5 August 1947 year
A 91-year-old Russian Egyptologist has died in Nice. Vladimir Golenishchev. One of the founders of the Cairo school of Egyptology, he spoke 13 languages.
Born in 1856, in Petersburg, in the family of a wealthy merchant.
At the age of 14, he bought ancient Egyptian writings from an antique dealer on Nevsky Prospect—the first exhibit in his collection.
At 23, he graduated from St. Petersburg University. At 24, he joined the Hermitage and became fascinated with ancient Egyptian monuments. No one had studied them before, and no one knew exactly what Egyptian antiquities were housed in the Hermitage.
Found "Ancient Egyptian papyrus number 1", which consisted of three parts.
The first is “The Teachings of Merikar” (a political treatise on how to govern a state, 22nd century BC).
The second is “The Prophecy of Neferti” (a text about turmoil and chaos that will be replaced by order after the arrival of a just king, 19th–18th centuries BC).
There is no man whose deeds are white at this time. Truly the earth has turned over like a potter's wheel.
Truth will come to its place, and untruth will be eliminated. Rejoice, he who sees, he who follows the king.
The third, "The Tale of the Shipwrecked Man" (20th-17th centuries BC), is the first fantasy and adventure story about a hero who is saved after a shipwreck on an island with a huge Serpent.
A hundred years later, the author's signature on a third of the papyrus was entered into the Guinness Book of Records (as the oldest surviving signature on papyrus). However, the scroll that fell into Golenishchev's hands was extremely fragile—pressing and steam were used to unroll it and read it.
I managed to make a new discovery quite by chance. A manuscript, almost perfectly preserved and, moreover, one that is of absolutely exceptional interest in various respects.
Then, at 25, after the death of his father, he became a co-owner of the family paper joint-stock company.
At 28 he went on an expedition to Egypt.
During his life, he made more than 60 trips to Egypt and amassed a collection of more than 6000 Egyptian objects.
In 1909, the State Duma agreed to purchase his collection (Golenishchev was bankrupt by then) on an installment plan—"224 boxes weigh over 1300 poods." It was donated to the Museum of Fine Arts.
In 1910, due to his wife’s illness, he moved to France and settled in Nice - my wife's hometown.
In 1915 he moved to Egypt and founded the Department of Egyptology at Cairo University.
He systematized the collection of hieratic papyri at the Egyptian Museum. Until his last days, he worked on ancient Eastern archives.
His inspired manner of speaking made us forget that he was sixty. He remained just as powerful until the end of his days. Although he began to walk more slowly and later had to use a cane, his spirit never weakened. In 1947, he was as inspired—we would even say as dynamic—as he had been in 1915 (Orientalist Vasily Struve).
