the magazine "Old Years",
protection of Church property,
Petrograd artistic and historical commission,
TsGALI St. Petersburg,
1918 Decree of the separation of the church from the state
Abstract
In 1918 all church properties were declared national estate, in accordance with the decree “On separation of Church from State and School from Church.” The decree started the process of alienation of church properties. The artistic intelligentsia tried to protect the cultural valuables, and the United Artistic and Historical Commission was one of the first to interfere. Most of its members were among the founders of the magazine “Old Years”. The Сommission, originally created for the inventory of the Winter palace property in 1917, by 1918 functioned as the State Council for the Arts. To this day, researchers have not paid sufficient attention to its work, despite a large number of archival documents, including such a rich source as the typescript of the journals of the Commission's meetings. These journals help to show the Commission's outstanding role in protecting church property. The article is accompanied by the publication of the text of one of the meetings of the Commission from January-February 1918. The document is being published for the first time.
