Tsannid-khambo Agvan Dorzhiev (1853/54-1938) was a Khori Buryat who went to Tibet at the age of nineteen and received his higher confessional education at the Gomang Datsan, the largest monastery in Lhasa, Drepung (1888). After completing his studies, he was appointed one of the mentors of the young XIII Dalai Lama Thubten Gyatso (1876-1933); later, the closest adviser and favorite of the Tibetan ruler, he sought political rapprochement between Tibet and Russia and the establishment of a Russian protectorate over Tibet. In 1905, he moved to Russia. Scholar-theologian, diplomat, educator, prominent figure in the national liberation movement of the Tibetan and Mongolian peoples, reformer of the Buddhist denomination in tsarist and Soviet Russia [see about him: Pubaev, 1989, p. 94-98; Zayatuev, 1991; People and Destinies..., 2003, p. 150, 151; Andreev, 1990; Snelling, 1990, p. 36-43; Snelling, 1993; Andreev, 2005]. On his initiative and under his leadership, in 1909-1915, according to the project of the famous architect G. V. Baranovsky, a Buddhist temple was erected in St. Petersburg.

The main source for this article is archival materials stored in the State Archive of the Irkutsk Region. These materials allow us to find out the details of A. Dorzhiev's activities in the Irkutsk province and represent business correspondence of the Irkutsk Governor-General's Office, including reports of shiretuys (abbots) on the state of datsans, reports, protocols of loam meetings, etc. The documents provide extremely interesting information, although not equal, describing both the policy of the authorities and the situation of the Buddhist Church in the Irkutsk province.

Religious affairs of the Buryat Lamaists occupied a significant place in the internal policy of tsardom in the Russian Far East, and to a certain extent they were also connected with foreign policy, with issues of economic and diplomatic relations between Russia and China. The tsarist government drew attention to the religious affairs of Buryat Buddhists and decided to settle them in connection with the drawing of the state border between Russia and China under the Burin Treaty of 1727. Thus, since the beginning of the 18th century, the religious affairs of the Buryat Buddhists have been directly linked to Russia's foreign policy in the Far East. Russia sought a strong peaceful relationship with China.

By religion, the Buryat people were not homogeneous. The Western Buryats were shamanists, while the eastern Buryats professed Buddhism, but in Transbaikalia Buddhism became the dominant religion only in the 18th century and spread among the eastern Buryat tribes not to the same extent. Buddhism penetrated into Transbaikalia mainly through the tribes that came out of Central Mongolia - Tabanguts, Tsongols, Atagans, Khatagins. First of all, Buddhism spread among the Selenga Buryats, i.e. approximately in the XVII century, among the Khorin people - from the middle of the XVIII century, among the Alar and Tunkin Buryats - in the XIX century, and it began to penetrate other Western Buryats, except for the Alar, only at the beginning of the XX century. The centers of Buddhism were located in the Manchu Empire, and the Buryats ' ties with Urga were growing (modern times). Ulaanbaatar), Lhasa, Beijing. The goal of the tsarist government's policy was "to remove the church administration of Buryat lamas from the department of foreign religious centers," but at the same time it was necessary to take careful steps to prevent the possible migration of Buryat clans to neighboring Mongolia.

In 1741, by decree of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, Buddhism was recognized as one of the official religions. In 1851, the "Regulation on the Lamai clergy in Eastern Siberia" was approved, which determined the permissible number of datsans and lamas, the order of their service, and the order of their services.

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their acquisition and management principles. The staff of the Lamai clergy in Eastern Siberia in May 1853 consisted of 34 datsans with a total of 285 people [RGIA, f. 256, d.29, l. 28], of which three in the Irkutsk province - Olkhon, Kyrensky and Alarsky.

By the beginning of the XX century, there were only two datsans in the Irkutsk province: the Kyrensky datsan, founded in 1817 [GAIO, f. 25, op. 3, ed. hr. 3221 (K. 322), l. 4], and the Alarsky datsan, founded in 1814, the new temple of which was " built in 1894. and consecrated at the end of June 1898 by the Bandido-Hambo Lama of the Lamai clergy of Eastern Siberia " [ibid., l. 16]. The second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries was a period of rapid development and establishment of the Buryat Buddhist Church. The beginning of the 20th century was marked by the rapid construction of new datsans and prayer houses. In the same Kyren datsan, prayer houses were built-sume and houses for regular lamas: sume "wooden circle of seven fathoms in seven corners at a price of 1,709 rubles" [ibid., l. 4] - in 1907, sume in memory of the deceased Buryat Ongorkhoev ("wooden circle of 4 and 5 fathoms" [ibid.]) - in 1909, sume in honor of Maidari Burhan ("wooden 8 and 9 fathoms at a price of 6837 rubles." [ibid.]) - in 1912, a wooden prayer house (sume) in honor of Burhan Otochi "3 fathoms long 2 arshins 2 fathoms wide 2 arshins at a price of 456 rubles. 70 kopecks" [GAIO, f. 25, op. 3, units of hr. 3221 (K. 322), l. 4] - in 1913.

During the years of the revolution, the civil war, and the initial stage of Soviet power, a wave of Buryats ' conversion to Buddhism took place, the Kyrmen datsan (1912-1917) was opened for the Ekhirit - Bulagat Buryats, the Unga datsan (1918), the Alat datsan (1922) for the Alar Khongodors, the Murin datsan (1919), the Bilchir datsan for the Bokhan Buryats, and the Haranut datsan and dugan. In 1918, the Kharantsinsky dugan was built near the Olkhon Buryats.

The famous Buryat scholar-orientalist, traveler, writer, first People's Commissar of Education of the Buryat-Mongolian ASSR B. B. Baradiyn in his study "Buddhist monasteries", published in 1926, writes that there were 37 monasteries in Buryatia, 4 of them in the Irkutsk province, and he also mentions two datsans in the Irkutsk Province, "opened several years ago on the initiative of the famous Buryat Lama A. Dorzhiev: Kermenei-datsan in the Ekhirit-Bulagat aimag and Koimorai-datsan, the first datsan in the Irkutsk province with the faculty of tsanit (Buddhist philosophy. - E. A.)" [Baradiyn, 1992, pp. 81-82].

This rapid construction was preceded by a long, persistent effort to convert Irkutsk Buryats to Buddhism, a religion that contributed to their unification, enlightenment, education, and helped in the treatment of spiritual and physical ailments.

In the difficult task of spreading the Buddhist religion among the people, the main role belongs to Aghvan Dorzhiev. In his extremely active religious and educational activities, he could not but arouse serious suspicions among the authorities. This is evidenced by the documents of 1907-1908, which are in the State Archive of the Irkutsk region. Documents are kept in the 1st office of the Irkutsk Governor-General's Office, which was established in 1887 on the basis of a decree of the Senate of June 25, 1887, instead of the abolished Main Directorate of Eastern Siberia as an administrative body of the Irkutsk Governor-General, whose authority extended to the Yenisei and Irkutsk provinces, the Yakut Region and, since 1906, the Trans-Baikal region. (The Chancellery was abolished on March 5, 1917, after the February bourgeois Revolution [see: State Archive..., 1975].)

The first document relating to the activities of A. Dorzhiev in the Irkutsk province is the "letter of the chancellery" addressed to the Irkutsk Governor dated July 20, 1907 under the heading "secret": "Hambo Dorzhiev, who is a representative from the Buryat Lamaites to the Person of the Tibetan Dalai Lama, being now in Irkutsk, appealed to the Chief Commandant of the region with a request to allow him to go to the Irkutsk and Verkholensky uyezds to meet with relatives and acquaintances, while Dorzhiev, so that when traveling to relatives and acquaintances of the Buryats, his [actions] are not taken for agitation, asks the orders of G. N. K. [the Chief Head of the Region] for assistance for an unhindered meeting.

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Chief N. K., by allowing Dorzhiev to meet with his relatives and acquaintances and instructing Your Excellency to make instructions for providing him with assistance within the limits of the law, at the same time expressed a desire that the peasant chiefs, at the end of Dorzhiev's trip, secretly inform the Chancellery, in order to report to the Chief Commander of the Region, which departments Dorzhiev visited and what impression he made his trip to the Buryats " [GAIO, f. 25, op. 3, ed. hr. 3221 (k. 322), l. 57].

In his reply dated October 6, 1907, the peasant chief of the 5th section of the Irkutsk Uyezd, Zherdovskaya station, writes that " the representative of the Buryat Lama, Khambo Dorzhiev, who was attached to the person of the Tibetan Dalai Lama, lived with a non-native of the Kudinsky department of the Khogotsky ulus from July 10 to 15, and left for Verkholensky Uyezd on July 15 to the alien Alexandrov. Returning from there back at the end of August, I visited the foreigners of the Kurumchinsk department, Batyur Bakhinov and Nikolai Khankhasaev, who had a very short visit, and went to Irkutsk, and again on the way I visited the foreigner Mikhailov. Dorzhiev's trip and his visit to several Buryat homes did not make any special impression, many Buryats did not even know about his trip, since there were no meetings and conferences with the Buryats; the visit of Mikhailov, Bakhinov and Khankhasaev was purely a friendly visit to their acquaintances" [ibid., p. 58].

At the same time, the bailiff of the 4th camp of the Verkholensky uyezd, Bessarabov, reports in a report dated September 29, 1907, classified as "secret" to the Verkholensky uyezd police officer: "On September 25, in the village of Harbatovsky in the Lena foreign administration, there was a complete gathering of foreigners of the entire department, and among other economic issues, the question of building a datsan, to which this, apparently, is what all Buryats are inclined to do, clearly guided by those persons who are indicated by me in the above report, and it was decided to apply through one trusted person in case of need in St. Petersburg for the construction of a datsan and residential premises attached to it in the Kyrmen ulus for the apartments of the lama and his staff. The question of building a datsan was hardly raised since 1906, but after the passage of Hambo Dorzhiev last summer, it took on a lively character" [ibid., p. 80].

In 1921, A. Dorzhiev composed an autobiography in Mongolian, presenting it in verse form. In particular, about the events of that time, he writes as follows:: "I went again and again / To relatives who lived beyond the sea [i.e., beyond Lake Baikal], / And persuaded them to build datsans and adopt the religion of [Buddha]. They began to agree. / ...the construction of a datsan [in the lands of] kinsmen / and the foundation of a [Buddhist] temple for general prayers / in the capital Petersburg, / despite the permission of the tsar, / came across the machinations of malicious [people]... / When the datsan was being built near the Ekhirit-Buryats, / the Irkutsk authorities and priests did everything possible to prevent this. / But... the highest resolution was obtained. / In an area called Tukum/, sume was quickly built. I consecrated it immediately , and it became a place of worship for many people. / At the direction of the Dalai Lama / I performed the rite of contemplation of Damdin 1. / The evil Meheshkiev 2 and others tried / to find a way to close sume. / But by the power of the truth of the Supreme Saviour, no harm was done to him" (Dorzhiev, 2003, p. 4). 55 - 56, 60 - 61, 78 - 79].

Efforts to convert Western Buryats (living in the Irkutsk province) to Buddhism were associated with the policy of reforming the Buddhist church. In 1906, the national organizations "Society of Enlightenment of Buryats", "Banner of the Buryat people", "Union of Students 'Youth"were organized. Since 1907, programs, declarations, and articles of these organizations have been published. The slogans of the "national cult" are proclaimed.-

1 Damdin (tab. rTa mgrin, skt. Hayagriva is a formidable-looking deity with a horse's head and a red human body. Basic Tantric idam. In Buddhist mythology, it was considered a rebirth of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara (Dorzhiev, 2003, p. 79, comment).

2 Here, most likely, we are talking about an Orthodox missionary from the Buryats, Father M. Makhachkeev [see: Tsyben Zhamtsarano, 2001, p. 236; Dorzhiev, 2003, p. 79, comments].

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ry", "cultural and national autonomy", "revival of national culture". The last slogan was put forward by Tsyben Zhamtsarano, a free student at St. Petersburg University, who inspired and organized the Banner of the Buryat People union. During the summer holidays, he lived in the Alarsky datsan, combining the collection of folk tales (on behalf of the Academy of Sciences and St. Petersburg University) with campaigning for the "native language"and" native faith". Much attention was paid to the religious education of children, the study of the Mongolian language and writing.

Referring to the royal Supreme Decree of April 17, 1905 on strengthening the principles of religious tolerance and the Supreme Manifesto of October 17 of the same year, A. Dorzhiev, Ts. Zhamtsarano and other figures agitated for the construction of datsans. By this time, a number of protocols of the Buryat loams of the Irkutsk province with resolutions on the construction of datsans relate.

The archive of the Irkutsk region stores the protocols of Buryat loams of various departments (Kudinsky, Ordinsky, Aboganatsky, Kapsala and Kurumchinsky) Irkutsk Uyezd, Irkutsk Province, held on November 10, 1906. One of them notes that "The Central Government, in response to the petition of our deputies of March 21, 1906, allowed us to switch from shamanism to Buddhism and build a datsan for performing prayers" [GAIO, f. 25, op. 3, ed. hr.3221 (k. 322), l. 71]. It was decided to elect a "datsan committee" consisting of chairman Andrey Mikhailov and members: Vasily Kholodov, Yakov Dmitriev, Bulgat Bukhasheyev and Ertash Ertekhanov, and the number of members could be replenished with new persons-up to nine people. The Committee was charged with the management of all matters related to the construction of the datsan: drawing up a plan, estimates, collecting donations, managing the construction, communicating with various individuals and institutions, etc.

Irkutsk Governor Mollerius wrote on August 31, 1907 to the peasant chief of the 5th section of the Irkutsk uyezd: "In paragraph 1 of the Suglan protocol, it is mentioned that the central government allowed the construction of a datsan. Meanwhile, such permission for the construction of the datsan has not yet been granted, and it has not been clarified who exactly misled the loam ... "[ibid., l. 75a].

On October 23, 1906, a loam of Buryats of various departments of the Verkholensky Uyezd of the Irkutsk province was held, at which a "special datsan administrative committee" was elected consisting of chairman Andrey Alexandrov and members - Osip Baldaruyev, Itygel Imykhelov, Isaak Yertagaev and Khorinoy Khakhalov.

Paragraph 9 of the suglan protocol states: "To obtain permission from the Governor to immediately begin construction of the datsan and invite the staff of the clergy to meet the religious requirements through the Bandido-Hamba Lama of the Buddhist clergy of Eastern Siberia." The protocol also records that the Dalai Lama received a blessing with a sacred statue of the Buddha for new followers of the teaching and a sheet with the name of the datsan and a seal. "Taking into account the size of the Buryat population of the uyezd and the dispersion of Buryat settlements, we find it desirable that the datsan be built in a central place and that it be sufficiently roomy. Based on such considerations, it was decided: a) to build a datsan in the area of the Khogotovsky department, as in the central place; b) to make an estimate for the construction of a datsan no more than 6 thousand rubles and a plan for the datsan building" [ibid., l.73 vol.].

On October 25, 1906, the Gubernskiye Vedomosti published a binding decree of the Irkutsk Governor Mollerius prohibiting the convocation of unauthorized gatherings. In a document dated August 31, 1907, the governor wrote to the chairman of the Congress of Peasant Chiefs in Verkholensky Uyezd: "If the loam of October 23, 1906 in Manzurka was held earlier than this mandatory resolution, then the local Peasant Chief still needed to bring such loam as unauthorized to my attention. In this case, it turns out that no permission was given for this loam, it was held under the chairmanship of a person who was not authorized to do so, the question of allowing the datsan was raised incorrectly, because

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there was no permission to build it, and the datsan committee was elected completely illegally."

After the revolution of 1905-1907, the government began to study the " Lama question "in connection with national movements on the outskirts, with the danger of"national separatism". Officials are sent to Transbaikalia for special audits on this issue. On October 8, 1907, Cererin, an official on special assignments, wrote to the Irkutsk governor under the heading "secret":"...His Eminence, again agreeing with Your Excellency's opinion on the rejection of the request for the construction of a new datsan, at the same time ordered to bring Bolgunov, Alexandrov and Alsykov (Mikhailov) to criminal responsibility...".

On October 20, 1907, Governor Mollerius wrote to the Office of the Irkutsk Governor-General: "After checking the protocols drawn up on loam, it turned out that, according to the testimony of the interviewed foreigners, they do not want an immediate mass conversion to Buddhism and do not express a desire to build a new datsan now, especially since they do not have free land to allocate to the Lamai clergy in the states. In view of this, on August 31, I proposed to the Peasant Chief of the 5th precinct of the Irkutsk Uyezd and the Chairman of the Congress of Peasant Chiefs of the Verkholensk Uyezd to close the Committees for collecting donations, checking their records and handing over the collected money to the Irkutsk and Verkholensk Treasury, and ... to make it an indispensable duty for the Peasant Chiefs to monitor the implementation of the mandatory resolution of my October 25 unauthorized gatherings and loams.

Acting openly in this case, Alsikov, Bolgunov and Aleksandrov were apparently misled about their rights to convene loam meetings, collect donations, and other powers that they assumed, in my opinion, not with criminal intentions, and therefore I would not have held them accountable for these acts "[ibid. same, l. 63 ob].

Deputies from the Buryats of the Irkutsk province Mikhailov (Alsykov), Bolgunov and Alexandrov on June 12, 1906, appealed to the Ministry of Internal Affairs with a petition in which they " petitioned: 1) to allow their principals to freely switch from shamanic confession to Buddhism and from Orthodoxy to the faith of their ancestors, 2) to allow them to build one datsan in the area of Verkholensk and Kudinsky Buryats at the expense of parishioners with an invitation to perform the requirements of lamas from Transbaikalia, at their choice and with the consent of Bandido-Hamba, and 3) to cancel the construction of existing restrictions in visiting these Buryats by teachers of the faith and doctors of Tibetan medicine " [ibid., p. 67].

In a memorandum dated August 28, 1907, addressed to the Irkutsk Governor-General "Bandido-Hambo-Lama of the Lamai clergy of Eastern Siberia", Iroltuev writes that the "honorary Buryats" of the Irkutsk province of Verkholensky Uyezd addressed him with a statement asking him to send "four or five teachers of faith who are versed in Tibetan medicine" [tam same, l. 65]. But the governor rejected his request on the following grounds: "... in the first place, because in two datsans of the Irkutsk province, there is a full-time clergy and there is no need to replenish it, and the question of building a new datsan and allowing lamas to freely treat on the basis of Tibetan science remains open, and in the second in view of Article 4 of the XI volume of Part I of the Charter of Spiritual Affairs of Foreign Confessions of the 1896 edition / on prod. 1906/, by virtue of which the missionary activity of non-believers, if such is meant here, is not allowed in Russia " [ibid., l. 64].

In the same document, the governor mentions two lamas from Transbaikalia, Sonzhiev and Choironov, who, " as reported by the Verkholensky police officer, came to the Sholotsky ulus and stayed with the alien Alexandrov. On October 16, I suggested to the police chief that the lamas mentioned should be removed to their place of residence and that Alexandrov, who was generally noticed agitating on religious issues among foreigners, should be properly indoctrinated" [ibid.].

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From the office of the Irkutsk Governor-General, a request was received to the military governor of the Trans-Baikal region: "The Office, on the orders of the Chief Chief of the Region, requests Your Excellency's instructions to conduct an investigation: to which datsan the lamas named were assigned, with whose permission and for what purpose they left their parish, and after clarifying these questions, will you find Your Excellency Accordingly, on the basis of sections 41 and 46 of the "Regulations on the Lamai clergy of Eastern Siberia", to deprive Sonjiev and Choironov of their ecclesiastical rank... "[ibid., p. 77].

On January 3, 1908, the military governor of the Trans-Baikal Region, classified as "secret", reported that the named lamas belong to the Tsulga datsan, Sonjiev is a monastic non - regular lama, and Choironov is a monk: "The named persons were excommunicated from their parish without any permission from both me and the shiretui of the Tsulga datsan. Sonjiev, according to him, visited the Sholotsky ulus out of curiosity, being interested in the transition, as he explains, of foreigners from shamanism to Buddhism, while Choironov's testimony suggests that he went to Sonjiev in the Sholotsky ulus in order to find material support in the person of the latter" [ibid., p. 85].

At the same time, apparently, A. Dorzhiev was well acquainted with Sonzhiev and Choironov. And as the bailiff Bessarabov reports in his report of March 4, 1908, with the reservation "according to rumors", A. Dorzhiev asked these lamas to wait for him in the village of Larch on his way from the Irkutsk province to Transbaikalia [ibid., p. 88].

The bailiff of the 3rd camp of the Verkholensky uyezd, Bessarabov, in a report dated September 20, 1907, classified as "secret", reports to the Verkholensky uyezd police officer: "A lama lived with Andrey Alexandrov this summer and, under the guise of treating Buryats, it turns out that he persuaded them to Lamaism and successfully, since the neighboring Shentopsky ulus, with a few exceptions, passed over in this faith. The same lama went from the Alexandrovs to their son-in-law Alexander Ertagaev in the Olzon department, where they collected Buryats and selected subscriptions from them in agreement to convert to Lamaism.

When Khombo Dorzhiev visited the Alexandrovs in the Shotkholunsky ulus in August, he accompanied the lama who lived with Andrey Alexandrov and Alexandrov's son Alexey to the neighboring Shentopsky ulus and there they prayed on the mountain with the Buryats who had converted to Lamaism, and distributed them "burkhans", and their shamanic "ongons" Buryats they took it to the forest. Khombo Dorzhiev also visited other uluses, and in the Maraltuysky ulus of the Olzon department, where Isaak Yertagaev lived and persuaded the Buryats to convert to christianity, promising them to build a datsan at their own expense. Then Khombo Dorzhiev went to the Kyrmen ulus of the Lena department, where in the Lapkhai ulus the Buryats of the Kyren family took a place for the construction of a datsan. He visited this place, prayed there and promised, as they say, to send from across the Baikal (so in the document. - E. A.) "burkhans" and other conditions in this datsan. A subscription list for donations is arranged for the construction of the datsan, and it is said that Hombo Dorzhiev signed 1000 rubles., Stepan Alexandrov-1000 rubles., the head of the Lena foreign office Mikhail Bichakhanov - 1000 rubles., the alien of the Lena Department Mikhail Boroev - 1000 rubles. and other Buryats in a smaller amount, and all allegedly signed for 7000 rubles.

On the 1st of this September, a friendly [?Buryats from across Lake Baikal brought a datsan plan. Considering this plan, Andrey Alexandrov said that 5,000 rubles have already been collected for the construction of the datsan, and 3,000 rubles still need to be collected.

In general, the Alexandrovs and Isaak Yertagaev in the camp entrusted to me, as you can see, are working very energetically on converting Buryats to Buddhism and setting up a datsan in particular. They themselves, as they say, for some reason still adhere to shamanism " [ibid., l. 81].

In his report of March 4, 1908, Bailiff Bessarabov rightly notes that "in such trips of Khambo Dorzhiev lies the desire to unite the Mongol race into one common whole, by converting the Buryats to Buddhism" [ibid., p. 89].

During an audience at the Tsarskoye Selo Palace on February 23, 1909, A. Dorzhiev "asked Nicholas II for permission to build in the Irkutsk province, in the area from which

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his ancestors came out and where he had a plot of land, a "dugan" (temple) in the name of the longevity of the Tsarevich's Heir" [RGIA, f. 821, op. 133, d. 446, l. 35-see: Andreev, 2004, p. 36]. Earlier, Khambo Dorzhiev petitioned the Kyrmen tribal headman "to assign him 3 dessiatins of land in the Kyrmen clan" [GAIO, f. 25, op. 3, units of hr. 3221 (k. 322), l. 86]. On March 21, 1908, the peasant chief of the 2nd district of Verkholensky Uyezd submitted this petition to the Provincial Administration for consideration, " which informed him on April 5, No. 7947, that since Dorzhiev's petition for the construction of a mosque (so in the document - E. A.) in the Kyrmen rode had not been resolved in the affirmative sense, the petition for the construction of a mosque in the village of the assignment of the estate to him is premature. The rejection of Dorzhiev's request to build a Buddhist chapel in the Kyrmen district was reported to the chancellery on March 13, 1908" [ibid.].

The Kyrmen datsan in the Verkholensky district of the Irkutsk province was built in 1912-1917 according to the project of the civil engineer R. A. Berzen3, who supervised the final stage of construction of the Buddhist temple in St. Petersburg (author-builder-G. V. Baranovsky). The author of the architectural composition of the buildings was undoubtedly A. Dorzhiev. According to the authoritative opinion of L. K. Minert, a researcher of Buryat architecture, these two datsans belong to a new type of temples. A characteristic feature of Buryat architecture until the beginning of the XX century was a continuous line of development, which was based on the architectural and symbolic development of the concept of mandala. Symbolism "was the guiding idea of development, according to which the result was compared, to which we returned again and again." The creation on the basis of an abstract religious and symbolic concept of its own distinctive line of cult architecture, as a result of almost two-hundred-year evolution of which there were original types of Buddhist temple that are not found in other countries, should be recognized as an outstanding achievement of the culture of the Buryat people [Minert, 1983, p. 177].

The prototype of these two structures is the classic Tibetan type of temple - dukan. According to Dorzhiev, in the modern world of wars and revolutions, there was only one image full of peace and stability - the Tibetan temple.

The architecture of the St. Petersburg Buddhist Temple (1909-1915)is strict and monumental, with the dynamism and upward orientation characteristic of Tibetan architecture. The monolithic simplicity of the structure draws attention: a pyramidal volume, thick walls of dark stone are completed with a frieze with a parapet; narrow windows stretched vertically resemble loopholes, an elegant portico bears the features of Buryat architecture. The same features can be seen in the wooden Kyrmen datsan (Verkholensky Uyezd, Irkutsk province; 1912-1917): a trapezoidal silhouette with a protruding tower-gonkyan, a dark frieze with disks-toli, a similar shape of windows; a clear silhouette crowns the tower-gonkan ganzhir; zhaltsans that accentuate the corners of the building; the obligatory composition "dharma chakra". above the entrance-everything reminds us of the facade and architectural design of the St. Petersburg Buddhist temple, but, of course, in a more modest version. The architecture of both datsans lacks elements of Chinese origin that are characteristic of Buryat architecture of an earlier time: "floating" roofs, colorful cornices.

L. K. Minert concludes that " the Buryat datsans are an example... talented reinterpretation of structural and architectural-artistic elements and techniques of various origins, their creative fusion in a new, organically unified architectural and construction essence "[Minert, 1983, p. 176].

The long-term work of Tsannid-khambo A. Dorzhiev was marked by success, the datsans built on his initiative operated until the early 1930s. The new government, the dictatorship of the proletariat, waged a decisive struggle against religion and the church, began to pursue a policy of violent atheization of the population, and persecuted ministers of worship. Buddhist datsans and dugans gradually ceased their activities.

3 Berzen R. A. (1868-1958). He graduated from IGI (1892). He served at the TSK of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (1892-1912). Teacher of the ISI (1894-1926), IIPS. Architect of the buildings of the University of Higher Education, the Mariinsky Hospital, and the Ksenia Institute [see: Architects and Builders..., 1996].

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At the end of the 20th century, after many years of neglect, Buddhist temples began to revive to life. The datsan in St. Petersburg was transferred to the Buddhist community. New temples are being built in the Trans-Baikal Territory, the Irkutsk Region (a datsan building has been built in Irkutsk, a complex of buildings is being planned), the Ust-Orda Buryat district (in the villages of Ust-Orda, Novonukutsk, etc.). Interest in the Buddhist religion has increased, ideas of national identity and the desire for unification have been revived among the Buryat people. All this shows that the work started by Aghvan Dorzhiev has been continued with dignity.

list of literature

Andreev A. I. Tibet in the politics of tsarist, Soviet and Post-Soviet Russia. SPb., 2005.

Andreev A. I. The Temple of the Buddha in the Northern capital. St. Petersburg, 2004.

Architects and builders of St. Petersburg in the mid-19th and early 20th centuries: A Reference book / B. M. Kirikov, St. Petersburg, 1996.

Baradiin B. B. Buddhist monasteries / / Almanac Orient. St. Petersburg, 1992.

State Archive of the Irkutsk region (GAIO). f. 25. Op. 3. Ed. hr. 3221 (k. 322). l. 57.

State Archive of the Irkutsk region. Travel guide. Irkutsk, 1975.

Dorzhiev A. Entertaining notes. Description of a trip around the world. (Autobiography) / Translated from Mong. A.D. Tsendina. Moscow, 2003.

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Minert L. K. Monuments of architecture of Buryatia. Novosibirsk, 1983.

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