Genrikh Tatur

Background

Genrikh Khristoforovich Tatur was born in a noble Belarusian family.

Career

He started collecting and researching the Belorussian antiquities approximately since he was 14 years old. Genrikh did not have a special archaeological education. He was a self-taught archaeologist.

Since 1874 he carried out archaeological excavations on the territory of Minsk Province. After having collected the necessary information, Tatur made an archaeological map of Minsk Province with the detailed description of archaeological monuments. His activities of collecting and making excavations were apprehended by contemporaries in different ways. There were both favourable reports and criticism. At the beginning of the 1890s his research work expanded. After getting the permission from the local authorities he started searching and collecting church antiquities in Vitebsk region. Having a rich ethnographic collection, he created the private museum of the history of material culture of Belarus, collected a unique library (about 6500 volumes, including numerous Old Belarusian written records, manuscripts, “The Bible” by F. Skorina, etc.).



When Tatur died, his collections and the library were bought by Count Tyshkevich from Krasnyi Dvor. Partially they were taken abroad (to the Ukrainian city Lvov, etc.). Tatur was friends with the Belarusian writer K. Kaganiets, was personally acquainted with A. Vlasov, brothers Ivan and Anton Lutskevich. He had extensive specific knowledge about archaeological monuments of Belarus and intended to summarize it in the thorough scientific research.



In 1897 Tatur translated a poem “Pradki” of Ya. Tchechot into Belarusian. He attributed the poem to V. Syrokomlia by

mistake. Tatur’s works “History of Zaslavl”, “History of Stankovo”, “A historical sketch of a small town Turov, the former capital of Turov principality” remained in the manuscripts (preserved in State historical Archives of Lithuania).

Works

• book

  • “Archaeological significance of Minsk Province”

  • “The sketch of archaeological monuments on the territory of Minsk Province and its archaeological significance”