperial Archaeological Commission, Observatory, Sherdor, Mirzo Ulugbek, Gur Amir