Vladimir Golenishchev
Russian Egyptologist and collector
- Born
- 1856, St. Petersburg
- Died
- 1947, Nice
- Found
- Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor papyrus
- Collection
- Sold 1909 to the Moscow (Pushkin) museum
- Taught
- Cairo University, 1924–29
The Russian Egyptologist who identified the Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor and assembled the collection now in Moscow's Pushkin Museum.
What is Vladimir Golenishchev known for?
Vladimir Golenishchev was one of the first Russian Egyptologists. Over more than sixty trips to Egypt he assembled about 6,000 antiquities, including the Moscow Mathematical Papyrus and the Story of Wenamun. In 1909 he sold the collection to the Moscow Museum of Fine Arts, now the Pushkin Museum, rather than to a foreign buyer.
He found the only known copy of the Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor, a Middle Kingdom papyrus in the Imperial Hermitage in St. Petersburg (Papyrus Hermitage 1115), and presented it in 1881. The story features a giant golden serpent on a magical island that sinks into the sea.
After the 1917 revolution he stayed abroad, taught at Cairo University from 1924 to 1929, and died in Nice in 1947.
Found and published the papyrus of the Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor.
Mentioned on these pages
- Rabbit holeTale of the Shipwrecked Sailor
- PlaceHermitage Museum
Sources
- Wikipedia, 'Vladimir Golenishchev'Reference
- State Hermitage Museum, 'Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor', first sheetPrimary text
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