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Department of Europe

Contact Information

Phone: +7 (812) 328-00-25

Department Staff

Alexander NOVIK, Candidate of Sciences, Head of the Department (cultural and social anthropology, ethnology of Europe, traditional culture of the Balkan Peninsula peoples, traditional culture of Eurasia, contact zones of Eurasia, ethnolinguistics, ethopsychology, ethnoetiquette, mythology, folk medicine and healership, history of costumes, traditional crafts, arts and crafts).

Yuliya IVANOVA-BUCHATSKAYA, Candidate of Sciences, senior researcher (festive practices and objects/attributes in museum collections, urban studies, occupational cultures).

Natalia GOLANT, Candidate of Sciences, researcher (ethnography of the Carpathian-Balkan region, traditional culture of the Eastern Latin peoples, calendar rites, mythology beliefs, ethnolinguistics).

Ilya GUBANOV, Candidate of Sciences, senior researcher (history of Ancient Scandinavian culture and society, Icelandic family sagas, Beowulf, Old English epic, culture of informal communities (Hippies etc.) from the 1960s up to now).

Julietta MESKHIDZE, Candidate of Sciences, researcher (ethnic culture of Southeast Europe, history and culture of the Basques, ethnopolitical history of the Caucasus, European-Caucasian relations).

Tatjana SCHRADER, Candidate of Sciences, senior researcher (ethnocultural contacts of Russia and Scandinavian countries; history of Russian Germans in St. Petersburg and PetersburgProvince).

Aleksandr Mylnikov (1929–2003)

Boris Nikolaevich Putilov (1919–1997)

Waistcoat. Albania. 20th century. Wool, cotton, gold embroidery

Women's belt. Albania. 19th century. Velvet, wool, metal, gold embroidery

Womаn in costume of Blekinge province (Sweden). Early 20th century

Runic calendar. Scandinavia. 1635

Breastpin. Bulgaria. 19th century. Silver

History of the Department

The Department of Europe of the MAE RAS was established in the early 1990s on the basis of the General Issues Sector. The Department owes its existence to the initiative of Professor A. S. Mylnikov, Honored Scientist of the RF, who was Director of the MAE RAS at that time, and B. N. Putilov, Doctor of Sciences, an outstanding folklore researcher. Under the leadership of A. S. Mylnikov whose research interests covered a widest range of studies of European peoples, the Department functioned until his death early in 2003. 

Essential Topics of Research

The main lines of the Department’s activity are the studies of the traditional culture of peoples of Scandinavia and Central Europe, the Balkans and the Slav area, Southern and Southeast Europe, Black SeaLand, and AzovLand.

In 2017–2019, the researchers of the Department of Europe contribute are working on the collective topic “Ethnocultural processes in today’s Europe and the Museum: Neighborhoods, Diasporas, and Migrations” (supervisor: A. A. Novik, Candidate of Sciences) as part of the research effort “History of the MAE RAS and its collections in the context of development of human science” (supervisor: Yu. K. Chistov, Doctor of Sciences), and contribute to the projects “Illustrative collections of the Kunstkamera” (supervisor: V. A. Prischepova, Candidate of Sciences) and “Inter-civilization interaction, ethnic history and diversity of the cultural heritage of the world’s Islamic nations in historical dynamics” (supervisor: Ye. A. Rezvan, Doctor of Sciences).

The Department’s researchers have contributed to the program of the language and literature section, History and Philology Division of the RAS “Language and literature in the context of cultural dynamics” (project “Carpathian and Balkan territorial dialects: Reconstruction of traditional culture using language data,” 2012–2014, N. G. Golant), grants of the Russian Human Science Foundation (project “Albanians in Ukraine: The Revived Past. Archiving and attribution of the photo illustration collections of the IEA RAS,” 2012, A. A. Novik, D. S. Yermolin; project “Contact zones of Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Romania: Language and ethnocultural situation under transformation,” 2012–2014, A. A. Novik, D. S. Yermolin; project “Bulgarians of Moldova, Ukraine, and Russia. Experience of life in diaspora,” 2015–2017, N. G. Golant), scholarship fund of the Parliament of Berlin / Studienstiftung des Abgeordnetenhauses von Berlin (2012–2013, Yu. V. Buchatskaya) etc.

Essential Publications

  • Schrader, Tatiana.  Legislative Aspects of the Norwegian Colonization of Murman (1860-1915) //  In the North my Nest is made. Studies in the History of the Murman  Colonization 1860-1940. St. Petersburg - Tromsö, 2006. P. 61-85. 
  • Novik Alexander, Sobolev Andrey. The Traditional Wedding Costume of the Mrkovići in Montenegro: between Real Heritage and Folk Construction (Materials of the Russian Expeditions in 2012-2014) // Folklore. Electronic Journal of Folklore. Vol. 66 [Электронный ресурс]. Режим доступа: https://www.folklore.ee/folklore/vol66/novik_sobolev.pdf    (https://doi.org/10.7592/FEJF2016.66.novik_sobolev).  22 p. (Дата обращения: 22.01.2017).