Доклады Международного конгресса ИИСАА. Т. 1

144 Proceedings of the International Congress on Historiography and Source Studies of Asia and Africa.Vol. I. 2020 Julietta I. Meskhidze (MAE RAS, St Petersburg, Russia) On the Sources for the History of Plastic Art of the Chechen Republic Summary : Following the accession of Chechnya to the Russian Empire, the descriptions of military intelligence gave way to scholarly interest in its early history and culture. Dedicated activities of Russian academic organisations and scholars, and the involvement of local guides and interpreters led to the accumulation of significant data and gathering art collections, which helped to comprehend the cultural-histor- ical panorama of Chechnya. Multidisciplinary academic expeditions encompassing archaeological, ethnographic and linguistic research became a priority of Russian Caucasian studies in the 1920–1930s. The article considers the work of the North Caucasian expedition of the Insti- tute of the History of Material Culture of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1939, led by Aleksei Machinsky (1910–1942). The materials of the expedition include a handwritten field diary of the archaeological survey of the Itum-Kalinsky district and two albums of photographs as a visual supplement to it. The diary contains many detailed descriptions, ethnographic and folklore records, such as stories about ancient deities and related rites, legends on the origin of villages, the construction of combat and dwelling towers, military clashes and peaceful relations between neighbouring mountain communities. It also contains plans of burial grounds, sketches of towers and embossed images on stones. Among other issues, two topics related to Chechen sculpture history stand out: information about “the sculptural portrait of Prince Sepo” on the combat tower in the village of Tsoi Pede and photographs of carved stones in the walls of the mosque in the village of Tsentaroi. Thus, on the wall of the Tsoi Pede tower there was “an image of a man with arms stretched out and legs spread”. His figure was “laid out of white stones”, and his head was “made of a separate stone with roughly outlined features”. According to the local residents, this was the image of “Sepo — the last prince of Tsoi Pede”. At present, it is usually interpreted as an image of St George who guarded the crypts of ancestors and the people of Tsoi Pede. St George is sometimes also associated with the embossed image on the Tsentaroi Mosque (built in the 19th century): a dismounted hero with Zulfikar sword, a key symbol of Shiite art, is fighting the dragon. The decorative design of the mosque includes other embossed images, such as numerous Arabographic inscriptions, solar signs, ornamental motifs. Given the above-mentioned Shiite connotations, a Muslim interpretation of the image of the dragon slayer could