Kalmyk Collections in Museums of Germany

Abstract

The traditional culture of the Kalmyks - everyday objects and works of art of Buddhism is represented in museum collections of Germany. On the occasion of the 125th anniversary of the museum’s foundation, a new permanent exhibition was opened in the Ethnographic Museum at Herrngut. Entitled «Ethnography and Herrnhut Mission», it presents displays about the historical cultures of peoples with whom the Herrnhut missionaries worked. One of them is dedicated to the Kalmyk collection gathered by the efforts of the Germans from Sarepta, a town founded by Herrnhut missionaries on the lower Volga of Russia. The cultural heritage of the Kalmyk nomads is represented in museums and archives of Germany. Of special importance is the Herrnhuters’ research in the field of language and traditional life and culture of the Kalmyk Buddhism, representing the heritage of the Mongolian peoples as well as the experience of scientific cataloging of museum collections in the works of foreign researchers, allowing in more detail to establish patterns of ethnocultural genesis which are not fully represented in the museum collections of Kalmykia due to historical circumstances.