English 
Russian 
Chinese 1894 г. Новый музей на Дальнем Востоке
Almost all the documents about the formation of our museum are now stored in archives - in the Russian State Historical Archive of the Far East (RGIADV) in Vladivostok and in the State Archive of the Khabarovsk Territory (GAKhK) in Khabarovsk. When it was necessary to confirm with documents the date of foundation of the Grodekovo Museum, we turned to the State Archive of the Far East. There, going through the documents of the fund of the Priamursky department of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society, we found various handwritten notes and the first information about the appearance of a new museum in the Russian Far East in April 1894, published in May 1894 in the only Khabarovsk newspaper "Priamurskie vedomosti".
In June 1892, Vasily Nikolayevich Radakov (1839-1910), Doctor of Medicine, a graduate of Moscow University, was appointed to the post of Inspector of the Military Medical Department of the Priamur Military District in Khabarovsk.
Museum business occupied an important place in his destiny. Polytechnic Exhibition (the basis for the creation of the Polytechnic and Historical Museums). In Khabarovsk he also engaged in the study of the region and proposed to the Priamur Governor-General Baron A.N. Korfu to organize a department of the IRGO in Khabarovsk. The Governor-General found the idea "worthy of full attention" and promised support in this matter, but in January 1893 he died unexpectedly.
In his place was appointed commander of the Moscow Military District S.M. Dukhovskoy, who in 1892 was one of the council members of the 11th International Congress of Prehistoric Archaeology and Anthropology, convened this time in Moscow. V.N. Radakov also accompanied the new Priamursky Governor-General during his arrival in Khabarovsk.
At the same time he submitted a report to S.M. Dukhovsky, in which he wrote: "At present (...) it is time for a detailed study of the area of the Priamur Governor-General's office. (...) It is necessary to unite all the scientific societies and museums arising in it by moral connection, which (...) can be achieved best of all if a Department of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society was formed in the center of Priamursky Krai management". The museum, located in the center of the region - Khabarovsk, was to become a leading institution in the study of the region. V.N. Radakov wrote that "...the premises for the local museum have already been found; to the existing collections in the Governor-General's House there are already two donations: about a hundred bird and animal skins from me and a significant alcohol collection of fish and marine invertebrate animals donated to the museum by doctor Kuchinsky. In addition, the forest inspector Vedensky told me that as soon as the arrangement of the museum in Khabarovsk is decided, he will deliver a complete dendrological collection of the Priamursky Krai".
On October 14, 1893, under the leadership of the public director of the museum V.N. Radakov, work on its creation began. Cabinets, showcases, shelves and tables were ordered, a hired preparator put the existing stuffed animals in order and made new ones.
On November 20, the IRGO Council in St. Petersburg officially supported the Khabarovsk residents, and the draft Statute of the Priamursky Department of the IRGO was submitted to the legislature. In December 1893, Alexander III ordered to give the new department 10,000 rubles.
At the end of January 1894. At the end of January 1894, "the collection of various items had already been put in order" and V.N. Radakov proposed to temporarily place the collections in the rooms of the drugstore. The governor-general allocated 600 rubles to put this room in order.
Having received the contribution of Alexander III, without waiting for official approval, the Governor-General proposed to create the Council of the Provisional Priamursky Department on April 10. Lieutenant-General N.I. Grodekov was elected its chairman in absentia, but the main result of this meeting was the decision to start construction of the museum's own building in the summer of 1894. By this time V.N. Radakov and architect N.F. Alexandrov had developed its project in general outline and determined the cost of the museum building.
On April 10, in four vast rooms on the upper floor of the pharmacy warehouse, V.N. Radakov began to arrange display cases with the first exhibits. The fifth room for preparatory classes was located next to it. On April 19, by 13:30 in the afternoon, in the museum premises gathered S.M. Dukhovskoy with his wife and entourage and founding members of POIRGO, who were invited to the opening ceremony. At the end of the prayer service, the Governor-General addressed the audience with the following words: "I declare the museum of the Priamur Department of the Geographical Society open".
Below are documents on the founding of the museum in 1894 from the GAHC:
Appendix No. 19 to the newspaper "Priamurskie Vedomosti" of May 8, 1894, published in Khabarovsk, describes the history of the creation of the Priamursky department of IRGO and the museum at it.
Among those present at the opening of the museum was the manager of the Priamur postal and telegraph district, Prince Dmitry Yakovlevich Kutiev. In his note to Vasily Nikolaevich Radakov, the first director of the museum of the Priamursky department of IRGO, he thanked for the invitation to the opening of the museum and shared his great impression of this event. He wrote a note about it, which is also preserved in the archive.
In Russia at the end of the 19th century, it was a widespread tradition at the beginning of the construction of buildings important to society to lay plaques with commemorative inscriptions in their foundations. The State Archive of the Khabarovsk Territory has preserved the text of such a plaque laid in the foundation of the museum building of the Priamursky Department of IRGO.
Judging by the inscription, the laying of the museum building took place on May 18, 1894 in Khabarovsk in the presence of the Priamursk Governor-General S.M. Dukhovsky, his assistant and probably the author of the text of this inscription Lieutenant-General N.I. Grodekov, as well as engineers - builders of the building - S.A. Monkovsky and L.O. Chaikovsky.
