N.D. Protasov's Activities for the Preservation of Cultural Monuments in the First Half of the 20th Century

The main purpose of this paper is to study the activities of N. D. Protasov in the first half of the twentieth century to identify the contribution of the historian to the preservation of art monuments. The object of the study are the documents of the personal archive of the Protasov family, protocols of meetings from the State Archive of the Russian Federation, documents from the College of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture available in the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, published journals of the meetings of the Council of the Imperial Moscow Theological Academy and research works of N. D. Protasov. The subject of the study is the activity of the historian for the preservation of art monuments in the first half of the twentieth century. Protasov's main activity during this period was working in the Department for Museums and the Protection of Art and Antiquities. However, in addition to the restoration expeditions of the historian, the paper analyzes the influence of Protasov's foreign experience on the formation of the historian's path to the rescue of art monuments, studies the reasons for joining and leaving the Department, and identifies the historian's contribution to the rescue and preservation of art monuments.