Kostsyushko-Valyuzhinich, Karl Kazimirovich

Born in the family of a small nobleman ( titular adviser ). He grew up in the estate Novoe Selo , located near the Belarusian-Latvian border, on the right bank of the Western Dvina , at the mouth of the Rositsa River. In August 1859, Kostsyushko-Valyuzhinich entered the preparatory department of the Institute of the Corps of Mining Engineers in St. Petersburg . In 1865, he left the capital without completing his studies, and returned home, where for three years he "was engaged in agriculture in his father's estate." In 1868 he entered the service of the Directorate of the Dinaburg-Vitebsk Railway as an assistant to the chief engineer. In 1879, Karl Kazimirovich moved to Sevastopol to treat lung disease; in Sevastopol, he began to work in the management of the Lozovo-Sevastopol Railway (first as a clerk, and then as a senior accountant-bookkeeper) ^[1] .

In 1881 he left the service and, having acquired a house in Sevastopol, began studying the history of Crimea, became the unofficial editor of the Sevastopol Listok newspaper. and in 1882 he organized the Circle of history and antiquity lovers of Crimea, with a museum and a library. The members of the circle were the mayor of Sevastopol, the governor, the captain over the Sevastopol port and other persons ^[1] .

Since January 1885, Kostsyushko-Valyuzhinich served as a comrade (deputy) director of the Sevastopol City Bank, was a member (later chairman) of the Council of the Sevastopol Mutual Credit Society. In the same year, Karl Kazimirovich became a full member of the Imperial Odessa Society of History and Antiquities . In 1888, K.K. Kostsyushko-Valyuzhinich, on the recommendation of the vice-president of the Odessa Society V.N. Yurgevich, became the producer of works and subsequently the head of the "Warehouse of Local Antiquities" - the Archaeological Museum in Tauric Chersonesos , which was built at the insistence of Karl Kazimirovich on the shore of the Quarantine Bay ^[1] .

His life was very difficult at times: he perceived everything that was harmful to Khersones as a personal drama: the construction of monastery buildings and the breakdown of flower beds, the erection of artillery batteries on the hillfort. He fought as best he could, but also fought with him - one of the abbots of the monastery wrote denunciations against him, accusing him, the Catholic, of knowingly hostility to the Orthodox monastery; Count A. A. Bobrinsky, Chairman of the Archaeological Commission, explained to him that the interests of the War Department were higher than archaeological; venerable scholars, while traveling in Chersonesos, criticized his excavations, "conducted without a specific plan," and the storage system of exhibits in the museum. Karl Kazimirovich carefully filed all these documents, providing a note: "For the future historian of the Chersonesus Museum."

At his post, he worked for 20 years. Karl Kazimirovich Kostsyushko-Valyuzhinich died on December 14 (27), 1907 in Sevastopol, in a hospital of the Red Cross, from pneumonia. He was buried in the Chersonese Monastery , as the obituary says, “together by the Catholic and Orthodox clergy.” His grave with a tombstone, which is a fragment of a marble column with an inscription, has been preserved on the territory of the Tauric Chersonesos reserve. It is located on an alley leading to the sea.

By religion, Kosciuszko-Valyuzhinich was a Roman Catholic. However, his wife, Maria Pavlovna, was of Orthodox descent. K.K. Kostsyushko-Valyuzhinich had seven children - three sons (Peter, Pavel and Dmitry) and four daughters (Lyubov, Elizaveta, Maria and Ksenia) ^[1] .

In 1892, K.K. Kostsyushko-Valyuzhinich was elected a member of the Imperial Archaeological Commission . He was a full member or corresponding member of a significant number of scientific societies of his time, including the Moscow Numismatic Society, the Tauride Scientific Archival Commission and others ^[1] .

K.K. Kostsyushko-Valyuzhinich began large-scale excavations of the agora of Tauric Chersonesos. During the excavations of the settlement, they discovered the defenses (walls) of the city, residential quarters and streets, shops and workshops, public buildings, basilicas , and a water supply system. A significant number of archaeological finds were sent to the Hermitage “for the Highest Viewing”. During the period of archaeological research of the late XIX - early XX centuries, Chersonesus became the largest object of archaeological research in the Russian Empire ^[1] .

This modest hard worker devotedly devoted to his work, in his solitary dwelling on deserted shores, where the brisk life of the merchant Greek city once boiled, revealing step by step the material and written monuments of its past; under his vigilant supervision, according to his plan, excavations were carried out, leading to very important and unexpected results. But not only large discoveries, such as the opening of the walls of the ancient Greek city below the soil level of the later Chersonesos or the cruciform temple, opened in 1902, draw attention to its activity as the guardian of excavations at the site of ancient Chersonesos. It was especially valuable that for him there were no trifles in his favorite business. Each fragment of ancient irrigation utensils, each invisible fragment of household items or church utensils of a pagan or Christian Chersonesos, with its many years of experience in studying the Chersonese antiquity, told him a lot, immediately found a place in one or another department of a small museum on the site of the ruins of an ancient city, where with such thoroughness he collected and classified objects of Kherson antiquity from different eras. S. P. Shestakov ^[1] .

The scientific heritage of K.K. Kostsyushko-Valyuzhinich is an extensive archive fund (more than 5 thousand units. Storage). Among them are manuscripts of reports to the Archaeological Commission, his diaries, photographs and drawings made by him documenting the excavation process, scientific correspondence ^[1] . For 2009, the majority of the archive fund has been published and is in open electronic access.

• Antonova I.A. Founder of the Kherson Museum // Crimean archive. - 1997. - No. 3. - S. 57-67.
• Grinevich K.E. One Hundred Years of Chersonesos Excavations (1827-1927). - Sevastopol, 1927.
• Makhov I.I.K. Kostsyushko-Valyuzhinich (on the anniversary of his death) // Crimean Herald. - No. 290 - December 14, 1908

• Grinenko L. O. “Dear Karl Kazimirovich” (neopr.) . - A site dedicated to the scientific activity of K.K. Kostsyushko-Valyuzhinich. Date of treatment December 11, 2009. Archived April 12, 2012.
• Grinenko L.O. A brief outline of the history of the Kherson Museum (neopr.) . chersonesos.org. Date of treatment December 11, 2009. Archived April 12, 2012.