A book was published in Chersonese Tauride in memory of Evgeniy Turovsky

The new book is a tribute to the memory of the candidate of historical sciences, an excellent scientist, archaeologist and numismatist, who passed away in 2022. Turovsky’s co-author is Andrei Anatolyevich Filippenko, who worked for many years at the museum-reserve under the leadership of Evgeniy Yakovlevich.

This is the book I’ve been waiting for almost two years. It was published in memory of Evgeniy Yakovlevich Turovsky, a remarkable researcher, archaeologist, tour guide, lecturer and an unusually modest man who gave 40 years of his life to Chersonese Tauride. He left us a legacy of about 1,500 sheets of unpublished monographs and articles. The published book is a tribute to the memory of the scientist, citizen, resident of Sevastopol, who loved his city very much and devoted his whole life to the study of Chersonesus— quotes the press service of the director of the museum-reserve Elena Morozova, thanks to whose active participation the book was published.

The publication presents all currently known works of ancient decorative painting of Tauride Chersonesus. Here, information about the design features of Chersonese crypts with picturesque paintings is systematized, and the distinctive features of pagan and early Christian burials are given. Particular attention is paid to the elements of artistic design of the crypts, pictorial compositions, graffiti— notes the head of the publishing sector of the museum-reserve, the executive editor of the book, Andrei Viktorovich Zaikov.

In 2006–2009, E. Ya. Turovsky and A. A. Filippenko carried out excavations at the necropolis of Chersonesos in Karantinnaya Balka, discovering the unique crypts of Ariston and Demetrius, which are given much attention in the book. The first features frescoes depicting flowers and branches with fruits, a lampshade with a chrism in a wreath, an epitaph, and the second contains graffiti in the form of ships, crosses and chrisms.

In 2008, while conducting conservation research on the eastern shore of Karantinnaya Bay, opposite the Port District of Chersonesos, scientists discovered crypts containing frescoes depicting scenes in the “forests of eternal hunting,” which can also be read about in the monograph.

The book “Chersonese Crypts with Pictorial Paintings” is richly illustrated and will be of interest not only to archaeologists, historians and art historians, but also to all readers who are interested in the culture and art of the ancient city. We invite you to get acquainted with the monograph and express our deep gratitude to everyone who participated in the creation and preparation of a unique publication in memory of Evgeniy Yakovlevich Turovsky! — say the museum staff.

source: Public Relations Department of the State Museum-Reserve «Chersonese Tauride»