The Sacred Geography of Central Asia in the Works of Joseph-Antoine Castagnier
Сакральная география Центральной Азии в трудах Жозефа-Антуана Кастанье
Uderbaeva S. Sagatov A. Kakimzhanov E.
1 June 2022International Network Center for Fundamental and Applied Research
Bylye Gody
2022#17Issue 2789 - 799 pp.
The article presents an analysis of the scientific heritage of the French researcher of Central Asia, an active member of two pre-revolutionary scientific societies - of the Orenburg Scientific Archive Commission, the Turkestan circle of archeology amateurs. The amateur researcher has done an enormous amount of work to describe the objects of the sacred geography of Central Asia, archaeological sites, study of local lore of the Kazakh steppe, and ethnographic research. Scientific heritage of J.A. Castagnier is currently of undoubted interest for archaeologists, historians, ethnographers, geographers. At present, the results of Castagniers research are of great scientific and practical importance. For a long time, the personality of Castagnier was a “default figure”, since he was considered a foreign agent and spy without good reason in previous historiography. The analysis of the content of the works of J.-A. Castagne, published in the in «Proceedings» of the Orenburg Scientific Archival Commission, made it possible to determine their high value. The works of Castagnier are distinguished by a wide source base, including the works of famous orientalists, rare manuscripts from the OUAC funds, saturation with authors photographs, engravings, drawings of the objects described, tables, an accurate topographic and cartographic description, indicating geographical coordinates, distances in sazhens and versts. Detailed geographic coordinates are very valuable for modern scientists, for example, for compiling digital maps of sacred objects. Of particular interest are legends, legends about ancient cities, burial places, detailed descriptions of shrines recorded by Castagne.
Central Asia , GUAC - Provincial scientific archival commissions , Joseph Antoine Castagnier , local history societies , OUAC Orenburg Scientific Archival Commission , sacred geography , TKLA - Turkestan circle of archeology amateurs
Text of the article Перейти на текст статьи
Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Al-Farabi Kazakh National University
10 лет помогаем публиковать статьи Международный издатель
Книга Публикация научной статьи Волощук 2026 Book Publication of a scientific article 2026