Березы

1898–1903

Lecturer at the Archaeological Institute

From 1898 Roerich works with the St Petersburg Archaeological Institute: he teaches a course titled “Artistic Technique as Applied to Archaeology”, directs training excavations and compiles the “Archaeological Map of St Petersburg Province”. He digs in the provinces of St Petersburg, Pskov, Novgorod, Tver, Yaroslavl and Smolensk.

1903–1904

A “journey through antiquity”: over forty towns

With his wife Roerich visits more than forty towns with ancient monuments to study the roots of Russian culture. The result is about 90 architectural studies, a collection of photographs of old Russia and articles in which he is among the first to raise the question of the great artistic value of early Russian icon painting and architecture.

1904

Talashkino, Maria Tenisheva's estate

After touring the towns along the Volga and visiting Mozhaisk and the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery, Roerich ends his trip at Talashkino near Smolensk, the estate of Maria Tenisheva. Together with Malyutin, Vrubel, Benois, Korovin and Repin he puts into practice projects to revive ancient Russian traditions and folk crafts; his collaboration with Tenisheva will last until 1917 and their friendship until her death.

1904–1905

Neolithic sites on the Valdai and a Stone Age collection

In 1904, with Prince Putyatin, Roerich finds several Neolithic sites on the Valdai Hills near Lake Piros, and from 1905 he builds a collection of Stone Age antiquities, which is highly praised that same year at the French Prehistoric Congress in Périgueux. By 1910 it holds more than 30,000 items from Russia, Germany, Italy and France; today they are in the Hermitage.

1906

Exhibitions abroad and the Salon d'Automne

From 1906 Roerich regularly takes part in exhibitions abroad: Paris, Venice, Berlin, Rome, Brussels, Vienna and London get to know his work, and his paintings are bought by the Luxembourg Museum, the National Museum in Rome, the Louvre and other museums. In 1907 he is elected a member of the Société du Salon d'Automne in France.

1906

Director of the Society's Drawing School

On taking up his post as director of the Drawing School, Roerich enlarges its premises, opens new classes and workshops — for icon painting, ceramics, chasing and weaving — restores the rights of the teaching council and founds a Museum of Russian Art at the school; he hopes to reorganise it as a Free People's Academy.