Saratov University and Kondakov Institute in Prague: towards the History of Relationships (1928-1936)
In this article, the scientific relations of N. P. Kondakov's Seminar (Archaeological Institute) in Prague with Saratov University and its structural subdivisions in the 1928-1936 are reconstructed on the basis of new archival documents. It is shown that in the interwar period Saratov University was drawn into the cultural orbit of the Russian Diaspora. Saratov scientists were involved in international intellectual contacts, which had different forms, and were expressed in book exchange, reviewing and quoting. A great place is given to the problems of intellectual transfers, it is shown that the work of Saratov archaeologists was in demand both among migrant colleagues and among foreigners. Communication emerging across ideological barriers has been cut to the Zhebelev's Affair in the fall of 1928, however, not interrupted instantly. Dynamics of contacts between Saratov and Prague is a good demonstration of the metamorphosis of the scientific climate in the USSR. On the one hand, the notion of an instantaneous iron curtain and the interruption of intellectual exchange between Soviet Russia and the outside world is exaggerated. But at the same time, the impact of the external framework on the dynamics of international contacts is obvious. Political processes in the USSR hurt these relations and formalized them until they were finally interrupted. Keywords: Prague, Saratov, Saratov University, N. P. Kondakov Archaeological Institute, science communication, history of archaeology, P. S. Rykov, T. M. Minaeva, N. Fettich, M. I. Rostovtsev